The Vampire's Wolf

by Jenna Kernan

  “Take off your jeans,” he said as his gaze roved over the long length of her.

  He must have read her mind.

  Her fingers trembled as she released the rivet fastening of the adolescent, straight-legged, low-riding jeans and sat back to peel them off, turning them inside out in the process. He shook out his T-shirt and laid it down for her and then lifted her onto it with frightening ease. He smiled at her surprise.

  “I’m stronger than I look.”

  “Apparently.”

  “It’s part of the whole wolf-thing. I’m just as strong in either form.”

  “Good to know.”

  “I keep the strength, hearing and sense of smell while in human form. You smell delicious, by the way, all musk and smoke. I can’t wait to taste you.”

  Was he talking about her...? Bri flushed with embarrassment and anticipation. She met his steady stare, swallowing as a trickle of fear rose up inside her. In many ways he was still a stranger, and she was about to place herself in the most intimate of all vulnerable positions. But that wasn’t what gave her pause. What if this was as good as she hoped? What then?

  “You’re looking at me like I’m the big bad wolf,” he said and smiled, showing straight white teeth.

  “Aren’t you?”

  He dropped his smile. “No. Not with you. I’ll only bring you pleasure, and I’ll stop when you say. For me it’s just about the sex. You good with that?”

  It sounded good, so good her body vibrated from a deep internal need that rose up like an orchestra crescendo.

  “Yes,” she whispered, taking what he offered with both hands, greedy as a hungry child.

  He had her permission to do as he liked, and she had his permission not to hold back. She held his gaze as his sensual smile made her stomach flutter. He still frightened her, but not because of what he might do. He frightened her because of what he made her feel.

  Just sex, she repeated, knowing it was a lie.

  Chapter 12

  Bri sucked in a breath of air at the first contact of his tongue to her abdomen. He licked and stroked, using his mouth and his hands with feathery-light touches that brought all her senses buzzing to dizzying arousal. She shifted beneath him, anxious for more.

  “Are you sure you’re safe?” she whispered, some remnant of her thinking brain still fighting for control above the flood of sensation, still afraid to allow her release.

  “Yes, Princess.” This time when he used that nickname, it was like a caress. “Relax. It’s safe. And good,” he whispered. His tongue dipped into her navel. “So good.”

  His voice went all gravel, the male equivalent of a purr, she thought and let her head drop back to the earth as she lifted her hips to meet his descending mouth. He stroked the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, moving ever closer to her most needy places. She could have him, enjoy him, let him enjoy her, and there would be no price to pay.

  There’s always a price, came the voice in her head.

  She pushed it aside. No, his touch was magic. He was so good at this. A gasp escaped her as his fingers delved into her tight curls. She glanced down, aroused by the picture he made, his short, dark hair contrasting against the white of her thigh, and his long, tanned fingers laced into the thick orange hair as he separated the folds of flesh to reach her clitoris. His mouth descended, her eyes fluttered shut and she arched at the first contact. His tongue swirled and he sucked. The tension built inside her, jumping and climbing to heights that made her dizzy. She lifted her hips and he clasped her bottom in his strong hands, bringing her to him again and again.

  Sharp threads of tension, pulled tight within her, taut now to the point of breaking. And still he kissed and sucked and caressed. The threads vibrated as a web of nerves fired all at once. Bliss.

  The contractions surged outward with her cry. He didn’t stop. His fingers delved inside her, prolonging her first orgasm. The echoes of pleasure retreated like a sound wave, leaving her body relaxed and weak. And sated. She’d never felt so perfectly at peace. She gave no resistance as he continued to kiss and stroke, moving up her hips with slow progress, as if bent on kissing every inch of her. The floating sensation of peace ebbed, replaced by the rising need to have him inside her. She groaned as her body begged for opposing needs.

  He lay at her side and then pulled her over himself, so that her head lay on his shoulder and her back was pressed to his stomach. His erection now slid between her legs and along the slick folds of her cleft. He used it to stroke her without entering her. The sensation made her shudder. She now lay open to him like a banquet. He stroked the soft outer mounds of her breasts and then worked toward the peaks that budded at his touch. A gentle tug and squeeze sent pleasure rippling to her core, and she shifted as the arousal grew, building with each skilled stroke. He kissed her ear and neck, whispering of her beauty and the exotic taste of her. She lifted her hips, clamping her legs about his arousal and stroking the long, tempting length of him. When she tried to take him inside her, he stopped her. One moment she was lying across him and the next he had spun her so that she straddled his thighs. His erection stood at stiff attention before her. She glanced at him to see his knowing smile and the invitation in his eyes.

  “I’m all yours,” he whispered.

  “Permission to come aboard,” she said.

  He laughed. “Navy talk. Granted. Marines don’t ask permission. We just take the ship.” He reached for his trousers, retrieved his wallet and then came away with a condom in a small green packet.

  “Always prepared,” she said, lifting a brow.

  “That’s the Boy Scouts.”

