Claiming the Wolf

by Michele Hauf

  “Will you...” He stood, his hands out, palms up. “Help me?”

  “You know what you’re getting into, wolf?”

  He shook his head. “Everything has gone pear-shaped. I don’t know anything right now but blood. I can smell yours. It’s sweet, like vanilla cream. I think it’ll taste like a treat, and I want to rip out my heart for saying that because it’s too wrong.”

  He turned away from her, his shoulders shuddering as he resisted the instinctive pull. Fists hard at his sides, the wolf gritted his jaws.

  Danni sucked in her lips. He was in real pain and determined to fight this. Knowing that he wasn’t as tough as he appeared, her heart pulsed for him. And she wanted to make it better.

  Sliding a hand along his arm, she moved her fingers over his massive biceps and tight, sinewy forearms until she reached his hand. Opening his palm, she placed her palm against his and closed her eyes. Wrists parallel to one another, his pulse beat against hers, his skin too hot. He exhaled against her shoulder and dipped his forehead to rest against it.

  “No turning back,” she said. A tilt of her head exposed her neck and veiled her hair over a shoulder. “You tear me to pieces, wolf, I will fuck you up.”

  “I won’t hurt you,” he whispered. “Won’t try to, anyway. Danni.” His fingers shook as they stroked the skin on her neck. “It’s strong, your pulse. Calls to me. And your skin against mine is like a normal touch, but ten times more real, if that makes any sense.” He growled and made a painful noise. “My fangs, they hurt to come down. Thicker than yours. It’s going to hurt you.”

  “Just do it!”

  Three

  Grabbed about the waist by Hart’s strong arm, Danni’s bare feet left the floor. The wolf clutched her chin, forcing back her head—and then the intrusion. Hard, thick fangs opened her skin in a painful piercing. Heat, light, terror, passion. Danni moaned. This was how it felt when the piercer grabbed the skin and shoved in the belly ring without a numbing agent. Hart held her in a powerful clutch and growled as he slipped out his teeth and sucked in her blood.

  The hand at her jaw slid down over her breasts, clasping, clutching. He squeezed her body against his, kneading her into him as he fed upon her. It felt too good, and painful, and blissful, and never stop, never stop, never stop...

  Danni closed her eyes and coiled forward, suspended in the werewolf’s clutches as he feasted upon her. His erection, hard like the steel pipe that had penetrated her, crushed against her hip, and she wanted to grab it, squeeze it, and this time allow it inside her willingly, but she was flying into the swoon right now and nothing else mattered but surfing the pleasure of his wild and wicked kiss.

  The hand at her breast massaged and tweaked her nipple, which rocketed all sensation to the stratosphere. Danni slapped a hand over his, encouraging him to continue, to punctuate this embrace with the rough command of his sensual desires.

  With a hiss, he pulled his mouth away from her neck. Eyes wild and blinking, the wolf stumbled backward, Danni still in his grasp, and he sank to the floor, sliding against the sofa, holding her clutched tightly to his chest, as if she were a favored doll.

  “Oh, yes,” she moaned against his panting chest, her breathes coming quickly and her fangs descending. She wanted to reciprocate the bite, she needed to feel the river of his hot blood in her mouth, but a little voice held her back. Let him process this. Don’t push him over the edge.

  Hart moaned like a man who had climaxed, and indeed, she knew the act of taking blood was very close to orgasm, and she oftentimes achieved a similar high. Sliding her hand over his hard-on, he groaned, hugging her closer, while his body shuddered in reaction to her ministrations.

  “Now the sex,” she whispered, and without his permission, unzipped him and slid her hand inside his pants to find the impossibly hot, steel rod that strained for release. “You ready for this, wolf?”

  “Fuck,” he murmured, still lost in the blood swoon. “Ready?”

  Blood stained his mouth, yet she kissed him deeply, driving her tongue over his teeth and tasting her blood, his sweet breath, his panting desires satisfied. Her hand wrapped about his cock, her fingertips did not touch. Big, swollen, and like molten coal. She wanted to burn herself on the source of his heat and dipped her head to lick the head of him.

