Raven Moon (24 page)

His smile broadened as he stared at the area adjoining the living room. She followed his gaze. A music room with a piano. “Lucky you.”

Maddox gaped, practically salivating. “A Fazioli grand piano.” He sat on the bench and played scales. “Almost perfect tuning.” He played a variation on scales and cocked his head as if listening to the lingering vibrating strings like a lover’s voice. He sniffed the wood and closed his eyes, savoring the aroma as if he smelled the aroma of fresh roses.

Hey, what about me? Does he even like my scent?
Was it possible to be jealous of a piano? Hmm. Time to amp up the romantic atmosphere. Rave found matches and lit four tea lights before it turned too dark. She stepped behind him, tempted to rest her hand on his shoulder and lean into him so he could feel her breasts press against the small of his back. Instead, she reined in her seductive nature. Her raven foresight advised her he must make the first move. The whole ‘wolf is into you’ thing. She flicked her hair back and her tone bubbled with enthusiasm. “Play something.”

He smiled and started to play Beethoven.

Rave gaped as his broad fingers played with such carefree finesse. His hands moved in completely fluid movement. How did he know? He played the very tune Cashel used to play on his piano. “Moonlight Sonata.” Accompanied by the howling wind outside the airy mansion, the music was hauntingly peaceful. He played like a seasoned concert pianist. Had he played in an orchestra? Perhaps under a different name? He was that good.

Maddox smiled. While playing and without missing a beat, muttered. “Ah, so you know your music.”

“Duh.” Rave put down her satchel and removed her coat. She sank onto a settee enraptured by the contrast between the big fierce warrior and the concert worthy rendition. The intensity of his demeanor, as he played the melancholy tune, spoke of great longing and loss. A man with the heart of an artist, but with the wild abandon of a lone wolf. His music undid her and tears crested in her eyes. Her raven foresight picked up on his longing for her. And she for him.

He finished and sighed as if the music had released him of a great burden.

“Bravo!” Rave applauded. “That was crazy amazing!”

“Why because I’m a Benandanti Templar or because I’m a werewolf?”

“Actually, both.”

He chuckled. “I wish I had more time to practice, but with my hunting missions I have very little time.”

Geez. That had been him rusty? His playing sounded like he practiced daily. “Did your foster mother teach you or did you learn it in junior Templar scout school?”

“My foster mother encouraged me but I inherited my musical ear from my biological mother.”

“Really?” Intrigued, she tilted her head. “How much do you remember about her?”

“Actually Mariah, being three years older than me remembered my mother well. Her name was Twelve. She was an alpha of the Northern England Arbor Pack.”

Which meant he’d been destined to lead an Arbor pack rather than becoming a Templar soldier with the Benandanti pack. “Twelve, that’s an odd name for a she-wolf.”

“My mother’s real name was Lila.” He twisted a small smile. “Everyone called her Twelve because she had twelve digits. Her extra fingers made her a great concert pianist, although because of her pack duties, she rarely performed for human audiences.”

“Hmm, too bad you didn’t inherit the extra digits. I can imagine other uses besides playing the piano,” she teased. Rather, purposely encouraged. His sad orphan past made her want him even more.

A low growl escaped his throat as he turned and met her gaze with his seductive cobalt blue eyes. His voice husky, he said, “Having only ten fingers has never been a handicap in my endeavors.”

Rave swallowed. She had expected him to chastise her for the slutty flirting, but the wolf in him had risen to the call of the wild. Definitely under the pull of the moon. Rave could only imagine him during the full moon. “Nice to know.” She fumbled with the tea lights as clouds darkened the parlor. Lightning flashed, illuminating his wolf shadow. Thunder slammed and she jumped, damn, right into his waiting arms. She met his eyes. Electricity crackled but not from the lightning storm.

His feral eyes smoldered her and his fangs emerged. “Mine.”

Rave quivered in his arms and her eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

Instead of answering her, he crushed her against him and claimed her mouth with a ravenous kiss. His clawed hand smoothed down her back, then ripped her t-shirt. The ripple of her top being shredded and the cold air against her back sent a tingle down her core. Rave moaned in passionate pleasure, submitting to his fierce kiss. She was his to possess as he probed her compliant mouth with his searching hungry tongue. The prey of a wolf. Her wolf.
Oh,
yum, yes. About time.

