“
That was close,” she said, taking comfort in his embrace.
“Too close.” He gazed down at her and placed his hands on her upper arms. “How could you not smell them? You would’ve run right into her if I didn’t stop you.”
A huff of anger was her first response. “Hey! I was…” She trailed when a reason failed to appear. “I…”
“You weren’
t being careful,” he admonished with a finger pointed at her.
Damn him for being right. She growled, grabbed his finger
and bit it. Instead of pulling away like she’d thought, he slipped it in further and pushed down on her teeth. Her mouth opened and she closed her lips around his finger. His eyes hazed over as he stared down at her. With a smirk, she twirled her tongue around his finger then sucked it.
He
gave her a longing look then pulled away. “Tease.” His voice sounded harsh and he swallowed hard.
She grinned. Maybe she wasn
’t as powerless as she’d thought. By the desperate hunger in his eyes, she knew she had him wrapped around her finger.
“Let’s head back,” he said, grabbing her hand. “It’s getting late and your little tease gave me ideas for that mouth of yours.”
Uh-oh. Her mind searched for a reply but nothing came. Strangely, the idea of using her mouth to pleasure him was appealing. Her insides clenched and she fought back a blush.
They walked hand-in-hand through the forest and she tried
to think of ways to change the subject. After a few moments of silence, she asked, “What would you have done if the bear attacked me?”
“
Shifted and fought her.” He shrugged as if it were no feat. For him, maybe it wasn’t.
“
I hope you wouldn’t have killed her. She was just protecting her cubs.”
With a sideways glance, he said, “As am I. P
rotecting what’s mine.”
Her stomach
thunked
. The wolf part of her preened at the sense of belonging, especially to such a strong male. She shook her head, pushing instinct aside. On an intellectual level, his barbaric ways stung her feminine pride. “I’m not yours.”
“
This
says otherwise.” Gently, he stroked his bite mark on her neck. “It’s lasted a long time. It’s like your body wants it there.” He smirked and pulled his hand away. “It wants to be marked by me.”
“You wish,” s
he said half-heartedly. “Anyway, I could’ve outrun the bear if I had to.”
He snorted. “
You’re fast, but you’re not
that
fast. I was just about to catch you before the bear ended the game.”
“
Hmm.” She arched a brow at him. “Convenient the bear just happened to appear right when I was winning.”
He barked a laugh. “
Do you think I planted it there?”
“
You could have called it forth.”
“Called it forth? Who am I?
Tarzan?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad you think I’m powerful, but even I have limits, love.”
She gave him a mischievous smile. “
Maybe I should find a mate with less limits then.”
He s
tilled then dropped his arm from around her shoulders and turned to face her. His blue eyes seemed to shine against the dark forest. Intense and dangerous. Had she pushed him too far?
She took a few steps back.
“Looks like someone needs another mark on her neck. Maybe one on the other side.” He stepped toward her.
“No!” she said, giggling.
“Or on your shoulder.” Another step closer. “Maybe a few on your inner thighs.”
She almost moaned. Biting, marking – her clit throbbed so hard she
was sure she could come with one stroke.
“Run, little wolf.” He grinned a feral grin. “Run fast. Because if I catch you, you’ll wish you hadn’t challenged me.”
He didn’t have to say it twice. She turned tail and fled. This time, his heavy footsteps were loud behind her. She pumped her arms as she flew through the trees. His hot breath on her neck said he was toying with
her.
She should give in. The heat between her legs, the yearning for him to be inside her…it was slowing her down. She wanted this anyway. Why not give in?
A second later, a hard body rammed into her back, making her stumble forward with a yelp. Before she hit the ground, he slid under her, shielding her fall with his body.
They stared at each oth
er a moment, panting, Harmony lying on top of his chest. Then he flipped her. Flat on her back in a bed of leaves, she looked up into his heated gaze. He straddled her hips then gathered her wrists and held them at her stomach.
“Now you’re in trouble,” he rumbled.
She couldn’t stop a giggle. “Sorin. Be nice…don’t…”
His
wicked smile made her trail off. Without another word, he leaned in to her neck – the side that was unmarked – and bit down.
She half-laughed half-screamed and writhed her body underneath his, trying to dislodge him. He was too heavy. He sucked on the spot and flickers of pain traveled down her body. It
ended in a pool of wetness between her legs and the scream turned into a moan. God she wanted to fuck him so bad!
Instead of trying to throw him
off, she gyrated her hips against him.
“Ye
s,” she whispered.
He sat up and examined the mark, pride radiating in his eyes. “Mine.”
The possessive tone shot straight to her clit. Her breasts felt heavy and goosebumps rose on her skin. “Take off my pants,” she rasped.
His
expression changed in a blink. “No. Bad girl.” He tapped her nose.
It took her a moment to realize he
’d denied her. “What?”
“Look.” He pointed behind her.
She followed his gaze. Lights were visible through the trees. And rows of cabins. Shit! They were practically at the camp’s doorstep. In a panic, she scrambled to get free. How did she not see that?
He chuckled and let her go.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, rising from the ground and brushing off her clothes.
“No one saw.” He spun her around and helped brush the leaves off her back.
“Ugh. You are such a jerk!”
At that, he gave her backside a smack. “Watch it.”
She scooted away and growled. “I’m going home. We probably missed dinner. I don’t even know what time it is.”
“I’ll walk you.”
