Seduced by the Wolf hotw-5

by Terry Spear

  If he'd been just any man or she just any woman, he might have done just that, left her alone. But no matter what she said, her actions and, hell, her pheromones spoke much louder and clearer than words. She wanted him. He just had to ensure she saw her feelings for what they truly were.

  Laney hurried back into the bedroom and handed Leidolf a couple of warm, wet washcloths and a dry towel. "Here, I'll let you do this," she said. "I'll return later."

  "To be with Felicity?" he asked, crouching beside the bed and washing away the dried blood on the nymph's arm, her skin golden and silky.

  "Yes, yes. The babies are due soon."

  Leidolf looked up at her, noting her anxiousness. "The other women?" Surely Felicity wasn't alone.

  "Ready to help her. I think Felicity has pretty much decided to birth them as a wolf. Easier that way."

  So then why the anxiousness? The women rarely had trouble with multiple births because of their lupus garou strength.

  Leidolf ran the warm washcloth over Cassie's shoulder blade and lower, where drips of blood had trailed down her breast, careful not to touch her wound. She was beautiful. Every inch of her.

  "When will you return?" He again looked at Laney's expression, suspecting she had darker motives. Six other women in the pack could watch Felicity and help her take care of her babies. Why would Laney need to be there, too?

  He realized then how much he relied on her help, as much as he did her mate's.

  "I'll return as soon as I can. Elgin says you were with Cassie at the club until it closed. That she's that wolf biologist you listened to earlier in the night. Since you know her somewhat, it would probably be better if you stayed with her until I returned. Unless you want Elgin to."

  Leidolf gave her a look like she had to be joking. Laney gave a wry smile.

  "Is Felicity's mate with her?"

  Laney chuckled. "Of course. I swear you'd think Harvey is having the babies. He's been complaining of severe stomach pains all afternoon. Says it was food poisoning, but we all know better. And you know how it is when the female of our species has babies. The woman is finally in charge. Every time she snaps at him--for getting her in this way in the first place, he jumps. And after the babies come, she'll still be in charge." Laney gave an evil smile and nodded at Cassie. "Remember that when the time comes."

  Taping the gauze over Cassie's wound, Leidolf shook his head. Harvey was a beta. Leidolf would never be like that, although the notion of getting to that stage in his relationship with Cassie sure appealed. "Let me know how everything turns out for Felicity."

  "I will. Elgin told everyone no one is to disturb you. I'll return as soon as I can." Laney headed out of the room, faster than he had ever seen her move, and shut the door behind her.

  He assumed it was a calculating matchmaking scheme on her part. As soon as she shut the door and the house was quiet, the adrenaline that had built up in his system drained off. Now he felt like a tired, old wolf, needing a well-deserved nap. He covered Cassie with the comforter and then walked across the room to the recliner Laney had picked out for him, saying he needed it for relaxation. Going to the forest, to the lake where he'd seen his nymph, was his place to relax. It would never be the same after finding her there. And he wished they could return some day and take up where they'd left off.

  At first, he sat down in the recliner, pulled out the footrest, and stretched out. He tried to keep his eyes open while he watched Cassie sleeping soundly. She turned over, and the comforter slipped down, exposing her breasts. He groaned, remembering how as a wolf he'd licked the left one. Except he'd been a lot groggier then. Sighing, he hoped she'd heal quickly and didn't suffer from her injury for long.

  He rubbed his chin and stared at the sleeping beauty. What if she woke after he fell asleep? What if she tried to slip away without him or any one of his pack members knowing it?

  He wouldn't put it past her.

  Hell. He rubbed his eyes. He couldn't stay awake. She had taunted him, saying he wasn't such a big, bad wolf after all. Smiling, he thought he wouldn't be too awfully bad, but she'd asked for it.

  He left the chair, stalked over to the bed, and studied her sleeping face. She was beautiful in a wild wolf way. And just as radiant as a human. And his. Once he convinced her of it.

  He climbed into bed, slipped under the covers, and gathered her gently into his arms. She snuggled up against him as if she belonged there. Which she did. If he didn't hold her, he told himself, she could still wake and leave him while he slept without his knowing it.

