by Treva Harte
She spit the last word out. Dek growled a little, deep in his throat, then caught himself. She wasn’t a were. She didn’t know what she was saying. And he wanted her, no matter what she said. Screw what he should do. He was as dumb as he’d been at a randy nineteen, just as willing to break the rules to have her again.
To have her, he had to placate her. It had been a while since it mattered, but he tried to remember more of the human rules. The courting, mating rules. Show an interest. Human women liked that.
“You’re still waitressing. Did you ever take those college classes like you wanted?”
Damn. Now he was interested. What had happened to her? She’d been planning to go to school, take two or three classes and waitress at night. She’d been ambitious when he met her at seventeen. Young, driven, determined. She couldn’t be so different now from back when she was younger and had lied for him. Hell, she’d been right about how he couldn’t get enough of her then. The seventeen-year-old Leila had been sexy. Smart, sexy, and going places.
Of course, he’d have taken notice of Leila today even if he hadn’t known her before. They didn’t need a past for that. After all, she was still sexy. Still smart. So why was she still standing in an alley in yet another town in Texas, waiting for him to steal a second bite of the apple?
“You remembered about the classes. I’m surprised.” Leila didn’t take her eyes off him while she spoke. She was waiting for him to pounce. Oh, yeah, she was still really smart.
“I remember everything.”
She smiled, a tight little smile. “No, I never did go. I wanted to, but after you left…things got difficult. No time, no money. You know. Life stepped in and changed my plans.”
“I’m surprised anything made you change your plans. You got out of Del Rio, though.” He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to sink his teeth into her, to mark her. To sink into her. He smelled her arousal, and it kept teasing his nostrils, making him edgy and hungry and damned hard.
How long did they have to keep talking before he could finally scoop her up and get her on her knees the way they both wanted?
“Yeah. There wasn’t anything for me there. It just took longer than I’d expected. I guess El Paso is a step up.” She shrugged. “Well, nice talking old times with you. I have to go.”
She was leaving?
Leila made it to the building’s entrance before he got over the stunned outrage that froze him. With a bound he was next to her.
“Not so fast, Little Red. We’re both going together.”
Chapter Two
“You can go now.” She pushed on the door to close it against him, but it didn’t budge. Neither did he. Of course not. Who was she trying to fool? He wasn’t a stray poodle she could shoo away.
“I don’t think so.”
He barely remembered how to say the words. He was close, so close. He wasn’t leaving now. She knew him. She had to realize what would happen next.
“Fine. Might as well get this over with.” The words sounded impatient, but when she relaxed her hand against the door, her eyes were wide and dazed. They stared at each other. A fixed gaze was a direct challenge to a were. Was she trying to get him to attack? He didn’t want to do that to her. He would win, but that wasn’t the right way. She was going to have to agree, not just succumb.
Of course, he was going to be right here until she did. Dek rested his body against the door frame, keeping his hands close to his thighs, afraid he might disgrace himself if he so much as twitched. He stared her down. When her gaze shifted down, submissively, like a were’s would, his cock twitched eagerly.
Soon. Were, no were, she was accepting his mastery.
“You might as well come in. You will anyway.” Leila stepped back, allowing him in a little further. Those were meant to be tough words, but the last few trembled a little when she said them, as if she was afraid. Truth or lie? He remembered back when she let herself sound vulnerable to the police just that way. She’d been a teenager then. She’d had even more time to practice her technique.
“Not until you ask me nicely.” Dek bit each word off.
There was a long silence.
“Please.” Now the tone was resentful.
Dek bared all his teeth. “Ask nicer.”
She was going to have to do this right, even if it killed them both. No lies or tricks. Complete submission.
As if she read his mind, she pulled off her shirt and unhooked her bra almost before he had time to kick the door closed. With that chore done, he backed up against the wall to watch. Sweat gathered at the base of his spine at the sight of her.