  “Danni.” He shifted his hips and gripped a wodge of her hair. “Hell yes. This is... So much to process. Your blood...”

  “Stay in the swoon, Hart. I want to explore the big bad wolf. Got a problem with that?”

  “No,” he croaked out. He lifted his hips when she tugged at his pants, pulling them down to his thighs. Commando beneath; she appreciated the easy access.

  Kneeling before him, she took him into her mouth to the rousing sound of his moaning approval. Sweet and musky mixed with a tendril of spicy cologne. She reached low to cup his heavy testicles. His fingers gripped her hair tightly and followed her rhythm, not pushing or forcing, which she appreciated. One of his hands tugged the tank top over her breasts, eager now.

  Surfacing from the swoon, he was finding his bearings, and she sensed his switch to the hunger for her body, as opposed to her blood. He pinched her nipple and she nipped the head of him, eliciting a groan. Working her hand up and down him swiftly, she glided her shoulders up, and he found her breast with his mouth and sucked her hungrily.

  “Yes, hard and rough,” she encouraged. “Don’t hold back, wolf.”

  Dipping her head aside his neck where his scent was deliciously strong, she had to caution the need to sink in her fangs. She’d love to taste him again, but she decided to give him this one. A freebie. For now.

  “Christ, you’re amazing. You’re going to get me off again....” He clutched her by the hips as her hand worked faster and faster. “Never thought I’d do this with a vampire....”

  Yeah, rub it in that she was a longtooth. Right now, Danni didn’t care about their differences, because they were too much alike. They needed, and perhaps for the moment, they two were the only in the world who could fulfill each other’s intense and wanting desires.

  Hart cried out hoarsely and came, spilling over her hand, his hips thrusting upward. He swore in the good way most do when they climax, and then grabbed her by the neck and pulled her in for what she thought would be a punishing kiss—until his mouth landed on hers so tenderly, so sweetly.

  Melting against his body, which shuddered with the after-tremors of climax, Danni pulled up her knees to snuggle tightly to his heaving chest. His shirt was soft and worn, and it felt good against her bared nipples as he kissed her slowly and deeply, reverently. Making her his. Showing her a tenderness she wagered none had ever won from this brute wolf before.

  Falling into his kiss, she wasn’t sure she’d ever experienced such a perfect moment of connection, of taking in each other’s breath and sighing softly in reply. Fast replacing the thrill of the almost-sex they’d just had was a desire to remain snuggled against him and seek protection from forces she could never completely escape.

  “You’ve destroyed me, Danni,” he whispered into her mouth. “I hate you for that.” And he hugged her to him in a way conflicting with what he’d said.

  He hated her. As he should.

  Danni could not summon an ounce of hatred for this hard wolf who had softened in her embrace, and who she couldn’t imagine letting go of ever again.

  * * *

  Hate her? If only.

  Hart watched Danni stand over
him and slip the tank top off over her head. Then she slid down the tiny shorts that had hugged her muscled thighs possessively. When they reached her heels, he tugged off the bit of fabric as she stepped out of it. His eyes traveled her impossibly long legs to the sensual curve of her knee bones where he’d have liked to plant a kiss if he weren’t so stymied.

  He’d consumed this woman’s blood, and then she’d jacked him off. What a bizarre and amazing thing. It had felt tremendous. A new kind of adrenaline rush that no amount of time in the gym could match. Someday, in werewolf hell, he would burn for this. But until then? This wicked simmer heating his skin and pounding his pulse was worth the impending flames.

  Following the inner softness of her thighs with his gaze, he lingered there at her mons, which boasted dark hair, not the bright color as that on her head. Her belly panted and Hart’s eyes skipped to her full, heavy breasts that had tasted like sweets filling his mouth. And there, a trickle of crimson spilled over the top of one breast, and he followed the trail to the side of her neck where her skin opened in two wide holes.