  Her satiny skin against his, the heat of her body, and her scent made him want her all the more, but he set aside his cravings to mate and closed his eyes, his one hand caressing her back, the other resting on a soft buttock. Her cheek was against his chest, her warm breath tickled his skin. She was the embodiment of everything magical.

  And woman and wolf--all his.

  * * *

  Poseidon rose from the sea as a veritable hunk of a god, droplets of water clinging to him like translucent pearls, as if the clams had given up their claim to their hidden treasures for the god they adored. Poseidon was the seducer of women, just like his brother, Zeus, god of all the gods. It was the god of the sea who held her attention now, wove a spell of compliance over her, encouraged her to stay right where she was, standing next to the hemlocks.

  Half-wanting to remain with him, half-wanting to leave before it was too late, she stood in awe. Eyes the color of the sea, green and expressive, gazed into hers as if reading every wickedly sinful thought she had--from the notion of licking each water droplet off his golden body to kissing his rigid nipples and his full lips born to seduce.

  And she was... Artemis, goddess of the hunt and of the moon. The goddess was supposed to be chaste, but Cassie didn't feel the least bit innocent as she smiled a little at the sea god. Looking as though he couldn't wait another second to have her in his arms, he advanced on her, taking great strides through the water.

  Suddenly, she, who was supposed to be the hunter, felt hunted and fought taking a step back. Go to him, a little voice goaded her. Show him how much you really want him. Be the one in charge.

  Which suited her fine. In response, she moved toward him, not in a stalking way like he did, her stride shorter, but she walked with as much purpose, her gaze willing him to back down now. But, of course, he didn't. And in fact, his lips twitched upward, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

  So much for her being in charge. He had her right where he wanted her. As far as she was concerned, she felt the same way about him.

  Then before she knew what was happening, he was peeling her huntress clothes off her, the safari hat, her backpack, shirt, and tank top. She didn't remember the rest, only that he was lying naked beneath her as if she'd tackled him, his body heated and musky and masculine. Her own body naked against his felt sexy and aroused.

  The hair of his chest tickled her breasts, his nipples standing at attention, waiting for her kisses, and his erection poked her in the belly. It was the way his hand stroked her back with a sensual caress and his other that rested on her buttock that really got her attention. Even now the heat and ache pervaded her loins, and she spread her legs, opening herself up to him, welcoming him in.

  * * *

  Unable to sleep just yet, Leidolf held Cassie in his arms and continued to lightly stroke her back, loving the feel of her silky skin, thinking about everything she'd said and done when he'd first met her. He still couldn't believe she'd been one of his kind all along, hiding the fact from him and everyone else.

  No wonder she knew so much about wolves. He couldn't fathom why she'd be so attached to wolves of the lupus-only persuasion. That she'd work as a wolf biologist studying them and championing their cause. Yet the way she spoke about wolves and her obvious love of them endeared her to him.

  He threaded his fingers through her satiny hair, recalling the conversation they'd had at the restaurant. She'd teased about attracting wolves if she howled, knowing ful
l well the place was filled with their kind. He smiled at her deviousness. He understood why she kept her secret from them. She was in his territory, under his jurisdiction. Running around in her wolf form wasn't allowed unless he said so, or she was at risk for not doing so. He didn't believe for an instant that she'd been at risk until she'd become a wolf.

  Shaking him loose of his thoughts, the vixen spread her legs in an open invitation to sex. Her scent was an aphrodisiac as it was, keeping him fully hard and wanting. She was awake and wanting him in return?

  He stilled his hand on her back and opened his eyes. And frowned at the top of her head, her cheek resting soundly on his chest. She seemed to be fully asleep. Hell. What was he thinking? He'd hoped she was offering herself to him. That was what he was thinking. He sighed. Her pheromones were telling him a different story, and if he reached down and touched her between her legs, he was sure he'd find her wet and ready for his penetration. Was she dreaming of having sex with him?

