by Bonnie Vanak
But Dante did not touch them.
He traced the line of my panties with his index finger. “Turquoise. Very nice. Take them off, Peyton. But first…”
He slid a hand between the fabric and my bare flesh, cupping my mound, then he slipped a finger between my wet folds.
It glistened when he withdrew it. Dante sucked on his finger, made wet by my arousal, his gaze never leaving mine.
“Dessert promises to be delicious,” he murmured.
Hesitating, I looked at the pack.
Dante clasped my chin between his finger and thumb. “Do not look at them. Only me. Now do it. I want you bared for me all the way.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. And then my thumbs pulled down my panties, shimmying them past hips and thighs… oh damn I was going to have to bend over. I wasn’t a graceful stripper like the women in the club.
Making a fool of myself wasn’t on the agenda tonight. But there were other ways…
I took the steak knife, smeared with barbecue sauce, and inserted it between my flesh and the fabric. Silk tore with a loud ripping sound. I tugged off the ruined panties and tossed them aside and then licked the sauce off the knife.
“Too bad you liked them,” I purred. “I’ll have to get another pair.”
Something flickered in his dark gaze. Approval? Challenge? His aura glowed the fierce crimson of passion and desire, along with wolf silver. I was poking at the beast, but it thrilled me.
Dante sat on the bench facing me. I put a foot on the bench, right next to the alpha. Knowing he could scent me.
Knowing my own power over him made me confident.
I gave him a slow smile. “You didn’t say anything about the shoes.”
He shattered.
Moving with preternatural speed, he sprang up.
Dante wrapped a fist in my hair and tugged, forcing my head back. His mouth met mine in a fierce, possessive kiss. His tongue swept into my mouth with forceful intent. There was nothing gentle or sweet about this. It was pure, hard and sexual. As if he demonstrated to the assembled crowd his mastery of me. Everything about the kiss was aggressive and dominating.
And I didn’t care. I wanted this, thrilled in it as he thrust his tongue into my mouth. I sucked on it, biting and showing my own aggression. If his intention was to show his power over me, it wasn’t working.
I had my own power to wield.
Dante broke the kiss. Panting, he stared down at me. Triumph swirled in his inky gaze, but amid here was tenderness as well.
He glanced at the crowd. “You may go.”
As a dismissal, it worked. Couples walked away. Some began undressing and doing their own strip teases.
“You did this on purpose… not to shame me.”
My wild guess proved correct with his small nod.
“You have a beautiful body, Peyton,” he said quietly, skimming a hand over my hip. “What Rodney did to you at the club is unforgiveable. I don’t ever want you ashamed or humiliated at you being naked in front of myself, Alex or Gabriel…”
His gaze flicked to the watching crowd. “Or any of my pack.”
Dante led me over to the table’s edge, bent me over, his hands firmly on my waist. He bent me over.
“Grip the table,” he said, his voice guttural.
I did.
A zipper rasped downward, and I knew he had dropped his pants. Dante got behind me. “I need to fuck you like a wolf fucks his mate, Peyton. Get ready.”
His cock nudged at my entrance and then he thrust hard.
I moaned. He plunged into my body again, slowly. Withdrew.
Fucking me in public. In front of the pack. I’d lost all inhibitions about everything – my body, my appetite, being naked in front of others.
Being fucked in front of others.
All that mattered was the erogenous zone connecting us – his cock and my vagina, joining us together. Like wolves mating in the wild.
I felt his alpha protrusion seek my G-spot and then rub, urging me toward orgasm. Dante gave one last, deep thrust, searing us together.
I came first, screaming his name as loud as I could, not caring who heard us. And then Dante bent over and bit me on the neck, and I climaxed again.
He orgasmed, shuddering on a howl of my name.
And for a moment, just a moment, I felt as if I could run as a wolf, wild and free.
Even though I was human.
And I never could.
20
That night, I slept in the alpha’s bed for the first time. But not alone.
