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An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Elements Unbound
ISBN # 1-4199-0607-0
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Elements Unbound Copyright© 2006 Lorie O’Clare
Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower.
Cover art by Syneca.
Electronic book Publication: April 2006
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Warning:
The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This book has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).
S-
ensuous
love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.
E-
rotic
love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.
X-
treme
titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.
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ELEMENTS UNBOUND
Lorie O’Clare
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Bruno Tangaree pushed low-hanging tree branches out of his way. The cliffs weren’t too far away, and the salty wet smell of the Mediterranean hung heavily in the air. Moist air clung to his skin, dampening his shirt. He moved silently through the trees, more concerned with whom he’d find than the nearby ocean.
Taking control of the pack hadn’t been easy. Werewolves understood domination ruled. The strong prevailed. Their pack leader was old, beyond his prime. No one challenged his call to replace him. But Bruno wasn’t pack leader yet. He would be in hours though—at midnight.
There was a simple matter to take care of before challenging the old alpha. The werewolves of Malta were headed in a new direction, a direction the old werewolf who’d lazily kept the pack together for decades couldn’t master. Bruno would lead the pack, and he’d do it with his bitch at his side. Now was the time to claim her.
He stopped right before the clearing, camouflaged by the thick foliage surrounding him. Thick damp grass covered the open area before the cliffs. Just as he’d been promised, Renee Guarta stood at the cliff, staring toward the ocean. She’d run here to escape, knowing damned good and well that being out here alone was forbidden. Good little bitches didn’t run by themselves. It gave them a bad reputation. And a tarnished female had a harder time catching a good mate.
Not that Renee would suffer from that age-old belief that still maintained conviction in their pack.
He’d see to it. She was wild, as unpredictable as the elements, and she’d be his bitch. His mate. His woman. He’d made up his mind. There was no other who possessed the grace, the intelligence, the willfulness to take on the unknown like Renee. Those were the qualities needed to be queen bitch.
Her reasons for running here were valid. Pack gossip washed over the town faster than a tidal wave.
And he didn’t blame her a bit for escaping to this private paradise to clear her thoughts.
Renee had her back to him, her long black hair falling to her ass and lifting slightly when the breeze kicked up from the ocean. Her simple dress, common to most females in town, whether human or werewolf, blew around her legs. The light yellow pattern showed off the dark glow of her smooth brown skin. None of the females in the pack compared to how fucking hot Renee was. They didn’t even come close.
He sucked in the salty air, his cock hardening as he imagined stroking her soft flesh, feeling her mouth on him. God, he needed her more than he needed to breathe. Her hands fisted at her side, her long slender arms waving back and forth slightly alongside her. He knew she was pissed, knew she’d run for a reason. Her sire wished her mated with one of the wealthier, older werewolves in the pack. He used file://C:\Documents and Settings\Chrissy\My Documents\My Ebooks\ElementsUnbound\El...
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her to secure his den, make sure he was comfortable in his old age. The werewolf didn’t give a rat’s ass about Renee’s comfort, or her happiness.
But Bruno cared. Every day that she walked this island, he’d make sure the elements parted for her, bowed down to her. She would be queen. Never again would she be wronged, used for her beauty and grace. Renee deserved happiness, her intelligence and sultry beauty admired and honored.
“If my sire sent you, you’re wasting your time.” Renee didn’t turn around.
The wind blew against her and it impressed him she’d picked up his scent. Not that he’d hidden it from her. Her scent, on the other hand, wrapped around him like an erotic flower, sweet and intoxicating. Add that to the way her dress clung to her, pressing against her soft curves by the brisk wind coming off the sea, and his heart thumped harder, faster in his chest. A more carnal, raw side of him surfaced, eager and ready to claim what he wanted—what he would have.
“I’d be the last werewolf your sire would send.”
Renee turned quickly, brushing her hair from her face when the wind captured it. She held it behind her neck, staring at him.
“Bruno.” She whispered his name slowly. “What are you doing here?”
