Summer Shifter Nights

by Harmony Raines

  “I’m Xavier Skye,” he said.

  “Are you Native American?”

  He returned her smile. “My ancestry goes back to the Egyptians.”

  “That’s interesting,” she said. “So does mine.”

  “Look how much we already have in common,” said Xavier. Then he turned her hand over, palm-side up, and kissed the middle.

  Sensations zinged the pit of her stomach. Nothing replaced the feel of hands and lips, the low sounds of murmured desire, the musky smell… No, nothing replaced two beings striving together in the giving and taking of pleasure.

  She’d bet her next commission check that Xavier Skye was an excellent lover.

  He still held her hand, his thumb stroking a circle where his lips had kissed her palm. He watched her, his lips quirked, and she knew, right then, he was challenging her to act.

  “Would you like to come in for a glass of wine?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He folded her hand within his own and let her lead him to the beach house.

  The Indian Pinks slapped against Elle’s calves as she stepped between the potted plants and onto the patio. She put the bottle of Merlot on the turquoise plastic table along with two glasses.

  Xavier stood next to the table, watching her. She sat, reaching for the chilled bottle. He leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

  “You’re making a rather bold assumption.” She poured the red liquid easily—as if her body was not trilling in excitement. “I offered you wine. Nothing else.”

  He chuckled as he took the seat opposite her. “What are you looking for on this Florida beach?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  He inclined his head, his storm-gray eyes on hers. “Seems like you found it.”

  It both appalled and amused her to feel vulnerable. She never felt weak. Or rather, she never allowed herself to feel weak. Suddenly restless, Elle stood up and crossed the patio. Her bare feet sunk into the soft sand as she traipsed across the beach. Once again she found herself staring at the ocean, looking for answers, for solace. Once again, she found a whisper of peace, but no momentous insight, no goddamned clue what she needed to heal her soul.

  Had Xavier sensed that whatever she’d been looking for, she hadn’t found? He was both perturbing and intriguing. She heard the scrape of the chair on the concrete as he also stood. Within moments, he had joined her, standing nearby and sharing the view.

  She had never met another human being who understood that silence did not need to be filled up by useless words. God, how she hated small talk.

  “I want to make love to you.”

  Elle turned and looked at him, eyebrows raised. It appeared Xavier didn’t enjoy small talk, either. She appreciated his boldness. She liked it when people got straight to the point.

  He met her gaze. “I’m impatient,” he admitted. “I should woo you. Offer to buy you dinner or take you to a movie. Are you a woman enjoys mundane dating rituals?”

  “Hell, no.”

  Her breath hitched and her knees wobbled. The man made her feel like melting Jell-O. She would be wise to walk away, even though she bloody well knew she was going to fuck him.

  What a fool she was. No matter what Xavier offered, he merely sought the answer to one question: What was necessary to make her submit to him? Simon had loved to play games with her. I’ll give you this, you give me that. Always a prize for winning, always a consequence for losing. Until he’d pushed her too far.

  “Are we making a bargain?” she asked.

  “Bargain?” The word echoed with his confusion.

  “You wish to make love to me without the appropriate wooing.” She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Since I’ll be woo-less, what else do you offer?”

  He didn’t respond and she knew she’d nonplussed him. Was he thinking about what kind of treasure to bestow upon her? Take me to your bed, he would say, and I will give you gold. I will give you jewels. I will give you pleasure. And at the end, I will give you pain.

  She swallowed the knot of longing in her throat. Like Simon, Xavier would most likely offer her anything, anything at all, except what she most wanted. Money could buy many lovely toys. It could alleviate financial suffering. It could build and it could destroy. But money was neither affectionate nor kind. Money did not love. And Simon, the man she had wanted more than her next breath, had been in love—with her money.

  Xavier circled around her, standing within her personal space, his gray gaze enigmatic. “I will not bargain.”

  A smile tugged at her lips. So he would not seek her compliance for trinkets. Would he somehow know that she wanted him? Would he do everything in his power to break her, to strip away her pride until her vulnerability was revealed?