There were marks near her breasts where the bra had pressed indentations. He wanted to lick the redness away, soothing any hurt they caused. Her nipples were already tight and waiting for his mouth. He wanted to bite them until they were red with hurtful pleasure.
“There. Is that nice enough?” Her hands shook as she kicked off her shoes, ripped her pants down her legs. Hell, if he let go of the wall, his hands would shake, too. She was so damn beautiful.
Even better than he remembered. Bigger-breasted, thinner at the waist. Long legs, ones he needed wrapped around him. She was perfect. His throat ached at the sight of her standing there with her chin up, wisps of hair in her face, wearing nothing but thin black panties and a scowl. He could have cried at the vision of her naked. He’d thought he’d never see her again, and here she was. Thank you, God.
“Come on, Wolf Boy. This is what you want. Do me.”
Instead of tears, his hand moved to his aching cock.
“Shit.” He ought to ask for more. She should have asked for more. But she was right. He did have to do her. Now. He’d waited too long.
It took half a second to rip those black panties away from her crotch. Another instant to have her flat on her back, legs apart. He liked the look of that submissive pose. He liked hearing the catch in her breath when he nuzzled her pubic hair. Wet. Very wet.
He buried his nose in the folds of her labia. Leila. The smell and feel of her arousal was too much. He moved his face so he could lap her up. This was his. He’d made her this way. Every drop inside her was his. The noises she’d begun to make in the back of her throat—they were his, too. The were-need began to wash over him, the clawing desire ripping out of his tight control. He was almost too painfully pleasured by the woman beneath him. He used his teeth, just sharp enough to make her pain real. Her cry rose a little higher, a little sweeter. He licked her again.
When her howl stopped in mid-note, he looked up. She was arched high, quivering, her fist stuffed in her mouth.
“What the hell?” Dek moved his body, positioned himself so his chest brushed against her nipples. “Ashamed of being noisy, Red? You know you’re going to scream for me for hours. You always did. Why fight it?”
“The neighbors. The walls. They’re so thin—” Bright spots of color burned in up from her neck to her cheeks. “Everyone will know.”
So? He wanted everyone to know. His balls were aching with the need to come inside her and mark her again as his. Let them envy him!
But she was different. Damn human rules.
“All right, then. We can try to be quiet.” He would have sulked if her hand hadn’t slipped over his cock just then and given it a short, hard squeeze.
He muffled his yelp against her shoulder.
“It’s just…I have a rep around here. Screaming for wolf men isn’t part of it.” Her words didn’t make sense as the head of his penis slid against her tight, wet little slit. Nothing made sense but the sensation of female against his cock. He was close…really close. He rested himself just outside her entrance, and her breath tickled his ear as she whispered again, “I won’t do it; I can’t do it—but you can try to make me howl.”
She bit his chest when he slid all the way in, fast. Wet, moist, tight. Oh, yeah, that was—that was—
“Fuck!” He remembered to yell the word close against her neck. He might be the one howling soon.
&
nbsp; “Oh, yeah, Dek. Fuck me.” She bucked up, squirming even closer
Her words were too much. He fastened his teeth, hard, into her hair, forcing himself not to go for more sensitive flesh. He pulled back, listening to her soft, muffled whimper of protest, and slammed inside her. Her sheath gripped him, milked him, and he lost it.
Were. Scent, sight, sound changed, heightened, and time suddenly teetered. The scent of Leila filled him. His slow-motion vision stretched out as his perception of time changed, and he watched Leila’s mouth fall open as he began to turn.
WEREWOLF. THAT SHOULDN’T get her so crazy, so needy. But even as Dek’s hair grew shaggy and his face turned feral, she could feel her climax rising up, shooting through her body as the adrenaline smashed through her system. She couldn’t breathe as need grabbed her by the throat. Instead she clutched at his furry pelt and sobbed, trying to force her vaginal walls to accept all of him.
The best sex they ever had was when he lost control and turned. It had been five and a half years since she’d had a were to fuck. Five and a half years since they’d had incredible sex. There was nothing like a beast. There was nothing like Dek.
