by Lynn Red
He sounded worried. Raine frowned, hoping to keep a lid on her urge to snarl at the other female. This was so not the time for her wolf to get all pissy.
The woman’s gaze connected with Raine’s. “He called me.”
“He called you?” Theo choked the words out and slapped the wood surface of the bar, catching a few of the others patrons’ attention.
“Why would he call you? You broke his heart!” Ryder’s snarl was more than Raine’s wolf could handle. She took a step forward, but he tugged her to him and hugged her into his side. She glanced up, but he was busy glaring at the redhead.
The other woman flinched, as if his words bothered her. “Look—” She jammed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “—I didn’t come here to discuss why Quinn and I broke up. I only came because I heard he was missing, and when we last spoke, he’d been in the Tenam Forest. He said he needed to run to—” Her voice hitched, and Raine felt bad for the distress she could smell and see the other woman was trying so hard to hide. “—he said he needed to run to forget me.”
“Tenam Forest?” Incredulity laced Theo’s words. He motioned two guys forward. “That’s not near any of the packs he’d frequent.”
“I heard he was missing, and I came to offer what I knew.” The woman’s voice was an angry hiss. She fisted her hands at her sides and glared back and forth between Theo and Ryder.
“When was this?” Ryder’s tension increased. The muscles under Raine’s arm bunched when she had wrapped them around his waist.
“A week ago.”
Raine wanted to argue for them to go look for the missing man. For all any of them knew, he could be in serious trouble.
“If you hear anything else we should know, contact me or my second.” Ryder’s words were a soft growl.
Raine frowned. His second?
Jessa pursed her lips. “I know to contact Theo. You don’t need to tell me. He is the sheriff.”
Raine took another peek at Theo. Though she was only five-three, she knew both men were much taller than any of the guys she’d ever met. Theo was tall, almost as big as Ryder, who she’d swear had to be over six feet. But he wasn’t as bulky. Ryder’s body appeared to have come out of Badass Biker Magazine, with enough tattoos all over to make any artist smile in glee. Theo didn’t have half his tattoos, and the ones she could see were only in the usual tribal ink. His demeanor was that of a man who dictated. Unlike Ryder’s clear dominance, Theo was more authority.
Theo nodded at the two guys he’d motioned, and they headed out the door in a rush, hopefully to look for Quinn.
“We’ll take care of finding him.” His voice was less hostile when he glanced at the redhead.
The woman nodded. “Could you-could you call me and let me know he’s okay when you find him?” She gulped “Please?”
Ryder nodded.
Raine watched Jessa and a man who’d been hanging by the door walk out of the bar together.
Ryder waited. Tried calming the animal inside. But for the entire time Jessa had been there, all he’d visualized was Raine putting her sexy, curvy body on the line for him. The alpha. It would not do.
Her jumping in front of him when she thought him in danger filled him both with pride and anger. He grabbed her by her arm.
She lifted a perfectly arched dark brow and glanced down at his hand holding her.
“I think we need to talk.” His wolf wanted him to teach her who was in charge.
She calmly strode with him back to his office. When he shut the door, he turned on her, gripping her arms, and thrust her against the door. Bodies flushed. Scents co-mingling.
“You never, ever put yourself in front of me when there’s any sort of danger, do you understand?”
Fire lit the gold depths of her eyes. He felt her animal’s anger.
“I think you’re mistaken. You don’t tell me what to do,” she snarled.
Oh but the sight of her so flushed was a delight. It added to the arousal stroking his cock.
“I am the alpha here, and I protect what’s mine.”
Sparks of lust and something else filled her gaze. Pure defiance. “And who said I was yours?”
The beast took control then. He swooped down and kissed her. Kissed her hard, so hard, he was afraid he’d bruised her lips. Fear and rage over how brave and stupid she’d been all pushed him into a state of desperation.
