The Covert Wolf

by Bonnie Vanak

  As she pushed off his lap, an icy cold settled into her bones. Matt looked expressionless, his big body tensing. He was alert and watchful like a wolf. Dangerous. Her gaze roved over his big body, remembering how skillfully he’d made love, bringing her from one height of pleasure to another. He was a consummate warrior who knew his own strength, could snap a man’s neck with his bare hands, but he’d been gentle and tender with her.

  She’d thought Draicon wolves were nasty and cruel, thinking only of their own base needs. Not Matt. He was different.

  With a startled pang, she realized she was falling for him.

  Panic clogged her throat. She couldn’t risk giving her heart to Matt. It meant giving up everything she’d known her entire life. Tough, courageous Matt with his quiet strength and raw sexuality did not fit into her world.

  Matt was a shooting star, brilliant and fiery, but temporary. And he was wolf, enemy to the Fae.

  “I’m not wolf. I’m Fae. I’ll prove it and drop this glamour. It’s nothing more than glamour, Matt,” she said.

  Closing her eyes, she culled the image of her Fae self. No more Draicon glamour. Sienna thought of quiet forest glades, the serenity of her people, their chants and music and history.

  She raised her arms and concentrated with all her might.

  And opened her eyes. Sienna glanced at her hands.

  Her skin wasn’t pale, like a Fae’s. Reflected in the shiny glass of the sliding door was a woman who looked exactly the same as before.

  Sienna staggered back, putting her hands to her face, touching her eyes. Not large Fae eyes with a slight slant and delicate arched brows. But Draicon eyes.

  Ashamed, she went inside, into the bedroom. Studying her reflection in the mirror, she tried to analyze what happened. If she couldn’t summon her Fae self, then how could she return to her people?

  She’d have nowhere to go.

  The sliding glass door opened and shut again. She felt two strong hands settle on her shaking shoulders.

  “I can’t do it. My glamour is fading. I can’t even assume my own form anymore.”

  “It’s okay, Sienna,” he murmured. “It’s okay. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

  She offered a small smile. “You make me feel that way. You’re pretty special, Lieutenant Parker.”

  She wanted to lean against him, soak in the comfort he offered. Gods, she was tired of trying to be strong on her own.

  When they separated, he studied her. Eyes blue and piercing as lasers locked on her. A hank of hair fell into her eyes. Gently, he brushed it away.

  “You’re amazing and lovely, and have so much to offer. Your people are stupid for letting you leave. I’d never let you go.”

  Words from a strong warrior who admired her. Self-confidence flared again. Matt wanted her. Someone of great worth desired her. Her eyes tracked the bulge and flex of biceps, the wideness of his shoulders stretched against the tight T-shirt, the body of a hardened warrior. Intense longing shivered through her. She wanted to draw close and achieve what they’d shared last night. He’d made her feel special and cherished.

  “Make me forget, Matt. Just for a while, I don’t want to remember anything,” she whispered.

  Sienna slid her arms around his neck, feeling tensile strength in his wide shoulders. She parted her mouth as he bent his head. Warmth surged through her as his tongue thrust past her parted lips. Never before had a kiss felt so arousing, possessive and intense. Sienna closed her eyes, losing herself in sensation. She craved the closeness of last night, the fragile bond they’d created in the flesh.

  She concentrated on the hot plunge of his tongue, the casual, skilled strokes he delivered.

  He kept kissing her, his hand drifting up to her breast. He cupped it, gently kneading. Then his thumb drifted lazily over the tightening nipple. Sienna gasped as sharp, delicious pleasure speared her. His hips rocked gently, his rock-hard erection pressing against her, indicating his need.

  Lips moved against hers, kissing with arrogant authority. He sucked on her bottom lip, released it with a faint popping sound. Whispered into her mouth.

  “I’ll make you forget, starshine. Make you forget.”

  Ragged need made his voice deepen. She bit her trembling lips. “I think—”

  He laid a finger over her mouth. “Don’t think. Just feel. No excuses, no changing your mind. Because if I don’t have you, right now, I’m going to die.”