  She plucked the foil packet from his fingers and took her time as she slipped the thin sheath over his magnificent erection.

  She rose to her knees and admired the view of Staff Sgt. Travis MacConnelly stretched out before her, willing and able. She took hold of his erection in one hand and guided him into her soft, wet folds. He rolled his hips, and she sank down upon him inch by inch, savoring the friction and slick slide as he filled her. She straddled his hips and he smiled up at her.

  “You’re a wonder,” she whispered.

  And he was so hard. She lifted up. His hands settled on her hips, guiding her but not allowing her to break this new connection. With downward pressure he sped her descent. The glide of his erect flesh on her yielding folds was magic. She wanted to move faster, but he kept her from galloping along. One hand left her hips, and he moved to finger her again, his stroking only hurrying her ascent and increasing the urged to move.

  “Faster,” she said.

  The muscles at his jaw bulged. “Just a few more minutes.”

  She threw her head back and tried to hold on, but the tension inside her built and she felt her control slipping, allowed it to slip, because she could trust him to survive her need.

  “Now,” she cried. “Please, now.”

  She was on her back an instant later and Mac was over her, his eyes glittering with passion as he drove into her with strong, smooth strokes. Each one bringing her closer. He moved fast, so fast, a steady marvelous pounding that shook her deep inside and brought her second orgasm.

  Bri cried out his name, “Travis! Oh, yes. So good!”

  He never slowed as her contractions broke, rolling outward to her fingers and toes. She was dying, the pleasure making her weak. And then she felt his control break with the last great thrust. His cry mingled with hers as another orgasm swept through her, milking his erection as he began to slip from inside her.

  “Look at you,” he whispered.

  She opened her eyes and saw a shimmering sheen of gold, like a heat mirage, only this came from her skin.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “Damned if I know. But it’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

  He straightened his arms
, drawing back to watch the shimmer.

  “Do you feel all right?” she asked.

  He grinned. “Spectacular. Don’t worry, Bri. I’m fine.” Slowly the glimmer faded, like a lamp turned low.

  Mac fell back to his elbows, grasped Bri and rolled until he lay on his back and she rested in his embrace. “Does it happen every time you come?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He lifted his head to give her an incredulous look. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

  “I never...I didn’t...I never looked for it.”

  He tipped his head. She looked away but still felt his stare.

  “That’s not what you were going to say.” There was a pause. She kept her eyes down. “You were going to say that you never...Bri?”

  Her skin went hot and her ears tingled.

  “You’ve been engaged and you have a boyfriend or had one. This wasn’t your first rodeo. But...was that your first orgasm?”

  Bri went slack against him and nodded, feeling somehow ashamed and inadequate.

  He stroked her head. “Why?”

  She swallowed, trying to regain her voice past the fingers that seemed to now grip her larynx. “I was close a few times but I got scared. I don’t know why. Or I didn’t know why at the time. But I felt it was dangerous. My nana said I shouldn’t ever sleep with a man. I thought she was just being old-fashioned. But it wasn’t only her warning that stopped me. I felt something inside myself, something dark.”

  His hold tightened. “It’s not dark.”

  “Dangerous, then.” She found the courage to look up at him, and when she did Bri was relieved to find his expression held no condemnation, but rather gave an impression of sympathy.

  He stroked her cheek. “You were trying to protect them.”

  She nodded. “But it didn’t matter. I still made Jeffrey sick, and Matthew. I killed my fiancé.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  She pushed off him, coming to a seated position beside him. “It was completely my fault! Why didn’t my nana come out and say it until her death bed?”

  He met her glare with an open gaze. “Maybe she hoped your human side was stronger than the other part.”

  “The female vampires you are supposed to hunt and kill. That’s what you said. Mercenaries. Assassins. That’s what you said. And you are supposed to capture one.”

  “No. Capture and kill.”

  She inched away. “So you’ve captured me. Why haven’t you turned me in?”

  He dragged a hand over the bristle that was his hair and pushed up to his elbows. The position was so enticing she gave a quick sweep of his body, tucking the memory away for later consideration.

  “I guess it’s the same reason you haven’t run away. I know you could. And I could track you but I doubt very much that I could catch you.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments, he with his thoughts and she with hers.

  “What’s going to happen now?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Well I can’t stay hidden here forever. Your commander will surely find out.”

  “I’m working on it. For now, I keep you out of sight and I keep Johnny out of trouble.”

  She wrapped her arms about her knees and rested her chin on her folded wrists. She liked Mac, and she wanted to help him and Johnny. They were the first people she’d ever met who understood what was happening to her, and they were different, just as she was. What would he do if she told him that she didn’t want to leave them even if they did kill the vampires? His words came back to her: just sex.

  She closed her eyes and groaned. How could she be so stupid?

  Mac eyed her cautiously. “You okay?”

  She forced a smile and nodded. “Perfect.”

  “How long have you been able to go into supersonic speed?”