  He swished his tongue across the enamel of his upper teeth, the canines thick and sharp, shocked he’d actually done it. Yet, now that he assessed the moment, the craving had subsided. He’d fed the gnawing, insistent hunger, and it had felt good.

  Danni leaned forward, her take-me-on cherry hair spilling over the telltale sign of his brutality. “Come on, big boy. We’re just getting started.” And the nude nymph strode away, down the hall to, he presumed, the bedroom.

  Turning and going on one knee to follow the sexy sashay of her tight arse, Hart vacillated between racing after her with his pants spilling about his ankles, or turning to dash out the front door which was only six feet from where he knelt.

  A wise wolf would get the hell out of here. Never return. He’d done the deed, now he needed to move beyond, figure out what came next for a werewolf who had consumed blood as a means to satisfy a craving.

  And yet, Danni’s derriere was perfect. He could place a hand to each side and squeeze, hard. He wanted to follow the curve of it with his tongue and glide along the smooth line of her spine. He wanted to taste her, to eat her, to devour her—but only her skin and her sighs and her moans.

  No more blood. Stop thinking about blood. Could he chase away thoughts of blood by indulging in the decadent pleasures her arse offered?

  Licking his lips clean of the last traces of wicked crimson elixir, Hart bounded down the hallway, kicking off his shoes and pants as he did so, and swung around the doorway into the afternoon coolness of a dark bedroom decorated in deep purples and bright reds. No decorations beyond the color though. The whole apartment was Spartan, which was odd for a woman. He liked the unexpected surprise of her.

  Danni sprawled forward onto the bed, wiggling that sweet arse in invitation, and peering back over her shoulder. “You still hungry?”

  “Not for blood.” The words spilled from his lips. “No more. Can’t. Can never—”

  “Don’t sweat it, Hart. I’m talking about a different kind of satisfaction.” Twisting, she sat and spread her legs, drawing a finger down her toned stomach and along her thigh. “Come on, wolf. Taste all the places on me you haven’t yet discovered.”

  Now that was an invitation he couldn’t refuse.

  * * *

  The wolf started at her ankles, licking his way slowly up her sweat-pearled skin. When he arrived at the inner curves of her knees, Danni squirmed and rolled to her stomach, granting him easy access to a spot she had never realized was so sensitive. It was almost like he was licking her between the legs because the sensation of his touch skittered up her inner thigh and hummed there at the V of her legs. Her core spun dizzily and she gripped the crisp white sheets and bit the corner of the pillow.

  Vanilla scented the room from organic oils she kept in open jars on the dresser. It cast a hazy mellowness over all. Lost within Hart’s attentions, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been without care or worries. In the moment now. Some kind of dream she’d thought long lost to her.

  Hot tongue snaking its way higher, Hart stroked along the curve of her derriere, and she lifted her hips, coaxing him to explore wherever he may desire.

  “Spread your legs,” he rasped, the commanding tone gentle but irresistible.

  He liked to be in control, and she had no problem succumbing to his demands. Still lying on her stomach, hips lifted, she slid her knees wider and nestled her cheek against the pillow.

  The intrusion of his finger into her pussy stirred a humming moan from Danni’s throat. She wiggled her hips, pressing backward to sheath him as far as she could manage. His thumb slipped over her clit, and his rough knuckles teased at the sensitive length of her folds.

  “More,” she pleaded.

  “Two,” he said, and eased another finger inside her. He kissed across her ass and tickled the indented dimples of Venus with his tongue, his palm rough but seeking as it glided her spine. “Or maybe three? Mmm...”

  Rocking back and forth, slicking herself upon his fingers, she fell into a giddy, blissful reverie she never wanted to leave. A fang tore the pillow case and she giggled, but the giggle quickly turned to a wanting moan as he punctuated his entrance with a determined focus on her sensitive clit.

  “Hart, fuck.”

