Wolf Tales II

Wolf Tales 2 –
Alexandria

Kate Douglas

All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2004
 
Katherine A. Moore

A.K.A. Kate Douglas
No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Changeling Press LLC.

ISBN 1-59596-018-X
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MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader
Publisher:
Changeling Press LLC
PO Box 1561
Shepherdstown, WV 25443-1561
www.ChangelingPress.com
Editor:
Sheri Ross Carucci
Cover Artist:
Bryan Keller

This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

Chapter 1

The black Mercedes took the steep mountain road without effort. Alexandria Olanet struggled to keep her eyes open, but the journey had been long and difficult, emotions between her and the enigmatic man sitting beside her practically off the chart.

He’d been silent the better part of the trip, an uncommunicative partner on a quest that would likely change both their lives at the most elemental of levels. She studied him -- sitting there next to her on the wide back seat -- through half-shuttered eyes, almost afraid to let herself consider what lay ahead.

It was difficult enough to explain what had already transpired. When she’d called her office and informed her partners she was leaving on an extended sabbatical, there’d been very few questions. Of course, they thought she was still smarting over her failed engagement. Little did they know how thankful she was to have gotten out of a disaster in the making.

Now, she wondered if she were about to enter another. Stefan Aragat was more than a mystery -- more than a man, for that matter. He stared out the window, one elegant hand resting beneath his chin, the long fingers and neatly trimmed nails supporting a face that was, for want of any other description, pure wolf. Grizzled muzzle, sharp canines, fur-tipped ears pointed forward, searing amber eyes… even though his body was tall and strong and almost completely human, beneath the tailored slacks and dark gray silk shirt was a coat of black fur tipped with silver and the strong, violent heart of the wolf.

And, of course, a most amazing cock.

Xandi almost laughed out loud. She would never grow tired of that amazing tool of his, all part and parcel of a package caught halfway between wolf and man. She’d fallen in love with a creature beyond anything her imagination might have created, a creature hell-bent on changing himself back to human.

Would it be the same, making love to Stefan as a man? Merely thinking of the wolf taking her, of that amazing cock penetrating her, swelling inside her pussy and trapping them together in unbelievable orgasms, made her hot. Made her pussy weep and her muscles clench in frustrated need.

What was wrong with her, she wondered, that she would desire the wolf as much as, if not more than, the man?

Stefan stared blindly out the window, thinking of the man they were rushing to meet… and of the woman beside him. Xandi had been unusually quiet as they wound their long way up the mountain in the chauffeur-driven limo. Of course, so had he, though there was so much he wanted to say to her.

She’d turned his life upside down over the past two weeks, ever since she’d literally stumbled into his world. Alexandria Olanet -- Xandi, of the sweet lips and even sweeter body, a woman as fascinated by his bestial qualities as she was by the man inside. How was she going to feel when he returned to his human form? Would she love him as much? Would her fascination and insatiable sexual appetite remain just as powerful after he found his humanity, or was it the wolf in him that excited her?

Even more worrisome… what was she going to think of his darker side? The desire and passion even he didn’t understand? The needs he felt, even now, with a lovely woman close beside him.

Desire linked to Anton.

Stefan’s shoulders dipped and he closed his eyes. He would know the answers to all his questions once this long journey ended. He’d contacted the wizard, his mentor Anton Cheval, told him he was returning, but nothing more. He’d reached the wizard through a spell of his own making, using the amazing mental link he had with Anton… the same link he shared with Xandi.

He still hadn’t admitted to the woman he loved that their ability to read one another’s minds wasn’t unique. Nor had he told her of the dark desire he felt for Anton. Of the dreams that awakened him night after night with his cock erect and his body wanting another man. Would she still love him, or would she think he was… Hell, even
he
didn’t know what he was. Man? Beast? Bi? Gay? Straight?

Damn
. He was such a fucking coward! For five years now he’d lived as part man, part beast, tortured by erotic dreams of another man and so afraid of those dreams he’d chosen half a life rather than face the desire he felt for Anton.

Anton. Shit.
What was wrong with him? He’d never lusted after a man, never thought of another man sexually. This need, though… this sexual desire was somehow intrinsic to his very existence, to his nature. How could he explain it to Xandi, when he didn’t understand it himself, the dark desire, the sensual need and the overwhelming hate that seemed to coexist with every thought of the man who had been his mentor? His master?

The man who had cursed him.

He’d told Xandi there would be penalties to pay, punishment to endure, but he hadn’t told her everything. Fear of his own desires, pure and simple, had kept him away from Anton. That same desire now moved him forward. Stefan felt a growing sense of expectation, a dark, purely sexual need for subjugation -- a desire to submit totally to Anton.

He pictured the wizard -- darkly handsome, his lean face and amber eyes mesmerizing, intensely intelligent. Thoughts of Anton had haunted his nights for five years now, filling Stefan’s dreams with a combination of carnal longing and murderous intent. Five long years of celibacy, of waking in the dark of night sweating, panting, painfully erect and thinking of Anton, of his elegant hands on Stefan’s body, of his mouth, his cock. Dreams that shamed him, excited him, confused him.

Was that unnatural desire part of the curse that left him half man and half beast, or was it a truth about his nature he’d not known before Anton?

When Xandi entered his life and made love to the beast, she stilled the dreams. Stilled them, but didn’t end them. He shuddered, feeling Xandi close beside him, sensing the wizard up ahead. Would she hate him when she learned the truth? When she discovered a side of him he still couldn’t admit to himself?