  She waited. Her heart pounded, in dread, in hope. He dropped to his knees. Shocked, she reached out, vaguely thinking such a magnificent man should never kneel to another, but he clasped her outstretched hands into his own.

  “Xavier.” His name was a soft plea. Goddamn it! She trembled at the very thought of what he might ask. Fear chilled her. Fear of repeating past mistakes…that she would say yes…that she wanted to say yes.

  “Darling Elle.” He kissed each of her palms. “Make love to me.”

  3

  Xavier stood before her, naked, his circumcised cock long and thick. Elle’s gaze moved from his impressive manhood to travel over his muscled body. His skin was the color of caramel. Mm-mmm. She could not deny the perfection of his form. He was tall with broad shoulders, his stomach rippled with muscle. Dark hair furred his big chest. His unbound raven-black hair drifted around his shoulders.

  “Tell me what you want, Elle.”

  Her nipples ached for attention. “Kiss my breasts.”

  Soft lips descended on her tender flesh, peppering the tops and sides of her breasts with sweet kisses. The wetness of his tongue against her distended nipples made her shudder. “More,” she breathed.

  His hands cupped the mounds, kneading them. Then he grasped her nipples and twisted. Pleasure-pain jolted through her and she moaned. He lifted his head, his eyes glittering with lust. She trembled with joy at the sensations zipping from her nipples to her core.

  Elle dropped to her knees and grasped his cock, sucking his length into her mouth. She tasted his maleness, flicking the pearl of pre-cum leaking from his mushroomed head.

  Wetness flooded her sex as she worked his cock in and out of his mouth. His hands covered her head and his hips pumped as matched her rhythm. She grabbed onto his thighs, her pants and moans low and harsh as she took his cock again and again.

  “Elle!” His seed spurted into her mouth. She greedily drank every drop, licking and sucking until he pried her away. Grabbing her wrists, he pulled her to her feet. Her whole body trembled, aching for his touch as well.

  Xavier dropped to his knees and started licking her clit. As he built and stoked the sensual fire between her legs, her knees nearly buckled, but Xavier held onto her thighs and attacked her sex with lips and tongue. Her heart pounded as heat spiraled through her. Xavier relentlessly sucked, licked, and tasted.

  The orgasm built to a sweet crescendo. She flew over the edge into pure bliss. For a long moment, she felt only heat and light and pleasure. Then, as she attempted to catch her breath, Xavier got to his feet. One finger traced her cheekbone. He said nothing, but a smile curved his sensual lips.

  Xavier circled around her then she felt the steel warmth of his body as he pressed against her, his hardening penis fitting between her buttocks. He lifted her hair and feathered kisses on her neck.

  His hands drifted down to her thighs, trailing up her ribs oh-so slowly until his big, pale hands cupped her breasts. Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples taut and deliciously achy.

  Her sex throbbed, swollen and needy. Her clit was tight with echoing pleasure. Elle stepped toward the bed, placing her hands onto the comforter and offering her ass to him.

  His cock grazed her thighs as he guided the thick member into her weeping se
x. Panting, heart thundering, she pushed her ass against him. “Please!”

  Xavier wrapped one hand around her waist and offered a few, slow strokes before creating a steady rhythm.

  “Yes.” She moaned, gasping, as she met his thrusts. “Yes!”

  Her nipples tingled and her sex dripped. The covers bunched under her fingers as she took every rough stroke. She shoved one hand between her legs and rubbed her tortured clit.

  “Elle!” Xavier tensed, his cock trembling then jerking violently, emptying his seed inside her.

  Her second orgasm ripped through her, robbing her briefly of sight and breath.

  Xavier’s fingernails dug into her skin then he slowly pulled out of her. He leaned forward and kissed her spine. “More,” he said. “I want more.”

  Despite all her fears, all her doubts, she offered her submission. “Yes,” she whispered, wanting him so badly she would give him all that he asked. “I want more too.”

  Elle stretched out on her bed, naked and sweaty, the rhythm of her hips matching Xavier’s urgent tempo. Every thrust brought her closer to the edge of bliss.

  Xavier was skilled and relentless with his hands, with his tongue, with his words. God in Heaven, he had a big cock.