  When she was ready, he'd be all too willing to oblige. For now, he needed to spend time with her, show her what he was capable of, if she gave him half a chance. With the gentlest of touches, he caressed her back, hoping he'd help to fulfill her fantasies even if she was only dreaming.

  His real hope was she would wake and want what he was willing to offer her: a pack to preside over, a family, but most of all--him.

  Chapter 11

  Cassie luxuriated in the feel of Poseidon, the way he touched her lower and lower down her backside, but then he suddenly stopped the sexy onslaught at the tip of her tailbone, his fingers poised as if ready to continue any second. Carry on, she wanted to command him.

  "Cassie? Cassie, are you awake?" he whispered. His voice was rough and husky and pleasingly seductive.

  She wanted to murmur her approval, but she couldn't summon the energy to respond.

  "I imagine all of my bachelor males are wishing they were the pack leader about now," he said, his voice still hushed.

  Pack leader? Poseidon?

  She was still trying to sort his words out when he kissed the top of her head. She wanted to lift her face and kiss his lips, but she couldn't gather the strength to move her head. Then... she managed to skim her fingertips over the bare skin at his waist, and he sucked in his breath, his fingers renewing their softly sensuous strokes on her backside.

  Hmm, she had power over the Mighty One. She liked his possessiveness, protectiveness, the way he was wary, yet desired her.

  "Cassie," he said again, his voice tight with need.

  He hesitated to speak any further for so long that she thought he'd changed his mind.

  He ground his teeth and let out his breath. "Cassie, if you're awake, I want you to know that we have a lot of eligible bachelors in the pack. Carver is one, and his daughters are lovely girls and could use a mother." His hand stilled on Cassie's back.

  He was giving her up, just like that?

  "What I mean to say is that since you don't have a pack, we'd love for you to join ours. No strings attached. And if you have a friend you left behind in the woods, she can join us also."

  How did he know she didn't have a pack? And what friend was he referring to?

  She snuggled closer to him, slipped her hand around his waist, and sighed. He was hers, and she wasn't going to be any other man's... conquest. Well, not... not...

  She lifted her head slightly and looked into his eyes. Leidolf. In the flesh. She wasn't dreaming after all.

  He gave her a worried smile, and she closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest again. "Hmm, not interested in anyone else in your pack," she mumbled, unbelievably tired. "Anyone," she amended. "In your pack."

  He resumed stroking her back, sending delicious spikes of interest through her willing body. Her mind wasn't falling for the deal.

  "I meant to say the other bachelor males might be interested in the other woman, and the both of you could join our pack." He gathered her tighter into his embrace as if claiming her for his very own. No matter what her groggy mind thought of the situation, she felt right at home with the wicked hunk of a lupus garou.

  Why couldn't he be just a cute human good for a quick fling? He was so much more, and that's what scared her.

  "I assume you figured out that I'm the pack leader in Portland and the surrounding areas. So why didn't you let me in on your little secret that you were one of us? Did you think I'd bite?" He sighed deeply, and for an instant, she felt badly she'd kept her true nature hidden. Except that she had a job to do, and she was sure Leidolf wouldn't let her do it. "Who is the other woman, Cassie?"

  "A female red wolf," she whispered and then licked her dry lips, so, so tired.

  "A lupus garou, you mean?"

  "No."

  He renewed his gentle, sweeping caress. "She's not one of my pack. You have to realize the danger she's in while wearing her wolf coat and running through the woods."

  "I've never seen her before." Cassie yawned.

  "Sorry, Cassie. You must be pretty tired still. I'm used to coaxing answers from my pack members, mistreated under an earlier lupus garou's leadership."

  "Mistreated," she whispered, the thought of hunters killing wolves coming to mind. She couldn't imagine a werewolf pack mistreating each other. Maybe because the only one she'd ever truly known was her extended family's.

  "Badly mistreated, yes. So you spotted a red wolf in our woods around here, lectured at the town hall about wolves and their importance, and then went to the forest to locate her? Why go alone? Why not tell me about it? You recognized I was a lupus garou. That I'd have to look into the matter. If she's another lupus garou, she--"

  "Needs to know who's boss?"

  He smiled.