  A shaky hiss of breath escaped her lungs. He pulled her to him once more, kissing her, forcing her thighs open as he wedged himself between them. Palming her breasts, cupping and squeezing. The slow slide of his hands intensified the deep ache between her thighs. She felt empty. She wanted him to fill her, completely. Wanted to chase away the horrible feeling of failure. Matt made her feel feminine and desirable.

  The fever built, scorching her with each stroke of his hands. Burning hotter as his fingers drifted lower, teasing lightly as he cupped her mound. She made little moaning sounds against his mouth, opening her legs wider, trying to get closer. They writhed and tangled with each other until her back met the wall and he caged her there with his body.

  He tore himself away, his breaths ragged, his firm lips parted. Matt groaned as she licked his collarbone, tasting the salt of his skin. She lightly bit.

  “Please. Now.” Her voice trembled.

  Parting her robe, he slid a hand beneath the fabric. Surprised pleasure dawned on his face as his fingers caressed the tangle of damp feminine curls. Sizzling heat bit as his fingers explored lower. He lightly stroked a finger across her wet, throbbing cleft. Her body arched, muscles squeezed. Sienna cried out, pushing her hips frantically against his exploring fingers.

  “Easy,” he soothed.

  His fingers parted her folds, found her slick wetness. Rubbed slowly, lightly, stoking the fire to unbearable tension. Sienna moaned, throwing her head back, tunneling her fingers in his silky hair.

  She nearly sobbed in frustration when he broke contact. He quieted her with a soothing whisper, then swept a hand across the nightstand, fumbling for the condoms he’d placed there.

  His hand dropped between them. She heard the slide of a metal zipper unfastening, latex slipping over hard flesh. The jutting length of his erect penis indented her soft belly.

  Sienna braced herself for the full impact of that rigid cock.

  Matt cupped her bare bottom, kneaded and squeezed. With seamless ease, he lifted her. He positioned himself. The hard, rounded knob of his penis settled against her wet, throbbing cleft.

  He pushed himself slowly inside. Pleasure etched his face as his eyes closed, as if he relished this moment of exquisite contact. Her core tightened in agonized need. Muscle and sinew in his shoulders tautened beneath the digging pressure of her fingertips. “Please!” Her voice rasped in a hoarse cry.

  “Tell me what you want,” he demanded, opening his eyes, his gaze fierce and glittering.

  “You,” she gasped.

  “Look at me, Sienna,” he commanded.

  His ragged breath rasped. With a powerful thrust, he fully entered her. Sienna arched, gasping at the smooth, hard thickness of his penis. He was huge, thick and almost impossible to take. She wriggled around him, the discomfort turning to alarm. Immediately he withdrew slightly.

  “Shhh,” he murmured soothingly.

  Holding her still, he pushed forward again. The feel of him between her thighs was like having a hot, thick bar pushing past the quivering muscles of her tight sheath. She clung to him, wetness dripping out of her, readying her for him as he withdrew.

  He coaxed her mouth to his, stroking her bottom lip in long, sensual caresses. Sienna eagerly accepted the deep strokes of his tongue. Desperate to have him move again, she whimpered, making rocking motions with her hips.

  Matt leaned his forehead against hers tenderly. “I know,” he whispered.

  He adjusted his position and pushed deep inside her, his gaze intent on her face. Sienna gripped him as he began to
thrust deep and hard. She writhed helplessly against the smooth glide of his penis. He pumped steadily into her, driving upward as harsh groans rumbled from his deep chest. Sienna bucked her hips against him, feeling the delicious friction, the building tension as he penetrated. Closing her eyes, she surrendered to her body’s needs. The grip of his strong fingers kneading her bare bottom, her legs tightened around his lean waist, the delicious thickness sliding in and out of her wet sheath. He was muscled, hard, controlling her with each demanding stroke of his thick shaft. His breaths came harsh and ragged. She burned. Oh, close, so close it was…

  “Come on, pixie,” he panted. “Let go. Come for me. Come for me, that’s it!”

  Stifling a cry, she climaxed, her core squeezing and milking him. She sagged against the wall bonelessly. Matt groaned, his powerful body bucking and shuddering against hers, head tossed back, jaw working violently.

