The Wolf's Heart Read online

  Rearing her head back, she opened her mouth to give him hell, but he slid into bed with a grin he’d surely borrowed from the devil himself. “No, I just wanted to hold you.”

  “Honey, I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.” Despite her snort of derision at his blatant lie, she peered at him from beneath her lashes.

  He lay on his side, facing her with one arm propped beneath his head as if waiting for her to succumb to temptation and jump his bones. She had to admit, the thought was very tempting. That dark hair of his, damp and messy, made her want to run her fingers through it. He took a deep breath and her mouth watered as his abdomen muscles rippled one by one. His lips wore a hint of a smile that seemed to invite her to kiss him. Again. Just the memory of their kisses alone had her blood heating.

  When he still lay there, waiting, she knew that she’d have to be the one to make the first move. Well, she wouldn’t make it easy on him by a long shot. With a devilish grin of her own, she walked her fingers up his chest, happy to note that he shivered in response to even that light touch. Circling the flat brown disc of his nipple, she waited until it hardened before she asked a question. “Where’s the dog?”

  “Dog? What dog?” He seemed dazed for a second, before he shook his head. “Oh, him, well, he’s outside, where he belongs.”

  “I liked him,” she admitted. “What’s his name?”

  “Who?” Marcus appeared to be having trouble following the conversation and he kept staring at her chest.

  “The dog!” She glanced down. “What are you looking at?” When she saw that the twins were trying to escape, she quickly pulled her gown back up, ignoring his sigh.

  “His name? Uh—Scooby.”

  “You’re jokin’, right?”

  “I like the damn name.” He sounded insulted. “Do you really expect me to talk about the dog when all my blood has migrated…” he jerked her against him so that she couldn’t help but be aware of what he was talking about, “…south?”

  “Everybody keeps saying the South’s gonna rise again. I guess you just proved them right.” Lainie grinned up at him, half expecting another smart comment. But he surprised her by covering her mouth with his, so gently at first that it almost tickled. When she opened for him and he slid inside, she shivered and shifted her body closer to his.

  He slid his fingers down her neck to her shoulders, and finally her breasts. Cupping them in his palms, he rubbed the soft material of her gown across the hardened peaks. She shifted her legs restlessly to relieve the pressure building between them.

  When he stopped and tugged her gown over her head, she swiped her hair back and found him staring at her with a slightly goofy grin on his face. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, Lainie.” Reaching out, he circled the peak of one breast with his fingertips and sighed.

  She returned the grin and tugged on his hand. “Yeah, me too.”

  He put one hand on either side of her head, caging her in with his arms, and leaned down to kiss a path from her mouth down to her throat, stopping to nuzzle the hollow. She swallowed hard when his teeth skated lightly over her skin. Before she could protest or ask for more, he slicked his tongue down the curve of her breast, nibbling as he went, moving in circles, teasing her until she arched her back, trying to make him do what she wanted. Finally, after she mewed in protest because he missed the mark yet again, he flicked his tongue against the furled peak, sucking it in his mouth.

  Burying his face between her breasts, he inhaled deeply. “You smell so good, Lainie,” he whispered, grinding his hips against hers, his cock sliding over her pussy.

  She opened her legs wider so that each time he moved, he brushed against her clit. He must have realized it because he thrust against her and rotated his hips. Every stroke took her higher until she was gasping for breath, on the very edge of completion. “Please.”

  “Please what?” Scooting down in the bed, he kissed her belly, nipping the skin above her navel, skimming his hands up and down the insides of her thighs. Hooking his thumbs on each side of her panties, he slid them off and threw them in the far corner of the room. She shifted her hips, offering herself to him, and his lips curled back from his teeth.

  Her body stiffened. He stared up into her wide eyes and forced himself to slow down. He could tell she was nervous, and really couldn't blame her. She surely had questions, but he didn't have brain cells left to answer them right now. He moved back up to lie beside her, determined to hold himself in check when all he wanted was to plunge inside her and take. “I won't hurt you. But the first time may not be slow or easy. Lainie, I’ve wanted you for a long time.”