Dante’s bedroom was a study in masculinity, with large, heavy furniture, gold and black décor. The bed itself was a statement.
Dante’s bed had to be twelve feet across, large enough to fit a pack of wolves.
Or accommodate four adults. Three men and one lady. Me.
Dante told me after I dressed and when we headed into the lodge that tonight he would sleep with me. So would Gabriel and Alex, but we would not have sex.
The alpha gave me a questioning look as we entered his bedroom. I smiled. “Must be a three wolf night.”
Gabriel grinned. Then he shifted into a wolf faster than I could blink. He leapt onto the bed, lay on his stomach, head between his paws.
Frowning, I sat up. “Does he always do that?”
“Gabe can rest easier in wolf form. That way he’s ready to fight.” Dante began to undress.
Someone had left my nightgown on the bed’s edge. I picked it up to bring into the bathroom. Playful Gabriel caught it between his teeth and growled. I tugged.
“Hey big guy, I am so not losing this gown to your teeth. I already ruined a pair of panties tonight.”
Jaws opened. Gabriel wagged his tail and looked at Dante.
“I’ll explain later, Gabe,” Dante murmured.
When I emerged from the bathroom, Dante was in bed, naked.
In a burgundy silk robe, Alex ran a hand through his inky black curls. He removed his glasses, neatly folded them and placed them on the dresser.
I grabbed the glasses. “Hey,” he yelled.
Sure enough, the lenses were clear glass. Alex glared at me, his eyes large, the color of caramel.
“Why Alex?”
I kept my voice low and gentle, glancing at Gabriel the wolf, whose ears pricked up. Yet I felt certain Gabe already knew all of Alex’s secrets.
A small shrug. “I like them.”
I set the glasses down as if they were brittle. Certainly they were not. Alex was the brittle one here, and if I pushed too hard, I could really screw this up.
Lose his trust.
I wanted to keep his frail trust, this sensitive werewolf with the rich love of French poetry, the compassionate heart and the soul of an artist.
“They make you look like an intellectual. But they hide you from me. I want to see you, all of you.” I went to him, cupping his dear face with my hands. “You have lovely eyes, eyes that have seen too much of the world. If I could, I would take away what you have seen and replace it with good memories. I can’t. All I can do is tell you I would never hurt you like others may have.”
Alex laced his fingers around my wrists. “I believe that, Peyton. I’ve sensed that about you from the moment we met.”
His kiss was gentle and sweet, like Alex. I sensed the tightly held control and driving passion behind his mouth as well.
Then he folded his robe neatly and walked toward the bed. My body clenched hard with desire as I studied his penis, long and thick, semi-erect.
Alex slid between the sheets and rested there, hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.
I lay on the bed in my red and white striped pajamas on top of the sheets.
Gabriel nuzzled my bare feet, his tail wagging. Waves of contented blue energy radiated from him.
Closing my eyes, I let sleep claim me, as Alex curled up behind my back, Dante holding me close, and protective Gabriel at my feet.
My boys.
My wolves.<
br />
Much later I awoke, feeling a cool breeze at my backside. I rolled over, but Alex was gone.
Arm flung over his head, Dante slept on. Gabriel, still in wolf form, did as well.
I slid out of bed. Though I lacked the shifter sense of smell, I saw faint trails of energy left by Alex’s aura.
He’d gone down the hallway.
I found him in the guest room assigned to me, standing at the window. He did not turn around.
Nude, he stood there, his hands braced on the sill as he stared at the meadow below.
“Peyton, go back to bed,” he said, not turning.
I closed the door behind me. “Not unless you come with me.”
“No.”
“Then I’m staying here. Until you tell me what’s eating at you, Alex.”
I stared at his butt. The twin globes of his ass, so perfect, tensed.
Drawing closer, I gentled my voice. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Hesitation, then a jerky nod.
“Was it about what happened to you before you came to the ranch?”
Another nod and then a sigh.