  Her arms were stretched above her head, her chest arched to better rub her nipples against Xavier’s lightly furred chest. Her nipples tingled, sweetly raw from Xavier’s lips and fingers, and now the abrasion of his skin, which skimmed so delightfully across the peaks.

  She moaned as he rocked against her clitoris.

  “I love the way you feel,” he murmured, his teeth grazing her lobe. “God, Elle. You’re so wet. So tight.”

  “Hmm. Tell me more.”

  “I love thrusting my cock into your sex.” His lips scraped her neck, licking away the beds of sweat. “I love fucking you.”

  “Xavier…” The urgency wound as tightly in her voice as it did in her sex. The wave was rising, a thrilling escalation that hovered, waiting… “Make me come,” she begged.

  His tongue flicked the shell of her ear, his breath shuddering as he strained for his own completion. “My darling, beautiful Elle,” he whispered, “you’re the best fuck I’ve ever had.”

  She flew over the edge, drowning joyfully, her nails raking across his back, as the orgasm rocketed through her. Her vaginal convulsions milked him even as he thrust into her, then he was coming, plunging deeply, shouting her name as his seed spilled.

  He gave her no time to recover, his mouth sucking away the sweat on her collarbone, his tongue lapping at the valley between her breasts.

  “Christ, you’re insatiable,” she murmured.

  His chin scraped her skin as he kissed his way down her stomach, stopping to dart his tongue into her navel. He nipped her right hip then rested his head on her thigh, his Xavier eyes glittering up at her.

  She wound her fingers into his damp hair and marveled at the perfection of his face, his body. He was, without a doubt, the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And yet, there was something about him that was…dangerous. Dark. Animalistic. He reminded her of Simon…of how her husband had assaulted her senses with his own perfection, his own menacing aura.

  Xavier’s gaze remained on her face. She’d never met a man like him. He let her think, let her wander away in thought and in daydream, and just… accepted she would return to him.

  He was quiet. Patient. She smiled. Sure. Quiet and patient like the lion who lounged in the grass watching the gazelle. He waited only for the perfect opportunity to pounce.

  “Are you waiting for me to say something silly like, ‘I’ve never slept with a man I’ve only known two hours’?” she asked. ”I’m a woman who knows what —and who—she wants. I rarely deny myself pleasure.”

  “I am the same, Elle.” His palm coasted up her stomach, stopping on her ribcage. His forefinger traced the bones. “We are the same.”

  “That’s a large assumption.”

  “Nevertheless, it is true.” He pressed his lips to her navel, flicking his tongue across it.

  “You are beautiful,” said Xavier, crawling back up her body. He pressed his lips in the valley between her breasts. He twisted one of her responsive nipples between his fingers. Then he let go, leaning down to suckle the peak and flick the tip with his tongue. Elle’s moan encouraged him to devote attention to her other breast.

  She dragged his face up to hers for a kiss. His hands strayed into her hair, threading through the thick strands. As he nibbled the soft skin of her neck, he pressed his cock at her entrance. She shuddered at the pleasurable contact. Oh, how he liked to torment her.

  Elle wrapped her legs around him, urging him inside. Her hot breath fanned the underside of his jaw as she begged, “Fuck me, baby. Fuck me hard.”

  Xavier slammed into her again and again, his eyes closed, his moans harsh. Her hands slid down to his ass and she grabbed his buttocks.

  They gave each other raw pleasure.

  Elle’s cries were low, guttural. He stroked harder, faster. Her sex pulsated around his cock, and then she was arching, screaming and coming, her nails digging into his ass.

  Xavier growled as he thrust hard and emptied his seed again, his own cry of completion mingling with the echoes of Elle’s screams.

  Elle collapsed onto the bed, smiling. Xavier left briefly to wash himself. Lazily, she rolled over. When he returned, he crawled into the bed and cuddled with her. She was surprised that she enjoyed his affection. She had never been accused of being a sentimental woman.

  “Tomorrow, I would like to show you something,” said Xavier.

  “What?”

  His arms tightened around her. “Seeing is believing,” he whispered.