She shook out his hold, raked her hand up to his chest, and traced his abdominal muscles. Oxygen punched at his lungs, struggling its way in. He gripped her face in his hands, pushing her back between the wall and his own body. She whimpered. The sound of her body’s fevered craving added to his thirst, until all he wanted was to feel the silken hold of her pussy over his cock.
“Don’t deny what we can both feel is happening here. What I see in your eyes.” Ryder’s voice was rough, deep.
What he felt and what he saw was clear in her eyes. Frantic yearning. It was beautiful to see. Better to feel it in her body. The shudders. The nails biting into his shoulders. The tight nipples poking at his chest. Ah, yes. It was so much better to feel it. And soon he’d taste it, taste the sweet nectar of her arousal.
“I belong to no one. I depend on nobody. Besides, this is chemistry. Lust.” She scraped her nails down his chest in another long stinging caress.
“Sweetheart, the way your heart is beating right now coupled with that delicious scent drifting from you, lets me know you’re ready, willing, and able. For anything I want. Anything.”
He swiped his tongue over her neck in one long, slow lick. Her breath hitched. The scent of her desire thickened in the room.
“Sex.” She panted and gripped his shirt. “Only sex. And sex doesn’t control me.”
A second later, the sound of material tearing filled the room. He glanced down to see his T-shirt in pieces. Her gaze locked with his, and fire bounced between them. She licked her lips. Lust turned her eyes the color of dark smoky amber.
He grinned. “You were saying?”
“Fuck. Me. Now.”
“Raine...”
She undid his jeans and shoved her hand in. “Less talking, more fucking.”
She grasped his cock in her fist and drew it out of the constricting denim. He groaned. She pumped him from root to tip in her hold. He gripped the door frame behind her.
“You’re so hot. So hard.” She nuzzled her face into his chest, still squeezing his cock. His pants dropped to the floor, and she licked his nipple. Around one of the colorful lines inked to his chest and sucked the tiny bud into her hot mouth. He had to brace himself so he wouldn’t fall to his knees. He watched her lower until her face was mere inches from his throbbing cock.
Lust pounded in his ears. Along with his ragged breaths and uncontrolled heartbeats. She gripped his cock in a perfect hold and rubbed her face over his shaft. A shudder racked his spine at the intimacy of her move. He jerked when he felt her soft tongue lavish him with one long lick. She moaned the entire time she licked her way up from his balls to the crown of his cock.
She glanced up and licked her lips. “You taste so good. Like the wild. Untamed.”
His shaft jerked in her hold. “Raine—”
“I want some more.”
His mind went blank to everything but the feel of her lips encasing his dick. Her mouth was pure sin.
Moist.
Slick.
Tight.
Hell, he had to clench his teeth to keep from coming like a fucking pup. She sucked his full length into her pink lips and slowly pulled him out. It was the ultimate erotic visual. She jerked and sucked at the same time, in a perfect gripping combination of lips and fist. His body tightened. Electric tingles started to sizzle up and down his spine.
He roped her long hair around his fist. Then yanked and winced at the aggressive move. Careful now. This was new to her. The last thing he wanted was to turn her off with his wild side. She glanced at him with passion-clouded eyes and swollen lips.
Fuck, he wanted inside her
right now. “Come here.”
She stood. He wretched the T-shirt off her body with even more force than before, ripping off a piece of the neckline in the process. He watched her tits bounce as she shrugged out of her jeans and toed off her boots. Naked. Exactly how he wanted her. The second she stood before him without any constricting material, he hauled her into his arms. Her legs curled around his waist. She clung to his neck, raking her nails on his back and shoulders. Her pussy dripped liquid heat over his dick.
Their gazes met, held, and he slid into her in one desperate plunge. Her pussy rippled around his cock. Oh yes, this was a million times better than her mouth had been.
Her gasp and wide eyed stare broke his control. He meshed their lips together, propelled back, and drove in hard. Deep. So deep his balls slapped her ass. His wolf enjoyed the rough mating. The wild side rode him now. There was no turning back or slowing down. Each rapid drive pushed him deep into her rippling sex. Her back slapped against the door, turning each of his thrusts into a flurry of thumps. Those thumps let everyone outside know exactly where they were having sex.