“Tell me. It will make it go away. My gran said if you share details of a nightmare, it loses its power over you.”
“You don’t want to know what my life was like before I came here, Peyton. Before Dante rescued me.”
He turned and the torment on his face made my heart turn over.
I did. I did because I sensed it was part of the shadows dancing in his dark eyes, the torment flickering there when we were in town yesterday and the human woman had made sheep’s eyes at him.
Turning away again, Alex braced his hands against the window pane. I went to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“Please, Alex. Tell me. I don’t want to know out of some morbid sense of curiosity. I need to know because I care about you, and I don’t want to say or do anything that might hurt you.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “You’re the first skin woman I’ve had sex with since… Natalie.”
Then he turned and some of the torment fled his expression. “The first skin woman I’ve ever made love with, instead of settling for sex.”
Taking his hand, I led him over to the bed, draped a soft flannel blanket around his shoulders. Then I sat next to him and waited.
Alex stared at the opposite wall. “When I was 17, I left my pack in Ohio because I was wild, young and bored. I hitched sometimes, made my way on foot others. I got to Pennsylvania and was in wolf skin that night, hunting mice alongside the road when I darted out into the road… and a car hit me.”
A shudder raced through me. Still, I remained quiet, fearing if I broke the silence, he would cease speaking.
“The pain was excruciating. I couldn’t move, couldn’t howl, and couldn’t shift. I lay there beside the road, while everyone passed. They thought I was road kill. And then a car did stop, and a woman, a skin woman got out.”
I could guess. Her name was Natalie.
“She lifted me into the back of her sedan, drove me to a shifter vet. I was hospitalized with two broken legs, some internal injuries. Still, it was good that I lived. I thought at the time. Natalie came by every day, twice a day. Brought me fresh meat, made sure I was cared for. At the end of the two weeks, I was good to go.
I went home with her because I had no money, and she paid for the hospital bill. Figured I could find a job, pay her back.”
Alex shoved a trembling hand through his curls. “Natalie found out I had skills in managing money and stocks. I made an investment for her that enabled her to pay off the mortgage to show my appreciation for her saving my life.”
A bitter laugh fled him. “Guess that was a mistake. I should have stayed on the road, died that night. Would have been better.”
I gripped his hand. “Never, Alex. I’m glad you’re here, with me.”
He lifted my hand to his mouth, pressed a gentle kiss against my knuckles. Then he let my hand drop. “Seeing my skills with money and investments, she wasn’t willing to let me go. She told me I needed me to stay with her. I owed her. I… stayed. For two years.”
For a moment, silence draped between us. I squeezed his hand in reassurance.
“Was it… all bad?”
A grim look. “At first, even though she was controlling, it was not. The sex was amazing and frequent, enough to satisfy my raging hormones. And then she became possessive…and sadistic. When I shifted to run with the full moon, she tracked me down, threatened me.”
I could not help speaking my mind. “You’re a shifter. It’s what your nature does!”
“I know,” he said softly. “But Natalie got crazy. About a year after I was with her, I shifted and went outside to run with the moon. When I came back…she cold cocked me. I woke up in a cage, naked. Cold. Bleeding.”
He held up his hand, showing his middle finger.
“She’d cut it off. Said if I ever tried to leave her again, she’d take the butcher knife and cut off my dick as I slept. She kept me naked in that cage for a month, getting her kicks from torturing me, telling me that I was an animal and deserved to be treated like one.”
Horror filled me. “She was psychotic.”
“Yes.” He stared down at his hands. “She refused to let me shift. Said she would turn me into the authorities, tell them I raped her. The less I shifted, the more my wolf powers waned until I wasn’t certain I could shift again. She controlled every aspect of my life and put a shock collar around my neck to make sure I did not shift. Sometimes… she set off the Taser just for fun. For laughs.”
Shock collars were illegal. Didn’t mean that cruel humans couldn’t find them on the black market, and use them against shifters.
“How did you manage to escape?”
