Destined for Harmony

by Leia Shaw

Holy Jesus, he’s going to kiss me.

  And he did. Good and hard. And just like the rest of him, his kiss was commanding, gruff, and held nothing back. She leaned back to put some distance between their bodies, but he wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her still. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t pull away, all she could do was take it.

  Need slammed into her hard. Not just a lustful physical ache, but a need for emotional connection. Her knees wobbled and a slow throb pulsed between her legs. She was turned on? By this egotistical, brute of a man? Not just turned on, but tuned in. Suddenly, their hearts beat to the same rhythm. His scent blended with hers, causing a tingly warmth to spread from her belly. She clutched his shoulders and pulled him closer, though they couldn’t possibly get any closer unless she crawled inside him. She needed him like she needed air. And it scared her.

  His hand drifted down from her back and clutched her ass, grinding her hips against his erection. This was bad. Very, very bad.

  But it felt too good to stop.

  When he finally pulled away, he gave her a longing look. “You should be very afraid.”

  Trembling and confused, she didn’t stop him when he pushed her back against a tree. He kissed her again. At the same time, he unbuttoned her jeans and snaked his hand down her pants. She squeaked and tensed, but he shoved his tongue in her mouth, cutting off any protest. When his fingers found the wet spot between her legs, she moaned and rocked into him. He stroked her, pressing firmly on her clit and she almost flew out of her skin.

  She pulled away from his mouth so she could breathe. “Oh, god!” Her head fell back against the tree and Sorin took the opportunity to nibble and kiss her exposed neck. His fingers worked magic on her throbbing flesh until she was ready to beg him to enter her.

  “You’re mine,” he rasped against her ear. Then he bit her. Hard. On the side of her neck.

  It sent her over the edge. Sorin muffled her scream with his lips as the orgasm hit her hard. Pleasure soared through her nerves. Her knees shook and she almost sunk to the ground, but Sorin held her up with an arm around her waist.

  When her breathing slowed, he pulled away and buttoned her pants.

  Holy shit. She’d just had an orgasm under a tree with the pack beta’s hand down her pants.

  Before she could utter a word, he spun her roughly to face the tree. She braced herself with her hands on the trunk. What the hell?

  A palm landed sharply on her backside. “No more training,” he ordered.

  She yelped and tried to turn around, but he kept her pinned with a hand on her back.

  Another firm slap. “No more torturing my men.” And another, harder swat. “And for god’s sake, no more vampires!”

  He released her and she swung around, angry and blushing. Not only did the scolding sting, but the indignity! “You said you don’t hit women!” She fought back the urge to clutch her ass. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing it hurt.

  He gave her one of those unrepentant looks that made her hackles rise. “Love pats. And I’ll do it again if I have to. As part of this pack you will obey the hierarchy or you will suffer the consequences.” His voice dropped to a husky whisper, “But as my lover, submit to my mastery and you’ll receive pleasure.”

  A chill raced down her spine. Could she actually want this man’s domination? Did that really turn her on? The contrary emotions made her head spin and her temper fly. She snarled, “Love? Do you even know what that is?”

  “Do you?”

  “I know what love isn’t. It isn’t about control.”

  He flinched back like she’d hit him. Had she hurt his feelings? But it was true and her parents had taught her to always stand up for the truth, even if it hurt.

  After a moment of silence, he growled, “Just do as I say.” Then he stormed away.

  She watched him leave, feeling annoyed and tingly all over. But was she tingly because she was annoyed? Or annoyed because his gruff commands made her tingly? Or were the tingles leftover from the mind-blowing orgasm – “Fuck!” The man had spanked her. He’d actually held her still and smacked her ass like she was an errant child. She shouldn’t be having tingles of any kind!

  Defeated and confused, she trudged to the training ring. “Sorry,” she said to Darla and Monica. “I did the best that I could but he’s more stubborn than I thought. He won’t let us fight. Might as well go to dinner now.”

  “You’re just gonna give up?” Darla asked.