  Cassie closed her eyes. "She's a wolf. Not one of us."

  His hand stilled on her back. "Why are you so interested in the wolf kind? If she's just a wolf and not one of us, you put yourself at risk for what reason?"

  "They... they killed them. All. No more killing. I... I have to... to educate people about them."

  "Who killed whom?"

  Hunters. Slaughtered wolves. Gunfire. Pop! Pop! Pop! Whimpers and groans and death. Her adopted family. No more.

  Leidolf didn't ask any more questions. He began to stroke her hair as if he was comforting her, and he was. He knew all the right touches, the kind that could make her melt against him and want everything he was offering... for the moment. As soon as she was more alert, she'd be off doing what she knew best how to do. Not be a pack leader's mate, not live with a pack, but continue to go it alone, helping those who needed her.

  His hands slipped down to rest on her back, and she waited for him to begin stroking her again... until he softly snored.

  Snored? She shook her head against his broad chest and sighed deeply, vaguely thinking she needed to leave, to return to the forest, to renew her search for the she-wolf and her pups until everything--the hard contours of his muscles, his once rigid erection, the warmth of his body, the feel of his arms wrapped tightly around her in a lover's embrace--faded completely away.

  Several hours later, the darkness gripped the bedroom Cassie rested in. With her wolf's night vision, she could see an older woman, her strawberry curls streaked with strands of silver, as she sat dozing in an overstuffed chair, her round face peaceful in sleep. She wore jeans and a sweater, a blanket over her lap, as if she was staying the night--and would act as the pack's first warning when Cassie woke.

  That's when Cassie's mind snapped to, her thoughts instantly clearing. The realization that a murderer had shot her near where she had been searching for the she-wolf and her den--and Alex's predicament--came back to her in a flood of memories.

  And now? She was a guest in Leidolf's home. How far from the woods was she? How was she going to return there?

  She'd parked her pickup a couple of miles from the site where she'd hiked in to locate the she-wolf. Once she could get to it, she'd have the two bags of clothes that were hidden under the seats. She
groaned and ran her hands through her disheveled hair, but a shock of pain stabbed the bullet wound on her shoulder. She realized that, except for a bulky bandage, she was lying naked in the bed. It was the usual way for most of them to sleep, but she wasn't like the normal lupus garous and, instead, did her own thing.

  Being naked felt way too sensual, particularly when she was lying in... She sniffed the freshly laundered sheets. His scent flooded her with a warm, tingling feeling. Leidolf's bed. And hell, she'd dreamed she'd had her wicked way with him while he was Poseidon and she was Artemis. She shook her head at her silly fantasies. In the old days, her mother would have said it was a sign Cassie was burying deeper feelings, which she didn't want to consider.

  The woman guarding Cassie jerked awake and stared at her for a minute, then smiled warmly. "I'm Laney, and now that you're up, I'll tell Leidolf."

  Cassie took another deep breath and smelled his woodsy scent on the ultra-soft cotton sheets again, the same as she'd smelled when he'd carried her, except that the added aroma of his sexual pheromones when he had held her were now imprinted on her brain.

  "He'll be glad you're looking so much better. He brought you here because it's the nicest of all the bedrooms. He stayed with you until I was able to watch over you for a while so that he could dress down a couple of our people for going after you in their wolf coats. Now the local news station is reporting that a pack of red wolves is running through the area. All hell's broken loose."

  Cassie suspected Leidolf hadn't brought her here just because it was the nicest bedroom, but because it was his bedroom. The news about the reporters and hunters couldn't have been worse. Cassie had to get to the she-wolf and pups and Alex. "I need some clothes, and I have to go back there, pronto."

  The woman hurriedly rose and headed for the door as if to block it or warn Leidolf that the little red wolf was ready to make her escape. "You can't return there. Not now. A slew of hunters... Thompson and his friend, that Joe character, who are philanthropists for the zoo... reporters... you name it... will be all over the area. If that isn't bad enough, some guy called 911 and reported that two men had murdered a woman and dumped the body in the woods. And that someone had tranquilized Thompson and Joe."