A wry smile touched his beautiful mouth. He glanced at me. “Natalie never objected to me doing anything in skin. She would give me a stipend of cash to buy lunch every day when I went to the library to read. I found solace in reading… and in tucking away cash into various books I hid so they were never checked out. Two years after she first picked me up from the highway, I took the cash, stuffed it into my pocket and got on a bus heading west to Wyoming.”
“That’s where you met Dante,” I guessed.
Tension fled his shoulders. “Yes. I was in a state park on the night of the full moon when I heard wolf song. Sat on a fallen log to watch, and listen. I couldn’t shift, but my heart longed to join them. Dante was leading his people on a hunt, and he saw me.”
Thank goodness for that.
“Dante took me into his pack, fed me, worked with me. He let me live here in skin and never pressured me to try shifting. He’s damn smart, our Dante. He knew that living in a pack, amongst my own kind, would bring out my wild wolf. It took six months, but I was finally ready to run wild and free with the pack. It was the most exhilarating sensation I’d felt since before getting hit by that car.”
Alex glanced down at his nude body. “I’m skinnier than most males. I’m not as quick or as fierce. At first I didn’t trust that Dante wouldn’t kick me out if I didn’t meet his expectations. But he was so damn patient, encouraging. Gabe as well. They became my best friends.
“Then I started to use my brain, the only asset I really had. I’m good at making money, Peyton. I tripled the investment income for the pack.”
A bitter laugh escaped him. “The only thing I’m really good at, though I’d give my life to keep the pack safe.”
I took his face between my hands. “That’s not the only thing you excel at, my sweet Alex. Thank you for trusting me with the truth.”
I kissed him, deeply. When he kissed me back, I shrugged out of my robe.
I went to find my iPod. I plugged it into the alarm clock and selected a tune.
Crazy Love by Van Morrison. I stretched out my hand.
“Dance with me.”
Alex took me into my arms. Naked, we slow danced around the bedroom, our bodies touching, rubbing against each other.
It was so erotic and yet tender.
He led me over to the bed when the song finished.
By the light of moon, we made slow, tender love. When we finished, we lay there for a few moments, secure in each other’s arms.
When we returned to Dante’s bed, Alex slept in my arms.
Content at last.
21
Sunday turned out to be a beautiful morning, with breakfast on the terrace. I spent the morning with Alex outside in the garden, weeding and planting. Contented green and blue glowed around him. Alex had a deep connection to the earth.
Felicia had asked me to watch her barrel race, so after breakfast I went to the small store where the pack stocked cowboy hats and riding equipment. I selected a pretty turquoise hat with rhinestones that sparkled in the sun, clapped it on my head and headed out.
I nearly collided with Dante, driving a four-wheeler.
“Good.” He pulled his hat over his face, hiding his expression. “She can use a friend to watch her practice, Peyton. I ordered her to continue lessons with Ryder.”
“Ordered her? Bossed her around instead of letting her decide?”
“I am alpha and when I issue an order, it is for the good of my pack. Don’t question me on this, Peyton. Felicia is wild and needs discipline. Barrel racing will provide it. A human activity she likes.”
I went up to him, and tipped up his hat.
Lips drawn tight, eyes flashing amber, I saw the emotions he tried to hide. But knowing what Felicia had told me, I had to give him guidance first.
“Your sister is wild, yes. But if you keep reining her in and forcing her to stay human, she’ll break.”
Dante quietly swore. “I must do as I see fit, Peyton. If Felicia goes feral… Now, if you will excuse me, I have chores.”
Shaking his head, he drove toward the barn.
Stubborn alpha. My heart twisted as I thought of the conflicting emotions he must feel, wanting his sister to shift into wolf and be normal, and his need to be the leader who protected his people.
Could Felicia really be that dangerous?
As I approached the corral, I got a bad feeling in my gut.
It increased as I drew closer and saw the violent flares of color in the air, which I knew were the after effects of an aura leaving behind negative energy.