  She sighed. “I think he’ll kill me if I don’t.” His angry glare flashed in her mind. “Or beat me, at the very least.”

  “Sorin wouldn’t hurt a woman,” Monica insisted.

  “You didn’t see his face.” Or his hand slapping my ass. She grabbed her coat from the ground and brushed it off. “No. We’ll skip this fight. There’ll be others and I’ll keep chipping away at Sorin and the council. I don’t give up easily.”

  Darla grumbled but both women acquiesced. Shoulders slumped, they grabbed their bags and walked toward her.

  Monica stopped short and scrunched her nose at Harmony. “Hey, what happened to your neck?”

  “My neck? What –” She gasped. Then she remembered. Sorin had bit her.

  “Shit.” Without another word, she ran straight to her cabin then slammed the door behind her.

  She flipped on the bathroom light and stared at the mirror. On the bottom right side of her neck, a dark red bruise, stark and painfully obvious, stood out against her white skin.

  Sorin, the Northwest pack beta, had marked her.

  Chapter 4

  Harmony shot up in bed. The rolling thunder in the distance had startled her awake. Flashes of lightening outside were her only source of light. She glanced at the two empty beds in her cabin then remembered she’d traded the night shift with Monica, and Darla was visiting her grandparents in Nevada. Though she’d been raised outside pack, she was a pack creature by nature and sleeping alone still kind of freaked her out. And she’d just had a horrifying nightmare. She shuddered and clutched her blanket closer.

  As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she couldn’t seem to shake the uneasy feeling that something was watching her. The rain pounded on the cabin roof, drowning out any sound of a possible enemy. Out of the corner of her eye, a figure moved outside her window. Or were her eyes playing tricks on her?

  There were cabins on either side of hers but suddenly she felt so alone. And some menacing presence had her hair standing on end. A loud bang from behind the cabin startled a squeak out of her. Without another thought she dashed out of the cabin and into the pouring rain. Her bare feet splashed through mud puddles as she sprinted to the other side of camp, instinct driving her toward the person she felt safest with.

  She didn’t bother to knock. The lights were off so its inhabitant was either sleeping or working. She stepped inside and looked for his figure in the bed. A soft, rhythmic snoring filled the room.

  Now what? Fuck. What the fuck had she been thinking? Waking the pack beta because of a bad dream and a thunderstorm?

  She turned around to slip back out but a hand caught her around the throat and shoved her into the wall. The only thing she had time to do was gasp. The powerful creature bore down on her like an angry bear and robbed her of breath.

  “Harmony?” Sorin said, his voice filled with sleepy confusion. The hand on her throat pulled away and she sagged against the wall. His footsteps pounded across the wood floor then the room filled with light.

  After she caught her breath, she looked him over. Dressed only black boxer shorts, she got a good look at his body. His abs rippled in six very distinct lines. His biceps bulged like a boxer and his disheveled hair made him look like he’d just come off a fight. God, she’d never seen anything so sexy.

  He frowned at her. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

  “I, um, well it sounds stupid now.”

  He relaxed his posture and strode toward her. “If it brought you here at,” he glanced at the clock, “
Christ! Two in the morning.” He rubbed his bleary face. “If it brought you here at two in the morning, it can’t be stupid.”

  She fumbled with her hands. “I had a nightmare. When I woke up it felt like someone was watching me.”

  “Did you see anyone? Smell anyone?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t scan. I came straight here.” Looking down at the floor she mumbled, “I’m an idiot. I should have –”

  He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “No. You did the right thing.” He pulled her to his desk chair and sat her down.

  As shaken as she was, she still couldn’t tear her gaze away from that fine ass when he bent over to pull on a pair of jeans.

  “I’m gonna have a look around,” he said.

  “Wait!” She jumped to her feet.

  “What?”

  She wanted to beg him not to leave her alone, but that would destroy all the hard work she’d done to prove she was as capable as a man. So instead, she just stared.

  With a patient sigh, he crossed the room and sat her back in the chair. “I won’t be far.”