  “Yes, I’m fucking you. Though I prefer the term shagging. You did want this, yes?”

  “Yes. Feels so good. Want to...”

  His voice whispered near her elbow, his tongue lashing out to trace her skin. “Want to what?”

  He filled her and dizzied her senses. She was close. Every part of her hummed, preparing for release. “To bite you,” she gasped. Her fingers curled into the sheets and she cried out in orgasm.

  The burly wolf behind her slid close, his thighs hugging the curve of her bottom, and as his fingers slipped from her, her body spasming to hold him inside, he slid in his cock, and beat out a new rhythm against her shuddering body. One hand clutched her breast, holding her to his hard chest as if there would be no escape, the other dragged fingers through her hair, twisting her head aside to receive his quick kiss to her jaw. He pounded against her, driving, seeking, dashing to the teasing, rushing edge of oblivion.

  Gripping her tightly, to keep her, to control her, Hart suddenly burst into his own orgasm, which renewed the delicate shimmers and squeezes of after-orgasm in Danni’s body. Together they collapsed on the crinkled sheets, side by side, spent, but nowhere near exhausted.

  Danni twisted her body to hug her breasts against her werewolf lover’s heaving chest. His gasps hushed over her mouth, her neck, her shoulders.

  “So good,” he muttered.

  She traced the scarred bite mark on his neck, and he bit his lip, moaning. “Hell, what was that?” he said. “It feels like you are stroking my cock when you touch me there.”

  “I own you,” she cooed. Well, maybe? She wasn’t sure what the whole biting a werewolf thing implied, beyond giving him the unnatural blood hunger. But only her touch on the scar would give him pleasure, and right now that felt like ownership to her. “And I need you again.”

  Fangs descending, she dove for his neck, right over the scars, and sank in the pin-sharp tips.

  Hart growled and shoved her roughly away. His skin tore and it hurt her fangs as they left his neck. He gripped her jaw and shook her head. “No! Never again, you sneaky longtooth.”

  The cruel epitaph brought Danni down from the pleasure high
like an SUV crashing into the river’s moon-mirrored surface.

  “You’ve already marked me once,” he insisted. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “But you know the blood and sex—”

  “No.” He pushed away from her, reeling, to stand beside the bed. His body glistened with perspiration, his muscles hard and defined from exertion, and his bold cock stood proudly, ready for more action. “I can’t do this. This was...wrong.”

  He grabbed his pants and stuffed his legs into them then looked around for his shoes.

  Danni sat, wiping the trickle of his blood from her fang. It hurt still. If he’d been rougher, he might have yanked out her fang. Mean old wolf.

  Mean old wolf with whom she had thought she was making a connection. What was wrong with her? Oh, right. Wolves and vampires didn’t play nice together. It’s what the tribe had taught her.

  So why did she feel as though that was the biggest lie ever?

  “I shouldn’t have come here,” he said, pulling the dark T-shirt over his head and tugging it down to greedily hug his pecs. His glance lingered on her skin, his eyes softening as he licked his lips. Part of him was still lying next to her, his skin melding to hers, taking from her and giving as good.

  “But you were craving,” Danni said softly. “You needed me. I helped you, Hart.”

  “Help?” He compressed his lips and shook his head, looking ready to punch something as a fist formed. “Because of you I now crave blood. Blood! And blood mixed together in some kind of weird sex act.”

  “This wasn’t weird. You enjoyed every minute of it!”

  Hands flattening in the air before him, he bowed his head, giving his anger a moment to settle. She hoped.

  “I’ll give you that. The sex was ace. But that’s the point. I enjoyed it, Danni. And I enjoyed drinking your blood and that is not right in my book!”

  Charging out of the bedroom, the wolf left her there, sprawled on the bed, hair tangled and body still weak from the heady, muscle-wringing climax. When the front door opened, then slammed, Danni winced, and buried her face against the pillow. Tears didn’t come. She’d never been one to cry. Dan the Man was tougher than that.