  Lainie reached up and tangled her hands in his hair, using it to pull him back to her. “Maybe I don’t want slow and easy. Did you ever think about that?”

  He tugged on her lower lip with his teeth and she responded, opening her mouth to suck his tongue hungrily. He slowed the kiss down, softly caressing her mouth with his own. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, clutching his shoulders with her hands. When he moved away, she uttered a wordless protest that died in her throat as he began to trail his way to her jaw then her neck. He intended to take his time, no matter what his libido screamed right now. His teeth lightly scraped the skin between her neck and shoulder, and then he bit down. She said his name again and his time it sounded like a plea for more.

  His mouth watered at the taste of her, he wanted to feast on her body in more ways than one. She cried out and stiffened when his hand glided down between her legs, stroking the silky folds. Marcus thrust inside her heat with trembling fingers. The sweetness of her response was slowly driving him insane. She grabbed his wrist but instead of stopping him, she rocked back and forth, her muscles clenching around his fingers. He found the spot he was looking for and pressed inward, tightening his hold when she shuddered. He chuckled and did it again.

  He took her wrists in his hand and began to kiss his way back down her body. She whispered his name in a grumpy tone when he again skipped the very part begging for his touch.

  When he finally ran his tongue across her clit, circling it, then spearing it with his tongue, her body came off the bed and she screamed his name. He spread her open and plunged his tongue inside her. She squirmed, trying to pull her hands out of his, but he just tightened his hold. He devoured her, lapping at her, sliding past then flicking her clit when she wasn’t expecting it.

  She was on the very precipice when he stopped once more. With a low screech, she moved her hips. Nothing happened so she glared at him with narrowed eyes. “Tell me what you want, Lainie,” he said, then ran his tongue along the outer edge of her sex. He licked the rim of her pussy, barely sliding inside her hot, wet entrance.

  In answer, she kicked him hard enough to make him grunt. “What in the hell do you think?” Then her hands were free because he had shoved his own under her buttocks and lifted her to his mouth, sucking her clit between his teeth, biting down on the little nub. Digging her heels into the mattress, she lunged upwards, exploding against his mouth, the waves of ecstasy cresting over her without stopping.

  Taking the little peak into his mouth, he rolled his tongue back and forth until she cried out again. He held her close when she shuddered, then pressed a soft kiss on her thigh. “Baby, you taste so damn good.”

  When Lainie came back to her senses, she was trying to push him away and pull him against her all at once. She didn't really know what she had said or did, but Marcus was laughing. When he started back up her body, she made her move, flipping him over on his back, straddling his hips to hold him down. She had no illusions about being strong enough to keep him in this position; she intended to use more subtle methods, like bribery. First, she had to get her breath back.

  Collapsing on his chest, she snuck her fingers under his waistband, brushing them across the head of his erection. He sucked in his breath with a hiss but she ignored him, tugging his pants off. After she’d looked her fill, she grinned up at him. “It’s m
y turn. Now put your hands behind your head, please.”

  He did what she said, but gave her a look that let her know he would only play for so long.

  Lainie ran her hands over his chest in little circles, concentrating on his ribcage when she discovered he was ticklish. Then she went on to bigger and better things. Kissing a path from his chest to his navel, she paused at the top of his boxer briefs before flicking her tongue down inside the waistband to touch the tip of him. “You taste good too, Marcus.”

  “Lainie,” he groaned.

  She eyed him wickedly, saying in a low voice, “Payback is a bitch.” When he took his hands from behind his head, fisting them in the bedcovers, she stopped and pointed. “Back behind your head, please.”

  He grunted, but complied.

  Inch by inch she slid his underwear down his hips and then off his ankles, smoothing her hands back up his body, He lay with his eyes closed and his jaw clenched so hard the tendons of his neck stood out. Should she take pity on him? Nah, not yet. She pushed his legs apart, raking her nails up his muscled thighs. “God, you’re pretty.”