  Somehow, he’d guessed what she didn’t want to say. He took out his phone and barked a few orders into it. At the same time he stroked her wet hair, calming her in a way that surprised her. Where was the arrogant teasing? Where was the superiority complex?

  “Seth is outside. I’ll be right back. Try to relax. You’re safe here.”

  She nodded and watched him leave then peered around his room. Like most of the camp’s cabins, it had a high rafter ceiling with wood floor and walls. The large bed took up most of the space with a dresser, desk, and the chair she occupied on the other side of the room. She was surprised to find his space so clean and orderly. No empty beer cans, dirty socks, or condom wrappers. Not bad for a bachelor. But if she knew men – there was a drawer somewhere that contained his deepest secrets. For a moment, she considered snooping, but that wasn’t really her style.

  She resisted the impulse and sat shivering instead, jumping at every little noise from outside. His bed was starting to look warm and inviting.

  Sorin came back only ten minutes or so later.

  She stood. “Did you find anything?”

  “No.” He grabbed a towel from the attached bathroom and wiped his wet chest and hair then stripped off his jeans.

  Despite feeling like a popsicle, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I really thought there was something –”

  “Hey. I believe you.” He stood in front of her and she tried not to stare at his bare chest. “Jesus, you’re shaking. And you’re frozen to the bone. Take your shirt off.”

  “What?”

  “You’ve gotta get dry, sweetheart.” Rolling his eyes at her hesitation, he added, “Here, I’ll give you a t-shirt.”

  When he turned around to grab one from his dresser, she pulled off her wet one. He tossed her a dry one then watched her from the other side of the room.

  “Turn around!” It was hard to stay annoyed when he gave her an adorable lopsided grin.

  “No sense getting modest now. I’ve already seen it.” His gaze raked her head-to-toe. “All of it.”

  She scowled and pulled his shirt over her head. It fell down to her knees so she felt a little better shedding her pants and underwear too.

  He pulled back the covers and climbed in bed. “Well, come on. Get in the bed.”

  She blinked.

  “Unless you want to go back to your cabin...”

  “No.”

  “I thought not. Get in.” He held the blankets up and motioned to the empty spot next to him. Though it looked warm and inviting, crawling into bed with a man who made her feel all tingly and confused seemed like a bad idea. No matter how cozy it appeared and how frozen her toes were.

  “With you?” she asked, trembling a bit.

  “Of course. It’s my bed.”

  That snapped her out of her stunned daze. Of course he would be arrogant about it. She huffed. “I was looking for a noble hero. I guess I picked the wrong cabin.” She slid into the bed and curled up under the blanket, as far away from him as she could get.

  A chuckle of male amusement tickled her ear as he tugged her into the shelter of his arms. “You don’t want a gentleman. You want an animal.”

  She turned her head to look at him. “How do you know what I want?”

  “’Cause it’s me you’ll be having, woman. I’m an animal and you’ll take me the way I am.”

  She laughed. “Cocky bastard.”

  “Sassy witch.”

  “Be quiet and let me sleep.”

  He trailed a hand down her arm then lingered on her hip, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. “Oh darling, there’ll be no sleeping until we’ve settled things between us.”

  Her head popped up. “What things?”

  “Well, there’s the matter of you lying half naked in my bed, smelling good enough to eat.”

  “That was your idea!”

  Ignoring her, he went on. “Then there’s the matter of your punishment.”

  Her heart thudded in her chest. “Punishment?”

  “For disobeying the pack beta.”

  Submit to my mastery and you’ll receive pleasure. The words hung in her head and she shuddered. What exactly did he mean? Was she ready to find out? “I’m not scared of you.”

  A predatory look then he flipped her underneath him. His weight pinned her to the bed.

  “I know,” he said, staring down at her. “That’s why I like you. You have no sense, but I like you anyway.”