They stared at each other a moment. Her nipples still felt hard and achy against her cotton bra. Her thighs wanted to clench together to ease the desperate feeling between her legs. She whimpered.
Sorin
laughed then strode toward her. He placed a hand firmly between her legs. She gasped.
At her ear, he whispered harshly, “You want that taken care of, you know where to find me.”
He circled her clit once…twice…she leaned in, almost fell to the ground her knees were so weak. Then he drew away.
No!
she almost yelled but remembered where she was. The pack could probably smell her arousal even now. She’d always felt bad for the wolves in the mating dance. It was a frustrating and embarrassing time. Sorin strutted around camp, prideful, but she just wanted to hide in a hole somewhere until it was over.
If she accepted his mating, they would make love and he would empty inside her. The mating dance would be over and their hormones would go back to normal. That meant she had to get on the pill. Just because nature wanted her to reproduce, didn’t mean she
had to let it happen.
Sorin
stepped back and raked his gaze over her. “You’re so fucking hot. Your clothes disheveled. Her hair tousled.” He focused in on her neck. “Wearing my marks. It’s damn sexy.”
Mmmm
. Couldn’t he finish her now? She gave her head a shake. Focus! Camp was only a few yards away. An exhibitionist, she was not.
With a sigh, she gestured toward the lights. “Let’s go.”
Before I lose my goddamn mind.
Sorin stormed into the Ranger Station for the weekly council meeting at precisely nine PM. “Has anyone heard from Cristian?”
All conversation stopped. Ten pair of eyes looked up at him, standing at the head of the table, his palm splayed on the hard wood.
Mathias raised his brows and stared at where Sorin’s hand had slammed on the table.
He lifted his hand and examined the wood
. A small crack split the mahogany. Whoops. Admittedly, he’d been a little tense since yesterday. He hadn’t touched Harmony since the night before and his body yearned to complete their mating. Having her away from him, even across camp, was difficult.
“Sorry,”
he said, fisting his hand.
A few of the guys chuckled then dropped their gazes when he glared at them.
Mathias smiled warmly. “Sit down, Sorin. Relax.”
He nodded then exhaled a breath. If anyone knew what this was like, it was
Mathias. His mate had made him jump through so many hoops when they’d dated. At the time Sorin had laughed and vowed never to let his woman have that much control over him. But now…
Now he should give the man a
sympathetic hug and apology. Sorin’s little blonde she-devil was giving him the blue-balls of a lifetime. Not to mention making his wolf go crazy. It paced and stirred just beneath the surface.
“
Cristian called this morning,” Mathias said. “He’s following a lead to catch a...” he looked at his phone, “Silver Slayer? Has anyone heard of him?”
“Yeah.”
Jackson flicked a hand up. “A werewolf serial killer from the south. He supposedly targets kids.”
“Fucking bast
ard,” someone murmured. Others voiced their agreement.
Sorin
nodded. “Cristian’s on it. You know the guy’s a goner.” He looked around at the men in the room – lives he was in charge of protecting. “We’ve got problems here to focus on. There’s a coven close. Marcus found three new bodies drained this week.”
“Three?” a younger member said. “Shit.”
“Do we have any leads on their location?” Mathias asked.
Sorin
started to answer that they didn’t when the door slammed open. Paul walked in, covered in blood. “I know where they are,” he said breathlessly.
Sorin
rushed to his side, along with Rafe, the pack doctor.
Paul put out a hand. “I’m fine.
It’s not my blood.”
He
reeked of vampire, but he wasn’t stumbling and his eyes were clear.
“Sit down. Let
Rafe check you out,” Sorin commanded.
He shook
his head. “I’m not hurt.”
Paul wasn’t prideful enough to
lie about needing help so Sorin nodded and pulled out the nearest chair for him. “Tell us what happened.”
He
plopped down on the chair and someone tossed him a bottle of water.
After taking a big swig, he spoke. “
I was doing a final sweep of the northern border, up by the ravine, and I came across a blood trail. A vampire feeding. Young thing. Very careless.”
“Did you dispose of it?”
He nodded grimly. “He must’ve been high for days. He didn’t cover his tracks. I followed it straight to the coven’s doorstep just over the Montana border. That’s what all this is.” He gestured down his body. “A disguise to mask my scent.”
“Smart,”
Mathias said.
Sorin grunted. “You should’ve called for back-up.”
“I didn’t want to lose the trail. Or another vampire to realize the mess the boy had made. But I know where they are and approximately how many.”
“I’ll get a map,” someone behind him said then left the room to rummage through drawers in the attached office.
“How many?”
Sorin asked. The prospect of clearing out this coven was tempting but he wouldn’t risk lives unless he was sure they could win.
“From what I could tell, not more than a dozen,” he answered.
“A dozen? That’s fucking easy.” Too easy?
“I saw a few com
e and go. Most of them are young. I doubt they’ll put up much of a fight. Though if they’re high, they’ll be stronger.”
Anger rose from his belly at the thought of the countless innocent wolves under h
is protection, being killed for a quick high. A growl escaped him but no one said a word. They knew strongly he felt about this.
Max came back with the map and spread it open on the table. Paul,
Sorin, and Mathias hovered over it.
“There.” Paul pointed to small town just over the border. “It’s a ghost town. No more than a few houses nearby.”
That made things easier. No witnesses to the bloodshed.
“Let’s assemble a team of twenty,”
Sorin said. “We’ll leave in two days.” He looked up at his head military strategist. “Tomas, what do you th –”