  His lungs bellowed air, mingling with her own rasping breaths. Slowly he pulled free, lowering her to the floor, then he ripped off the condom.

  Escaping into the bathroom, she closed the door behind her. Sienna braced her hands on the sink. The face staring in the mirror had wide green eyes, a smudged and kiss-swollen mouth. No dignified Fae here. Only the wanton, flushed sensuality of the wolf looked back.

  Sienna emerged, the earlier euphoria faded into stricken guilt. She’d just had more wild, abandoned sex with a Draicon werewolf. A navy SEAL, no less, who’d admitted his lifestyle was too erratic to settle down. Driven by her body’s demands, she’d forgotten. Oh, yes, he’d done as she asked. For a few moments of incredible pleasure, she’d forgotten. Reality crashed down around her.

  Matt waited in the bedroom. Sweat glistened on his brow, and his shirt hung open, showing a tantalizing glimpse of hard chest covered with dark hair. So sexy and powerful. The longing shooting through her hurt so badly, she shook from it.

  Grappling with lost composure, she pulled the lapels of her robe tight.

  “Hey.” His expression grew troubled as he scanned her face. “You okay?”

  When she nodded, he cupped her cheek. “What’s wrong, sweetheart. You look upset.”

  “I was thinking about the Fae.” She gulped down a breath. “Every time I get closer to you, I grow farther apart from them. I feel like I’m wandering in a forest without a way home.”

  He grew quiet a minute, as if gathering his patience. “I know how confusing it must feel. But I’m with you in this.”

  “For how long?” she blurted out. “Until you leave, and then I’m alone again.”

  Matt sighed and she saw the damnable truth on his face. “We’ll work it out. You’re different, Sienna, too good for the Fae. Just give it a chance. My people have a lot to offer you, too.”

  She had to steel herself against his soft words and tender promises. Sienna pulled away, throwing up every emotional barrier to keep him at bay.

  “If they have so much to offer, why do you deny them, as well? Your family, Matt. You rarely see them. Your life as a SEAL means more than your own Draicon heritage. You can’t give it up, can you? You’re more bonded to the navy than your own pack.”

  Inwardly, she cringed. A flash of hurt entered his gaze, then it became guarded and distant. He rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Probably true.”

  He turned to leave the bedroom. Matt glanced over his shoulder, the mouth she’d adored kissing now a straight, firm slash.

  “But know this, Sienna. You can run, but you can’t escape what you are. Because sooner or later, it will catch up to you. And when it does, you’ll discover what you’ve been running from is what you’ve been searching for all this time.”

  The door closed with a firm, decisive click as she puzzled over his words.

  Chapter 15

  That afternoon they removed the purse from the safe.

  The mood was strained with the morning’s tension. She stole a shy look at him. “The nicest gift anyone ever bought me. Thanks, Matt. It was beautiful.”

  Then they began stripping off the decor. Each bead and stone was carefully removed and examined. It was methodical, tedious and slow. Nothing happened. Finally, when they’d stripped the purse of its decorative covering, she undid the clasp and peered inside.

  Nothing.

  Sienna laid her hands on the purse, closing her eyes. If Tim had cloaked the Orb through Fae magick, it would be revealed through Fae magick. But as she strained to connect with her roots, she felt only blackness and despair.

  Opening her eyes, she shook her head. “It’s impossible. I can’t do this. My magick isn’t powerful. I’m not good enough.”

  “You can.”

  “Maybe I should just give up. Give it to Aunt Chloe. A pureblood.”

  Gods, she hated admitting that.

  Matt was silent a moment. When he spoke, his gaze was distant.

  “When I was going through Hell Week, the hardest week of training to become a navy SEAL, there came a time when I wanted to give up. I’d broken my leg. Draicon heal fast, but because I had to run on it so soon, it didn’t set right. The pain was…bad. We had to run five miles down the beach, in boots. I didn’t think I would make it.”

  Sienna glanced at him. “How did you do it, then?”

  “Adam. Wildcat was my swim buddy, refused to let me ring out, which means quitting. He told me, ‘It’s not your body that’s letting you down. It’s your mind. It’s a mental game, wolf. You have to want it badly enough to ride out the pain.’”