  “Men aren’t pretty.” His voice was hoarse.

  “This is a work of art.” She gripped his cock and squeezed the heated flesh, smoothing her thumb over the head.

  “It’s going to be Old Faithful if you don’t stop,” he warned. “Lainie, you’re killin’ me.”

  “Aw, poor baby. I’ll kiss it and make it better.” And she did just that. He was hot and hard in her mouth, and smooth as silk. After skimming her teeth across the pulse throbbing at the underside of the wide flared head, she had to hurry to catch the small drop of pearly fluid that slid out of the opening at the top.

  He kept his hands behind his head. She had to hand it to him; he was controlling himself very well. Much better than her, in fact, because she was about to explode, again just from touching him. “You’re doing really good, sweetie.” But she wasn't finished yet, not by a long shot. She squeezed the base of his shaft and swirled the tip of her tongue around the tip of his erection.

  “Yeah, I am, ain’t I—” he began just as she sucked him all the way inside. Cupping his sac with her fingers, she bit down harder on the flared tip, her teeth raking over the sensitive skin. “Oh God, that's it!” He took his hands out from behind his head and flipped her on her back.

  Marcus stared at her lying with her dark hair fanned out on the pillow. She looked soft and sweet. Even as he thought it, she gave him a wicked smile and wiggled beneath him. He laughed and said the first thing that came to his mind. “You’re beautiful.”

  She shook her head. He kissed her and when he pulled away, her eyes were almost black with desire. He knew his own were glowing and he wondered what she was thinking right now.

  He entered her slowly, stretching her to her fullest. Her eyes widened and she gasped. He stopped and began to withdraw but she was having none of that. She grabbed his ass and pulled him back toward her. “Marcus, I want you inside me now. Don’t make me hurt you.”

  He thrust inside her to the hilt. She whimpered, pressing her face against his neck. He began stroking in and out, holding her against him with one hand while the other slipped between them. His fingers found her clit, circling it in time with his thrusts.

  When she moaned in the back of her throat and squeezed her thighs together, gripping him, he lost control and began to thrust harder. He could hear her gasps but could no longer tell if it was from pleasure or pain.

  He sat up, bringing her with him, and her head fell back. He leaned down to take her nipple in his mouth. He grabbed her hips, rocking her back and forth, gently at first then harder. Her legs were spread wide and with each movement, her clit brushed against his belly.

  Her nails dug into his shoulders and with a soft cry, she clenched around him in rapid bursts, her pussy milking his cock, pulling his orgasm from him. With a low growl, he pulled her close, burying his face against her neck, keeping his mouth shut to hide his fangs. His muscles tightened with the force of keeping his animal side down. Not now. Please, not now, he repeated silently, rocking back and forth still buried deep inside her until he got himself back under control.

  After a few minutes, he looked into her eyes and said the only word he could manage. “Damn.”

  “Yeah.” She slumped bonelessly against him with a laugh and he joined in, unable to help himself.

  Lainie felt him slide out of her and wondered what the hell she’d been thinking. At the first sign of interest, she’d caved to her own lusts and— Oh, screw it. She’d enjoyed it and he had too, very much so. Besides, she was tired of fighting the feelings she’d always had for him.

  The day she’d run away from him, she left a part of herself back there on that hill. For her, it hadn’t been a loss of innocence, not a physical one, at least. But a sense of self had developed of how others perceived her, saw her.

  Strangely enough, her self-confidence stemmed from the fact that this man, at least, found her physically attractive. She smiled bitterly at the thought. His loss of self-control was something she’d secretly found exciting.

  Fantasies had sprung up in her fertile teenaged imagination. He would come after her, take her away. They’d live happily ever after, and some strange, misty scenes involving the two of them in bed that left her body taut with anticipation and frustration.