Maddox released her mouth and gazed at her lacy black bra. He traced a claw from her throat to her cleavage and growled in satisfaction.

Shocked and turned on, she parted her lips and tangled her fingers through his thick blond hair. How was she going to handle a horny as hell inexperienced werewolf? “Templar, not that I mind, but are you out of your mind?”
Please say you are!

Maddox smiled. “Completely.” He captured her hand and gently nipped her wrist, sending waves of hot pleasure to the apex between her legs. He dragged his lips to where she had fractured her arm and caressed sweet kisses over it, his voice husky, “All better?”

Her gaze shifted to his bulging erection. “Yes, let me show you how much better, please,” she whispered.

A slow deep wolfish rumble of pure lust escaped his lips and his feral gaze glistened in the candlelight. Gone was the religious Benandanti Templar. Rave had underestimated the wolf that resided beneath the stiff upper-lipped Benandanti. Was his long suppressed wolf in control?
Methinks, yes.
Her inner raven cawed in joy.
Oh, please do bad things with me!

Maddox took her hand and pressed it on his chest. “Remove my shirt.”

“Yes.” She hungered to release his cock from its prison but why not treat herself to the view of his glorious ripped torso? Ignoring the loud thunder and flashing lightning, her fingers trembled as she unbuttoned his black shirt.
Can’t wait
. She ripped his shirt off.

Maddox took in a deep breath and threw his head back, releasing a sound between a wolfish whimper and a human groan.

Awed by his magnificent godlike body, she traced her fingers from his rock-hard broad shoulders, down his muscular chest and gaped at his abs. “Killer six-pack.”

He rasped, “Remove your clothes.”

Rave tickled his throat with her tongue. “Why don’t you get out of yours first?” she teased a finger on his fly. His thick cock twitched, anxious to break free. She pressed her hand over its fierce bulge.

He growled. “Remember you’re my captive.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is. Are you going to interrogate me or have hot werewolf sex with me?”

He chuckled. “Let’s just say my alpha wolf wants obedience.”

“Kinky hot.” She kicked off her boots and hastily removed her pants, but left her lacy thong. It would drive his wolf wild, before he snapped back to being the holier than thou fanatic. Not caring that she seduced her on-again, off-again captor/hero.

Maddox picked her up and set her on the piano. He held her face in his palms. “You are so beautiful.” He inhaled. “You are the bloom of spring flowers, the sunset over the mountains, the stars in the sky.”

Rave swooned with his poetic chant that was sex to the brain when he drew her in and plundered her mouth. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment and moaned in pleasure. She melted then glided on the thermals of his desire. Visions of a white wolf with a black raven flying alongside him through a forest path flooded her mind. His kiss intoxicated her into experiencing a waking dream. A dream she’d had since adolescence.

Maddox suddenly released her and stepped back. He closed his eyes and released a slow breath, his low voice barely audible. “Princess, I’m begging. We must stop before it’s too late.”

“No!” Rave leapt off the piano and gripped his belt. “Too late, I want you as much as you want me. Why fight it?” She trailed kisses from his beltline to his ripped abs. With each kiss, she felt the Benandanti Templar give in to the fierce suppressed beast ready to take what he desired.

Maddox fisted her hair and tilted her face to meet his eyes. He half-growled as his fangs extended to the point where they would interfere with French kissing. Releasing her hair, he lifted her in his arms then gentled her to the rug.

His canines lingered on her neck, his tongue tasting her. She mewed. “Oh, yes.” Her eyes shot open. Wait. The werewolf she’d had sex with never lengthened his fangs to this extent. Was it possible he planned to claim her? No. His horniness was just the moon and his years of forced celibacy. Mariah had been his only sex partner. And after they made love once they’d never done it again. That’s like tasting chocolate and being told never to taste it again. Now he had the entire box of chocolates.

He shook his head. “We can’t!”

Outside the wind howled and she wanted nothing more than to make love to the hottest werewolf in the world. Her dawning desire was not just lust. Their immediate attraction a year ago, their serendipitous meeting, and his protectiveness meant their connection was more. Rave’s foresight and heart knew the truth all along. They were mates. Ravens always dreamt of their true mates. It explained why she’d never been attracted to raven men. This was not shifter confusion. It was raven foresight. Was Maddox the one chosen for her by her goddess, Morrigu? Rave held his head with her hands and allowed them to flutter into wings. Bird shifters used feathers only for their intended mate. She mantled his head and caressed his muscular shoulders with her feathers. “I’m yours.”