She was starving. She wanted to be eaten up in quick, hungry bites. Thank God, Dek was just the were to do it. To do her. He growled as he pulled at her hair with a sharp tug of his teeth. Leila shuddered. She wanted that. Teeth, growls, ferocity. She wanted everything.
She spread her legs and accepted the first shock of hard cock probing at her needy flesh. He didn’t waste time plunging inside her. She whimpered, trying to learn to accept his hungry thrusts again. He wasn’t going to wait, and God, she didn’t want to wait, either. But it had been a long time and—Oh, yes. Oh, yeees. That was it. Pain shifted almost too rapidly to pleasure as Dek’s cock cunningly scraped against every sensitive spot her clitoris had. Yes! His erection seemed to grow and lengthen with each stroke, filling her.
The world spun. Her head lolled back as the fireworks began to warm up, ready to release. She wanted to feel them roar, ricocheting and exploding, spreading from her cunt up through her legs and arms and chest. She clawed at Dek’s back, lifted her legs up higher to get every last millimeter of his cock. The heat ripped at her as she snarled.
Everything. She wanted—
“Ahhhh!” She couldn’t see through the intensity of her impending climax, as the orgasm she’d been waiting for teetered, then crashed into her, skittering through her body.
* * * *
“You screamed.” Dek’s voice was lazy with satisfaction.
Dear God. She’d passed out for a few moments. She had to have. She knew why she felt so sticky and sore, but she couldn’t remember the details. She’d meant to talk about protection. She wasn’t sure how to protect herself from were-sperm, but she’d never had the chance to try.
Too late to worry now. She didn’t have the strength to worry. She felt way too good to worry.
“I got rug burn, too.” Leila shifted under his weight. “Are you sure I screamed?”
“Like a banshee.”
“I’d kill you, but your cock was too nice to waste—”
Bang!
Only one person smashed her fist into the door just that way. Energy flowed back into her, fueled by sheer terror. Leila shoved him aside and struggled to sit up.
“What?” Dek lay back on his elbows and raised an eyebrow.
“Go to the other room.”
“What?”
At least he wasn’t still furry. Sex tended to calm Dek down. He was, however, naked.
Very naked.
“Go. To. The. Other. Room.” She wiggled into her pants almost as fast as she’d gotten them off, kicked the shredded panties under the chair, and grabbed for her shirt, pushing her thick hair back from her face. “It’s the vice squad.”
He snorted, but got up, still very naked and very fine, and strolled into the other room. She’d deal with the fallout from that later. She still had to figure out—
She pulled open the door, thanking fate that her visitor hadn’t tested the doorknob before knocking. Dek hadn’t bothered to lock the door.
“Mrs. Stiller.”
“It’s past time.” The older woman should have looked like a grandma, all dimpled chins and white hair. But on Mrs. Stiller the chins and hair looked more like the most dreaded elementary school teacher you ever had, the one who had been there forever and knew every sin you could ever commit there.
“I’m sorry. I—I lost track of the time.”
“I didn’t. Heard you come in, and I waited. And waited. You owe extra.” She turned, propelling a small flurry of ruffles through the door. “I’ll expect the money in the morning. If you do it again, you can find yourself someone new.”
“Right. Right.” Leila shielded the sleepy child with her arms and struggled to lift her. “Thanks.”
What an idiot she was. She’d forgotten. After all this, she’d forgotten why she’d been trying to keep Deklin Kinkaid away.
“What’s going on?” Dek was back in the room the second Mrs. Stiller left, of course.
“Nothing much.” Leila kept the child’s face covered. The gesture was stupid, and way too late now, but then, she’d been stupid all night. “Listen, you’ve had your sex. Can’t you just go now? Let me live my life?”
Dek’s head tilted. She could almost see him scenting, discovering more than she wanted about the new person in the room.
“Who is that?”
“Lin.”
“Who is that?”
“My daughter, Lin. Go away before you scare her. She’s just a baby who has had a tough night. She ought to be asleep.”