She moaned, whimpered, and mewled. His cock jerked with each soft sound. It turned him on to no end to know she was enjoying it this way. Because he couldn’t contain the animal’s needs. The beast had tasted her, rubbed his face in her folds. She was his.
“You feel fucking amazing.” The words were torn from his throat.
“You feel a hell of a lot better than that.” She whimpered softly. “I love the feel of your cock sliding in and out of me.”
For fuck’s sake, he was going to come before she did if she continued talking that way.
He licked her shoulder bend up to her jaw. She shuddered in his arms. He grinned, knowing how sensitive shifters were to that particular spot. He grazed his teeth on the same spot he’d just licked. Her pussy fluttered.
“Mmm. You know what feels even better than me fucking you?”
“God, no. There can’t be anything better.” She moaned. Her eyes had that dazed look he was starting to love seeing on her.
“But there is.” He nibbled her jaw. “You coming around my cock, gripping me tight and sucking me in.”
She groaned and he rammed her harder, each thrust pounded her back louder against the door. He bit her shoulder. She choked on a moan. Her entire body shook with the force of her orgasm. He groaned. Let his body go with the delicious feel of her pussy walls tightening around his cock. The friction was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. It was his personal heaven. Sparks gathered in his spine and traveled down his body to shoot through his cock. Her pussy milked him of his cum. He jerked, bathed her womb with his semen and continued to jerk. She shuddered with every after shock that racked her.
They stayed as they were, bodies locked tight. He sat down on a chair with her still straddling him. The potent scent of sex filled his office. Delicious. Their combined scents turned him hard all over again, inciting his already re-aroused state. She wiggled in his lap. Eyes wide.
“Is that—? Are you—?”
A grin split his lips. She was so cute when shocked. “Baby, I’m a shifter. I can go on for hours. Ever heard the term ‘horn dog?’”
A gulp followed by a nod.
“Where do you think it came from?”
Heat crowded her cheeks and he chuckled.
He glanced at her lips and down to the spot he’d bitten her. It hadn’t been a mate bite, but he’d wanted to.
“Oh my god!” Her heartbeat tripled. “We didn’t use a condom.” Multiple emotions rushed over her features until it settled on concern.
“Relax. I don’t carry any human diseases.”
Dark brown brows rose in interest. “You don’t?”
“No. Our kind is strong, much stronger than that.”
“Well...good.” She cleared her throat. “Because I don’t normally have sex with a guy I just met.”
He didn’t bother to mention the fact he’d never had unprotected sex with another woman before. Not for disease, but to keep himself from getting tied down by impregnating anyone. He wouldn’t mind her having his cubs. Raine was his. The wolf was sure of that and so was the man.
Gripping her hips in his hold, he rocked her on his cock. Passion flared bright in her eyes.
“Oh...”
She took the hint and swayed, lifted, and dropped in a sexy bounce that put her nipples right in his face. He sucked one into his mouth and nibbled on the tiny, hard point. Her body’s heat called to him. Wild. That’s how she tasted, like a combination of sweet decadence and dark spice. And he knew it was only a matter of time before he grew addicted to her.
“Fuck, sweetheart. Ride me harder.” An order or a plea, he couldn’t tell which anymore.
She grasped the back of the chair and increased the pace of her movement. He gripped her hips. Helped her speed the velocity of her body’s hopping on his cock. Her breath hitched and her body stiffened. He wiggled a thumb between her legs. Flicked over her tight little clit.
“Oh, my—”
Her pussy gripped his cock hard. He rammed her down, until their pelvises were grinding together and let his climax flow. He came hard, panting and groaning into her breasts. He bit down on a tip and she shuddered. A second wave of flutters took over her pussy walls.
“Baby, you’re so hot.” He licked the sweat from the valley of her breasts. “I love how good you feel when you come.”
She dropped her head into the curve of his shoulder. Panted. “Mmm. I think how you feel inside me beats that by miles.”