  “Fine,” she said, chuckling. “Be all mysterious. I’ll go with you, but only if you promise to feed me, too.”

  “I’ll provide for your every need,” he promised. “For as long as you let me.”

  4

  Dreams about wolves dissolved into a nightmare of being hunted. Whoever-it-was tracked her in a dark, dank forest. Elle through the trees on four paws, fear pressing her onward.

  Elle awoke, her heart pounding and sweat dribbling between her breasts. Beside her, Xavier slept on his stomach, one arm flung across her. Wolf dreams. Her mind skittered to the night Simon died. He was the reason she refused to paint those fearsome creatures. The creatures she loved. She had spent her whole life building fantasies around those old tales her father told her. The wolves, the strangely named Anubinake, had entered her work from the beginning. They became her obsession. And then they made her fortune—or would have, if she wasn’t already a trust-fund baby.

  “Elle.” Xavier rolled onto side and dragged her into his embrace. “Go to sleep, darling. I’ll watch over you.”

  She closed her eyes, soaking in his strength, and eventually the steady rhythm of his heart lulled her into dreams once more.

  Blinking sleep from his eyes, Xavier zipped up his pants as he moved onto the patio and shut the sliding glass door behind him. Elle slept peacefully and he did not want her disturbed.

  “What is it, my friend?” he asked Jonas.

  “Tanin attacked the holding facility. He and the other outcasts killed our guards and freed all the prisoners, including Lanie.”

  “Damn it!”

  “We’ve got trackers working on finding their location, but Tanin and his mongrels are very good at hiding.”

  Xavier nodded. The last thing he desired was to thrust Elle into the roiling tension caused by political disagreements and Tanin’s constant attacks. It was time he dealt with the outcasts once and for all.

  “Asking her to accept that she’s not only dual-natured, but also a royal and my bride-to-be is a tall order.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll try to prepare Elle, but she’s…stubborn.”

  Jonas smiled. “I expected no less from your mate.”

  Tanin was a beautiful man, a strong wolf, but not a powerful royal. It had pierced his ambitious
heart to its ugly black core to be born low in the chain of leadership.

  In the cheap motel room, Lanie’s gaze roved over her lover as he searched for his clothing, which had been tossed to the floor in the frenzy of their lovemaking. Oh, he was handsome, this one. He was tall, muscled, blond…and soulless.

  “Xavier is taking Elle to his house tomorrow. He’s going to give her the Anubis amulet,” he said. His gaze raked her. “At least some of those loyal to me do not fail in their duties.”

  Lanie clutched the sheet, listening to the warning in those two words. As his lover and partner, she always thought herself immune from Tanin’s punishments. She should’ve known better. Still, she refused to show fear. She stuffed a pillow under her head and drew the sheet up to her chin. “What will we do now?”

  Tanin pulled on his jeans. “I will lead a small team to Xavier’s house. We’ll take the necklace.”

  “It won’t work for you.”

  “If I spill Xavier’s blood on it and perform a certain ritual, it damned sure will.” Tanin grinned. “I’ll sacrifice my cousin in front of our brethren. When the power of the Anubis amulet is mine, no one will challenge me.”

  Tanin led his followers around by their snouts. He had attacked the homes and businesses of Anubinake, but now he was finally ready for the big play. Remove Xavier and Elle and hope for a reunited pack would die. The Anubinake would welcome a new leader. They would welcome Tanin. But he wanted more than just a crown—he wanted absolute power, power that would not stop at ruling the Anubinake.

  “And Elle?” she asked.

  “She will die too.” Tanin’s teeth flashed white and sharp. He leaned over the bed and stroked her cheek. “You failed me, Lanie. You, who I chose above all others.”

  “I won’t again,” she promised. She cupped his face, and looked into his cold eyes. Her heart thundered. “I swear it.”

  He kissed her gently. “I know.”

  He pulled away from her. Gray wisps surrounded her and tightened her body against the bed.

  “What are you doing, Tanin?” She struggled against the magic encompassing her. Tanin had learned the dark arts from his mother—a woman whose heart had been blacker than her son’s. Xavier’s father had torn out her throat for death-cursing the children of other Pack members.