  Bri gathered her panties and gave them a shake, then slipped into them. “I only did it once when I was a girl. I got called to the office and they told me my grandmother was sick. That they took her to the hospital and that I would be going to stay with a neighbor. The next thing I knew I was at the hospital. The school was searching for me for hours but I found my grandmother. She had an intestinal blockage and had to have surgery. But she was fine afterward.” She wound a lock of hair around her index finger and then let it slide away. She thought of something she hadn’t before. “Do you think I caused the blockage?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Honesty, she realized. She appreciated that.

  They stared at each other in silence as each wrestled with their demons. Hers were too dark, so she turned to his.

  “When did you find out what happened to you back there?” she asked.

  Mac drew on his boxers and trousers and sat up. “A few weeks later, maybe.”

  She nodded her acceptance of this and motioned for him to go on.

  He rubbed his temples, and when he spoke his voice carried a weariness unfamiliar to her. “I was pretty chewed up. I don’t remember much of evac or the hospital over there. Maybe I was sedated. They said my lung collapsed and I lost so much blood that I flatlined. When I finally came around I had healed, so I thought I’d been out a long time and that I’d been hallucinating. But then the memories started, first in my dreams and then when I was awake. I started asking questions. They showed me Johnny.” He pressed the pads of his fingers into his eyes as if trying to keep himself from seeing.

  Bri rested a hand on his leg. He lowered his hands and she caught a glimpse of the unfathomable sadness that hung heavy inside him.

  “They had him in a cage. Like the kind they keep tigers in at the circus. I didn’t recognize him. I thought it was the thing that attacked us.” He shook his head at the memory. “I tried to kill it. My brain stopped working and I tried to kill it with my bare hands. Only they weren’t my hands. They were dark with long claws and gray fur. I started screaming but it was just a howl. That was the first time I changed. They used a tranquilizer dart on me. Had to hit me in the mouth to break the skin. When I came around they told me what happened back there and that it was Johnny and he couldn’t change back.”

  Bri rubbed his shoulder.

  “I’d do anything to change him back,” he whispered.

  From somewhere far off a wolf howled. Mac straightened and his muscles grew tense.

  Bri rested a hand on his shoulder.

  “He’s out there all alone,” she whispered.

  “Running the perimeter to keep you safe.” Mac stood and dusted off his backside. He glanced toward the dark woods and then back to where she sat huddled beside the fire.

  “Go on,” she said.

  And in a moment he was gone.

  * * *

  The instant Mac left Bri, he broke into a run. The howl came again. Johnny needed him. He glanced behind him at the retreating campfire. Bri needed him. He wished he could cut himself in two.

  He and Brianna had been so good together. He’d been with women, more than a few. But never had he felt so in sync and so moved by sex. Because it wasn’t sex. It was making love. Now he understood the difference. And on some deep level that he did not quite understand, he knew that it was the woman that drew him, not the part of her that was fairy. Finally, he realized he was in way over his head.

  He was deep in the pines before he realized that he was heading back toward Bri instead of tracking Johnny. He scented the air for signs of threat and found nothing but the sweet smell of the damp earth and the alluring fragrance of her skin.

  Mac shook himself like a wet dog and turned to search for Johnny’s scent, hurrying now with this task that now seemed a burden. He wanted to get back to Bri, back to her warmth and her smile and her sorrow. Back to the welcome of her arms.

  Damn it. Before her
arrival he knew his duty. It was to his country and his family and to Johnny. But now...

  He concentrated on his fury, letting the emotion break through him with the wave of pain, tearing him apart from the inside. He endured it, dropping to his knees briefly before rising in his wolf form to follow his gunner. He could change quickly now, in the blink of an eye. But it still hurt like hell. He ran Johnny down, finding him on the east side of their territory. His friend heard him coming, because he was waiting, tongue lolling, as Mac loped up to him.

  Mac suffered the transition back to human form. Naked now, he dropped to his haunches, covering his privates as best he could. After three months, he and Johnny had few secrets.

  “Why were you howling?”

  Johnny roared and swung an open hand through the air. His claws made a whistling sound as they lashed out.

  Had Johnny seen him with Bri? Mac stilled at the possibility, knowing instinctively that his friend would be pissed. Now he wished he had bathed. Bri’s scent was heavy on his skin along with the aroma of sex.

  Mac stayed downwind as Johnny motioned to the east and then signaled him to follow.

  “Wolf or man?” asked Mac.

  Johnny used his fingers to simulate upright walking and Mac followed at a jog.

  After a few minutes Johnny pointed to a tree. Mounted on the trunk was a surveillance camera.

  “Son of a bitch,” said Mac.

  Johnny sighed.

  “Any near your place?

  His gunner shook his head.

  “Do you think they caught us moving her?”

  Johnny shrugged.

  “Bri can’t come back to the compound. She has to stay at your place.”

  Johnny nodded.

  “No more writing in the dirt. No more sign language around the compound. Only out here.”

  Johnny nodded his agreement and looked about as if searching for more surveillance cameras.

  “How long do you think we can keep her secret?” Mac asked.