“Stay with me tonight.”
After a quiet moment, her head lifted. Her features were drawn. Uncertain.
“What’s going to happen with that place? What if whatever they did to me, was done to other unsuspecting people.” She nibbled on her bottom lip.
He hugged her tight. She gave a little moan when he slid his hands up and down her back comforting the fear drenching her skin. What a terrible way for her to turn into his kind. But he wouldn’t let things go. He’d figure out what was done to her. And deliver some of his brand of pain to whoever did it. She sighed. Some of the rigidity and fear slowly drained from her muscles. He dropped a quick kiss over her swollen lips, to stop her torture.
“That building wasn’t very small. And I think I remember another girl walking in after me.”
He stiffened in the seat. “We’ll go check it out in the morning. I promise.”
Chapter Five
Raine lifted off him, ready to don her clothes all over again.
“There’s a restroom right through there.” He pointed at the door next to the large bay window on the other side of the room.
She met his stare. Saw more than the lust coursing through her body. Saw concern.
“I love the smell of myself on you, but I thought you might be more comfortable if you clean up.”
Grateful for his thoughtfulness, she nodded, grabbed her clothes, and rushed to do exactly that. She shut the bathroom door. Took a deep breath. Her body buzzed as if his fingers were still touching her. She stared at herself in the mirror and gasped. She, a woman who’d never worn a single hair out of place, had been replaced by a mussed up nympho.
Her hands shook when she turned on the faucet to wash her face. Grabbing handfuls of paper towels, she dipped them in warm water and did a quick wipe down of her sweaty skin. When she reached the area between her legs, the animal inside her didn’t seem to like her wiping off the evidence of her coupling with Ryder. Tension took hold under her skin.
“Chill the fuck out, okay?” She spit the words out through clenched teeth while she scrubbed her legs harder with the wet paper towels. “This is my goddamned body, and no wolf is going to tell me what to do.”
When she was satisfied with her clean-up, she dressed again. She ran her fingers through her knotted curls, trying to fix them into a decent ponytail. If someone would have told her a few weeks back that her carefully ordered life would turn into chaos, she would have l
aughed in their face. But now, it seemed she not only had a wolf inside–a very horny wolf–she also had to figure out who the hell had turned her into one. And the bigger question was, why?
Ryder stood by the door in his jeans and a fresh T-shirt, waiting for her. His dark hair was messy from when she’d run her fingers through it. Her gaze did an immediate swoop down his body. Then another visual caress back up to his face. Lord, that day’s old beard made her want to whimper. The muscles she knew lay below the clothes had her gulping. Damn but the man was sexy. Not just the body, or award-winning tongue, it was the way he carried himself. What he’d said was true. He was definitely the alpha. No other animal had that type of commanding presence.
Out at the bar, Theo stood behind the counter. Ryder held her hand as they made their way to the counter.
“I think we need to talk about you now.” Theo studied her with intensity. “If what you told us is accurate, others could be suffering the same thing you did.”
That was her point exactly. She wanted to sigh in relief that she’d told someone and they’d believed her. It was still hard for her to believe what she’d seen, so she hadn’t dared share her experience with Mandy.
“We’re going to send some people to the place you originally went to. See if there’s anyone operating from there.”
“Where’s James?” Ryder glanced around the bar.
“Who’s James?” Raine rubbed her side next to Ryder’s hulking frame.
Theo disappeared below the counter before coming up with a clean glass. “James is Quinn’s best friend and right hand.” Theo smiled. The blond man was quite handsome when he showed his teeth. He motioned the drinks behind him. “What can I get you, darlin’?”
She grinned, liking this version of the second. That’s what Ryder had called Theo, his second. Not that Raine understood how their whole hierarchy worked. But now she realized that Ryder was Alpha, and that made him top dog.
“Just water, please.”
He hauled out a sweating bottle of water and filled a glass with ice before placing it on her side of the bar. She sat down, watching Ryder continue to glance around the bar.