  She stopped breathing, caught in his deep blue eyes. For all his barbaric faults, he was a loyal, honest, hard-working man. And he just might be hers. The thought should have flooded her with fear. But studying the proud man looking down at her, a warm tingly sensation built inside her. Was it more than lust? Was it love? She’d never been in love. Hearts and flowers weren’t a priority in her line of work.

  Hesitantly, she touched his face. He held still and let her explore him. She liked his unshaven cheeks though the scratchiness scraped a bit when he kissed her. It made him look rugged and manly. She ran her fingertips over his lips.

  “Your lips are so soft and girly,” she teased. “What kind of lip gloss do you use? I just have to get some.”

  He nipped the finger near his mouth and she jerked her hand back. “Ow!”

  “Time for your punishment.”

  He left the bed and retrieved something from a drawer. When he returned to the side of the bed, he ordered, “Give me your hands.”

  “What?”

  He leaned over and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Trust me, sweetheart. I won’t hurt you. And I think you’ll like this.” He rose back to his full height, and commanded again, “Now, give me your hands.”

  She obeyed, hoping her trust wouldn’t prove to be unfounded. He took her hands and wrapped a silky rope around each wrist. Her heart beat frantically as the soft fabric glided over her sensitive skin. He was going to tie her up – make her helpless and vulnerable to his every desire. She shivered with excitement.

  When her wrists were tied securely together, he pulled her arms tight above her head and fastened them to the headboard. She experimented with the strength of the bonds, tugging a little at first, half-expecting to be able to slip away. When she couldn’t budge more than an inch, she pulled harder, using all her strength.

  Shit. She was good and stuck.

  He looked her over, a grin spreading across his handsome face. It felt like a thousand butterflies danced in her belly.

  She squirmed and the borrowed t-shirt rubbed against her aching nipples. T-shirt. She was still wearing his shirt. A bubble of nervous laughter erupted in her throat. “You forgot to take off the t-shirt before you tied me up. Not so great at this, are you?”

  Never taking his gaze off her, his grin widened then he ripped through the t-shirt, top to bottom, leaving her fully exposed. “You were saying?”

  Normally, his arroga
nce was more than annoying. In bed, it was deliciously sexy. A dominant male who would take her pleasure into his hands – it went against every feminist concept she believed in, but some reason, it was hot as hell.

  “Do I scare you now, little girl?” He crawled up her body like the predatory wolf he was, kissing and nibbling as he went.

  He more than scared her. She was terrified. And excited. And nervous. And – Her breath hitched when he stroked between her legs.

  Eyes sparkling with lust, he said, “You’re wet. You do like this.” He tsked as he stroked her lightly. “Naughty girl. I don’t know if I’ll last through your punishment. You’re beautiful, bound and helpless. At my mercy in every way.”

  His teeth scraped against her breast as he continued to tease her clit.

  “Ohhhh…god,” she moaned.

  He chuckled then removed his hand from that sweet spot. She whimpered and started to protest but he cut her off with a warning look. “I’m in control, darling. All you have to do is let go and enjoy it.”

  He placed both hands at her shoulders then glided firmly down over her breasts, pinching each nipple before continuing down either side of her hips, under her ass then down her legs. Chills raced down her spine and goose bumps covered her skin. Her muscles relaxed into the bed.

  “I love every delectable inch of your body,” he said, bringing his hands back to her breasts and kneading them before tasting each one. His tongue swirled around the sensitive peak, sending sparks straight down to her swollen clit. If her hands had been free, she would’ve dug her fingernails into his back and pulled him inside her. But all she could do was clench her fists and squirm.

  She was burning up, the ache almost painful. “Sorin. Please.”

  His cocky smile made her want to kick him. “Yes, my little troublemaker?”

  “Do what you were doing before.”

  His brows shot up. “What? Down here?” His fingers returned to the spot between her folds and pressed down on her clit.

  She arched off the bed with a shout.

  And just like that, his hand was gone. “I think not. You don’t make the rules. I do.”

  Frustration got the better of her and she kicked at him. He caught her foot. “Now, that’s not very nice. And not good behavior for someone who wants something I have.”