  But he hadn’t, and one day she woke up to the fact that he never would. She lived with Joanna, went to school in a rural area and had been advised to stay away from Marcus and the others up until now. Why had she been allowed to come back? She’d thought he didn’t want her around, that had been the reason she’d given herself for the exile.

  Or was it? Did David have more to do with it than she’d suspected? And what was it Marcus said about him being dead? David was one of the most vibrant people she knew. He certainly wasn’t dead, that was for damn sure. He was her rock, a combination of father, confidant, psychiatrist and above all, friend.

  Panic welled up in her at the very thought of him dying. He couldn’t die, he was still a very young man, and he barely looked thirty. Now that she thought on it, that puzzled her. There was a niggling sense of disquiet running through her head. She wasn’t supposed to think of this sort of thing. It would only make her upset. Why didn’t she think of something else instead?

  “Lainie.” Marcus interrupted her musings. “Something wrong?” He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.

  “No.”

  “So, this, us.” He tweaked her nose, laughing when she tried to bite him. “This is okay with you?”

  “What is this, us, anyway?”

  “I don’t have a clue.”

  His admission made her feel a little better about her own inability to figure out just what they were doing. “Me either.”

  “I think maybe there is a clue, here, though.” Skimming his hand up the inside of her thigh, he circled the opening of her sex, barely sliding his fingers inside her.

  “I don’t think so.” Her voice quavered. “But you’re welcome to keep looking, if it makes you feel better.”

  “Treasure hunting? I like that idea.” He flipped her onto her back and her laughter rang out in the darkness.

  Chapter Eight

  Jacob Caulder scanned a document sent up from his lab with a satisfied sigh. Things were going according to plan. The phone rang, and he grimaced at the interruption. “Caulder.”

  “Sir, the woman you wanted me to watch… She’s contacted Mr. Bei.” The caller stopped talking long enough to strike a match and exhale shakily.

  “Did you do what I asked?” Jacob Caulder settled back in his chair. A knock at the door interrupted him. “Enter.” The door opened and his newest pet walked in.

  “I went to her house. I didn’t find anything.”

  “Did you make it so she knows you were there?” Jacob beckoned the woman closer. She looked terrified. He grinned at her and her eyes widened. Smart girl, she had reason to be scared.
r />   “Yeah, that part was fun.”

  “I’m sure it was.” He put his hand over the receiver. “Bring your fuckin’ ass here now! Don’t make me come get you.”

  The little blonde hurried over to him with tears in her eyes. She trembled when he pulled her onto his lap. His hand slid up the smooth expanse of her back, left bare by the dress she wore.

  “Where was I?” Jacob ripped the strap off the dress. He cupped her breast in his hand, squeezing it until she gasped. “She’ll know someone’s been there but Marcus Bei will know it was you, Lars.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone. Apparently, his newest employee hadn’t thought of that. The idiot would learn the hard way.

  “I have to go.” Lars’s voice broke and he started coughing.

  “Yeah, you better.” Jacob hung up the phone and filled both hands with the woman’s breasts. “Now, I can give you my undivided attention. Isn’t that nice?”

  She refused to meet his gaze; instead, she stared at a point right over his shoulder.

  Jacob grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Do not push me. Have you already forgotten what happened the last time?”

  “No, sir.”

  “I think you have.” He stood, picking her up.

  She started crying, silent tears fell onto the flawless skin of her breasts, and he licked his way down to the peak, sucking hard. She shivered and tried to pull away.

  “Let’s have a refresher, shall we?”

  He put the nosy reporter and the young Lupin in the back of his mind. Instead, he focused all his attention on the pretty little piece of ass he’d culled from the last expedition. The cream of the crop, she was small, with waist-length blonde hair and big blue eyes.

  When he’d first got a look at her, hiding in the back of the cage, her eyes had drawn his attention, full of innocence and fear. Now, they just held fear. He’d taken the innocence, reveling in the screams that echoed in his ears. “Little Bibi”. He didn’t know her real name; he’d given her a new one. She answered to it, after a fashion.