His hot breath burned her and his hungry feral gaze returned. “Mine.” He nudged his head against her wings. Her wings fluttered about his head, sending a breeze of her perfumed essence. He inhaled deeply and rumbled a growl.

Still, she needed to test the waters. Her wings returned to hands. “Umm. Maddox, since you haven’t had sex in so long, are you really feeling the mate thing?” In a few moments, if they were destined as mates, he would absolutely go crazy sex starved werewolf on her. As much as she wanted him, could she live with the consequences of an unworkable mating? He’d be executed or at the very least banished from his pack. Not to mention her possible banishment from her raven clan, and most likely removal of her title.

Maddox stopped and met her gaze. “You have the most stunning eyes in the entire universe.” Ignoring her question, he captured and kissed her hand. “I must see more.” Maddox reached behind her and snapped her bra off.

What if her imagination was only wishful thinking and they were not soul mates? Was he responding because he lost his beloved mate? She bit her lip. “I’m not Mariah.”

He smoothed a hair from her brow, and shot her a pained watery gaze. “Do you know why I broke our laws and slept with Mariah?”

Rave swallowed. “I guess you loved her.”

“Yes, I loved her, but as a friend. The reason we sinned was I had to know if she was the one, and not…you.”

“Me?” So he sensed it, too? Was his God laughing? Surely, Morrigu was, but then again Morrigu loved a good trick every so often.

Maddox sighed and gazed at her flushed face. “From the moment I saw you saunter into the hall at our last Consortium and stuck your silver studded tongue at me, I was drawn to you. My inner wolf knew. Yet, I thought God had played a cruel trick on me. I did everything I could to get you out of my mind. I prayed, whipped my beast into bloody submission and even hoped Mariah would bring me back to my senses and be my mate.” He gave her a wan smile. “When nothing worked, I moved back to England.”

“And Mariah stayed?”

Maddox stiffened and briefly closed his eyes. “She knew I ran away from you and she refused to go. Diego, our fellow hunter, was in love with her and she took him as mate. Together they hunted for Jaeger and died as a result. If only…”

She lightly stroked his arm. “Shh. Stop. Jaeger killed them. Not you.”

He shook his head and stood. “I might have been able to save them.”

“You might have been killed. Remember, Jaeger captured Dirk, our most powerful hunter and sold him to the underground lab. If it weren’t for Dora, he might still be enslaved by the gleipnir collar and possibly have met the same fate.”

He released a long breath. “Point well taken, but…”

“Maddox, it was your destiny to help save the people of Skye.” She blinked back tears. “Perhaps you blame me for Mariah’s death.” She lowered her gaze. “You know, me being the whole devil’s get thing.”

Maddox lifted her chin. “No. You are a child of God. I see that now.”

“I’m a child of Morrigu, a pagan goddess. And you are a holy Templar Benandanti Hound of God.”

He retracted his fangs and gentled his tone, “Ravenna, what matters is how you feel about me.”

She shivered and risked her moment of bliss. “Is this your inner wolf speaking or the man?”

Maddox smiled. “Both.”

Rave smoothed her hand over his unshaven face. “I too felt something for you but I assumed it was because of your hot muscular body.” She sighed. “But I’ve had dreams of a white wolf, of you and me in the forests in our totem forms. I knew you were the one but my raven pride refused to admit it.”

His eyes widened. “Tell me there was a large lake behind the wood and I ran to it while you flew above the waters. I stopped to quench my thirst. You flew so close I tasted your scent.”

“And I sent ripples of water that splashed your nose while you drank.” Her pulse quickened. “I’ve had that very dream as well.”

His gaze flicked to her breasts and stiff nipples. Maddox returned his gaze to her face and lifted her chin. “Ravenna.” He sat her on a sofa. He lowered himself and swirled his tongue around her tingling nipple while one clawed hand scooped under her bottom.

She arched and spoke between ragged breaths. “Oh, Maddox.”

Chapter 16

Maddox switched to Rave’s other nipple while he combed her slick wet molten mound with his clawed hand. “Mine,” he growled.