Her black eyes widened, her gaze traveling slowly down him and then quickly returning to his face.
Unbridled curiosity, bordering on lust, hit him hard with the next gust of air. But there was fear too, uncertainty. He wasn’t exactly what most dens would consider mating material. With no den of his own, a rogue werewolf, the old stick-in-the-muds in the pack wouldn’t give him the time of day.
He worked hard at the plant, kept a den over his head, and always had. Not once had he sought out the pack for help. And when help was needed, he was there, as would be any decent werewolf. It was his lineage that didn’t impress. There was nothing he could do about that. His line would start with him, with Renee. Together they would create a den that would go down in history—he felt it—he sensed it.
“I’m here because you are,” he answered honestly, taking his time in narrowing the distance between them.
The late afternoon sun hit his arms and shoulders, adding to the warmth that already simmered inside him. The brightness shimmered in her hair. A rosy hue covered her caramel colored skin, brightening her cheeks while she studied him.
“Who betrayed me?” she asked.
He smiled, respecting the werewolves in their pack loyal enough to provide him with information.
Catching Renee before her sire shipped her off to some overweight werewolf to drool over mattered more than anything. Enough of the pack stood behind him. Renee’s whereabouts had been easy enough to learn.
“There was no betrayal.” He moved in closer, inhaling her scent.
“Bruno, we’re friends,” she whispered.
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“Yes.”
“But I swear if you try anything, I’ll kick your ass.”
He chuckled, loving how her eyes widened, and then her tongue darted over her lips as he cleared the distance between them. He lifted a strand of hair, brushing his knuckles over the swell of her breast.
She hissed, sucking in a quick breath.
“Tell you what, you may kick my ass if I try, and don’t succeed.”
Her lips formed a thin line and she slapped his hand away from hers. “Listen here, wolf man, your cocky attitude will get you in trouble.”
“No one will get in trouble here,” he assured her, grabbing her hair again and twisting it around his fist. “You have my word.”
The wind lashed around them. Her hair flew around her face, while her dress twisted around her legs. Her nipples hardened and he got a wonderful view of her small ripe breasts pressed against the material of her dress when the breeze from the sea lifted her hair and blew it behind her. Even as the wind’s direction changed, her scent remained wrapped around him, clogging his senses, filling him with hard pounding need.
She grabbed his wrist, her touch burning his skin. “Let go of my hair,” she said under her breath, fire burning in her gaze.
“I’m not letting go of any of you,” he hissed. Her defiance did a number on him, bringing out the better half of him, calling forward his more carnal side.
“You don’t have any of me.” She was angry, or at least that’s what she wanted him to see.
Not many werewolves mastered controlling their scents, and at such a young age. In fact, most reeked of their own self-confidence, something Bruno found incredibly annoying. At a young age he’d taken on the elements, worked with the wind and the earth to hide his scent and keep others in the pack from knowing his intentions. The drawback was that many in the pack now didn’t trust him. No werewolf trusted what he couldn’t smell. But enough knew he’d make them strong, powerful, a pack all would fear and respect. And they would be rewarded.
Renee had the gift too. She managed to conceal her scent out of desperation, to keep her den from smelling her misery. But it lingered in her eyes, in the way she carried herself. Instead of despising her, since she was a young unclaimed bitch, it simply made a lot of the pack leery of her. Her sire worried she wouldn’t mate, so took matters into his own paws. Bruno burned inside with outrage and disgust when he learned the amount her sire had paid to ensure her a mate.
His anger fueled his trek up the mountain in search of Renee. In daylight, changing and bounding up here in his fur would be a bit too dangerous. Their pack dominated the small seaside town, but there were humans here too. Humans who didn’t want to be reminded how thick the coast was with werewolves. Renee wouldn’t be in her fur. And he’d found her as he anticipated, tormented and hiding file://C:\Documents and Settings\Chrissy\My Documents\My Ebooks\ElementsUnbound\El...