  A ghost of a grin touched his mouth. “Then he called me a pussy, hooked his arm around my waist and helped me finish the run.”

  Gratitude swelled inside her. He’d shared a part of himself he’d kept private. “Adam was special, like you, Matt. Courageous and strong, able to persevere through pain. It must have been very important to you.”

  Matt gave her a steady look. “That’s what it’s all about in life. Determination and endurance when you’re chasing a dream you want to come true. How much do you want it, Sienna? Because it doesn’t matter what kind of blood you are. You just have to want it badly enough.”

  He was strength and steadfast determination, and his presence gave her the courage to admit it aloud. “I want it more than anything. I need to find out the truth.”

  “Then do it,” he encouraged.

  Sienna fingered a bead. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I feel so confused. Maybe that’s why finding the Orb is so important. It’s not just returning it to my people. It’s hoping I’ll find it and realize the truth of who I really am.”

  “This magick rock can’t give you all the answers, Sienna,” he said quietly. “Some people search for their whole life for those answers, and never discover the truth.”

  Sienna closed her eyes and laid her hands on the purse. A faint vibration shimmered through her. Then it faded as quickly as it began.

  But this time she felt a tugging inside her, like a child yanking on his mother’s skirt. Insight hit her, along with fresh hope. “This cabin is blocking the magick. If Tim used a spell to hide the Orb, he drew on the elements of nature to fuel his power. There’s a lake sacred to the Fae. If we go there, maybe it will help clear the air. And my mind.”

  * * *

  Shifting his backpack, Matt concentrated on the hike to the Fae lake. Wind blew through the Olympia pines, rustled through the valley as they ascended the steep path. The narrow trail was a straight vertical climb, accented by glimpses of heart-stopping views through the sun-dappled pine boughs. Huckleberry and juniper shrubs clustered along the pathway and the outcroppings of granite.

  Sienna climbed steadily on. He admired her determination, her toughness, as she scampered over rocks and through small caches of muddy earth. The blue jeans stretched tightly over her round bottom. He ground down his arousal, remembering how he’d clutched her ass, lifting her for his mighty thrusts as he’d slid into her hot, tight wetness….

  “The lake at the summit is lovely,” she called over her shoulder. “But t
his time of year, it’s well below freezing.”

  He could use a dip in an icy lake.

  He’d sealed her to him, bonding to her in the flesh. And for the first time, he wanted more, craved more. Craved her in his bed, coaxing a smile to her face as he pleasured her, yes. But waking up with her in the morning, teasing her, laughing with her….

  Dream on, he thought grimly.

  Some time later they reached the summit. Sienna led the way around the oval-shaped lake, to a fallen log on the shore.

  Wind skittered across the deep blue water, pushing it into waves of shimmering ripples. Leaden clouds scudded across the sky. Near the fallen log, granite rocks marched across a small clearing like a fence. Long, narrow slashes gouged a dead tree.

  Dense stands of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir ringed the still waters. Sienna sat on the fallen log, scuffing her hiking boot heel in the pebbled ground. Lily pads floated on the clear water. Through the trampled, yellowing grass, he saw paw prints.

  Not deer, but wolf. Matt squatted down, examining it, detecting a fragrant scent.

  “No wolf packs in these mountains. Not for years. Odd, a lone wolf, pausing at the lake to drink. Same set of prints, but here more than once. Several times. A favorite habitat.”

  Sienna stiffened.

  “Come here often?”

  She turned, defiance flaring in her green eyes. “It was a good place to practice my glamour.”

  Beneath the scrutiny of his steady gaze, she crumpled. Shoulders sagging, she slumped over, tracing a pattern of odd symbols in the earth. Fae symbols.

  He sensed the inner war, the struggle for identity. Matt’s heart ached for her. Damn, he knew the kind of struggle, trying to find your footing in a world where you didn’t know quite where you belonged.

  He was a respected navy SEAL, but considered mysterious and aloof, left alone by all outside his team. He was a Draicon werewolf, but to his family, bewildering and foreign.

  “It is a good place to practice. I can see why the Fae revere it.”

  Sitting beside her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, gave a reassuring squeeze. Gratitude shone in her eyes.