“Leila, tell me.” He began to circle again, like she was prey. Like she and Lin both were.
“Fine.” The postponing was over. She’d tried and failed. On to the next plan—whatever it was. “You know that thing you told me back when we were together? About how I was safe? How weres could mate but couldn’t breed with humans?”
His breath hissed in. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you were wrong.”
“She’s mine? I mean—she smells like mine, but…that can’t be.”
“You’re right about that. She’s not yours. She’s mine.”
“Mommy?” Tired and whiney, Lin spoke up. “Who is he?”
“No one, baby. He’s leaving soon.”
His eyes glowed. Leila took a step back, then edged toward the bedroom. As she put her already half-asleep baby back to bed, she wasn’t surprised to find Dek had followed her, staring down at the little girl.
Lin whimpered just a little as she burrowed her head into the pillow. She was so beautiful. Maybe she was biased, but Leila had always thought Lin was the most beautiful child she’d ever seen.
“Mine.” Dek sounded as if he was trying to absorb the idea. But he also sounded possessive. She knew about Dek and possessive. It wasn’t good, at least not if you intended to keep something he wanted. And, damn it, who wouldn’t want Lin once they saw her?
“Not yours. Mine.” Leila braced herself for an argument.
“Leila.” His voice wasn’t angry. But she could hear the rumbling of a warning nonetheless.
“What?”
“Stop. Just stop. Don’t you see how this changes everything?”
“No. You’re still your same wandering self. I still have Lin. We can just go on the way we’ve been for the past four years and forget—”
Dek stared at her as if she had lost her mind. His fists clenched, and she braced herself for yelling. She could handle Dek’s anger. She could handle anything he could dish out. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t getting Lin!
To her shock, though, he calmed himself. His hands unclenched, and he relaxed his shoulders. That did focus her. A calm, dangerous Dek—a Dek able to keep control of his emotions—was a real threat.
“Leila, you need to understand. She’s part of me. Don’t you realize how dangerous that is?”
Chapter Three
Lowell sucked in with his eyes half-shut, thinking about the small, leggy brunette he’d seen at the bus stop this morning. She’d smiled at him; he was sure of it. He liked females. He liked men, too, couldn’t help that, but females were interesting. Different. Not that he’d mention that interest to Grey. That would just be stupid.
Especially not when he was crouched over Grey, swallowing down the head of his cock. You needed to concentrate on Grey when you were with him. You never knew what he’d want next when—
The door opened with a crash.
“Grey!”
Lowell jumped and then cowered to the floor, hoping not to be noticed. Being bottom man in the pack meant staying out of harm’s way whenever possible. When Dek yelled like that, it was easy to figure out there was trouble.
“What the hell?” Grey headed for the next room at a run, zipping up his fly.
Grey wasn’t afraid of trouble or Dek. Lowell admired that about him. Lowell was afraid of both men—respected the hell out of them, but knew exactly what either of them could do to a teen his size.
But since he wasn’t in trouble yet, it was time to go see the show. Lowell stood and trotted to the living room just in time to see Dek pounce on Grey, who staggered back for a moment. Lowell’s own mouth dropped open. Those two never fought—not physically. But right now Dek was on top of Grey, forcing him down to the ground. It sure as hell looked like a fight—or rough sex.
Lowell’s mouth went dry as he saw Grey’s muscles straining, the sweat shining on Dek’s face. Whatever it was, this wasn’t play. Grey finally lay flat on the ground. The panting breaths of both men filled the room.
“Who’s master here, Grey?”
“What’s wrong with you, boss?” Grey struggled underneath him, even though Dek had his arm pinned back.
“Who is the fucking top dog?” Dek forced the words out from bared teeth.
Lowell quivered. Something was wrong. Dek never demanded to know who was alpha. All of them knew.
“Damn it, Dek! Ow. Fuck you.” Grey struggled.
Lowell crept out from behind the chair and crouched down, just in case.