As the car drew closer to Anton’s home, his sense of dread grew and expanded. This wasn’t going to be easy, not with Xandi beside him. Since the first time he saw her, he’d loved her, had reveled in their sexual and mental compatibility. She made him more powerful, more male. More in control.

Was he about to lose all of that to Anton? Would he lose Xandi as well? He swallowed and felt the muscles in his throat constrict, as if someone were choking him, cutting off his air.

I can do this. I will beg his favor and submit. I have to.

I want to.

Oh God, how I want this.

It went against his nature, against everything that defined him.

A dark thrill coursed through his body. His cock swelled against the restricting fabric of his slacks.
No. What defines me has changed. I have changed. Xandi loves me as I am. Her love empowers me, yet Anton’s love draws me. Must I lose one to gain the other?

Must I lose who I am now to regain my humanity?

He took a deep, steadying breath. Held it. Let it out and felt his shoulders relax.

Sighing, he took Xandi’s cold fingers in his and held her hand tightly against his thigh. Afraid, anxious, expectant… confused. But not alone. No longer alone.

Xandi remained quiet as the car followed the twisted road to the wizard Anton’s home. High in the mountains of
Montana
, the location was a mere X on the map Stefan had found on his breakfast table this morning.

Neither of them had any idea how Anton had placed the map and instructions in Stefan’s home. The simple sheet of handwritten directions and the map, located discreetly next to the salt and pepper shakers had merely hinted at the wizard’s power.

Stefan was his usual silent self, but Xandi sensed conflicting emotions roiling beneath his outwardly composed exterior. Relaxed he might appear, but she knew he was as tense as a well-strung bow. She sensed his raw power tempered by an underlying hint of fear. He reached over and took her hand, squeezed her fingers, then held them against his thigh.

She sighed and moved closer to him. He might not say anything, but she knew he needed her, for companionship, if nothing else. Why did he seem so conflicted? Something else bothered him, something she couldn’t quite sense. She squeezed his hand and settled close against his side.

Xandi was still contemplating his moods when they pulled into the drive of the wizard’s home. Palatial in design, the house managed to look as if it had been hewn from the very trees and mountains that protected it, as if the rock had grown out of the earth, not been laid by the hand of man.

She felt Stefan’s resolve strengthen as the car rolled silently to a stop. He straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin, then nodded with almost regal bearing when the driver opened the door for them. An old servant in a faded blue robe met them at the top of the broad staircase leading to a large, intricately carved wooden door. He bowed and stepped aside, leaning heavily on a carved staff. With a terse nod, he invited them in.

Stefan strode through the door like a man with a mission. Xandi followed quietly, curious at Stefan’s unexpected show of bravado. He’d been almost humble when he’d cast the spell to contact Anton the night before. Humble and penitent, as if well aware of the pain his arrogance had brought him.

Xandi realized she preferred that side of him. This attitude, as if he were looking for a battle, put her off, unsettled her.

The old man abruptly appeared just ahead of them, blocking their path. His voice trembled as if with palsy, his hand on the head of the staff shook. “Stefan Aragat. You seek the wizard. Why?”

Stefan drew himself up, standing straight and proud, glaring down his long, lupine nose at the old man. “You can look at me and ask that? I want him to return me to my human form.”

“Ah. I see.” The old man moved closer to Stefan. He tilted his head and looked up, frowning. “Do you truly regret your hubris? Do you accept your blame for his actions? Do you understand humility? That is the lesson he wished to teach.”

“Of course I do, but I wish to discuss this matter with Anton, old man. Not with his servant.”

Xandi drew away from Stefan. She shivered in a sudden chill and her gaze shifted nervously from the proud tilt of Stefan’s head to the answering gleam in the old man’s eyes. She backed against the wall, sensed a building power within the room, an aura of shifting light and darkness. Didn’t Stefan feel it? How could he be oblivious to the anger, the darkness,
the
seething cloud settling all around them?

Then she saw it, the slight curl to Stefan’s lip, half smile, half snarl… the same expression on the old man’s face as he nodded in understanding.

Suddenly it all came clear to Xandi. Stefan challenged the old man! He
wanted
a fight. What the hell was he doing?

Stefan recognized his mistake the second the words left his mouth. He’d stormed in here, all full of bullshit and bluster, his heart pounding in his chest, his passions running high and hot.
Wrong.
So damned wrong he wasn’t even close to right. He needed to get the hell out of here, now, not force the issue while Xandi stood beside him. What the
hell
was he thinking? He turned and reached for her, but a voice filled the room, reverberated within the walls, bounced off the high ceiling and left his sensitive wolf’s ears ringing.

Stefan spun around. The old man held his staff high. Power flashed in a sparkling aura around his body. There was no weakness in him now.

Of course!
Stefan had wondered if the old man was Anton. He had his proof, now. Wasn’t this exactly what he’d wanted? At least what one side of him wanted. Stefan blinked, recognizing his desires for what they were, finally understanding how powerful his needs had become.

“Have you learned so little, Stefan Aragat? Have the last five years taught you nothing? I had hoped better of you. You truly are an arrogant bastard.”

The depth of his error struck home with the precision of a radio-controlled missile.
Oh shit.
He never should have pushed Anton with Xandi here. He barely had time to raise his hands in apology -- the shift was instantaneous. One moment he faced an angry old man in a faded blue robe, the next Stefan cowered beneath the snapping fangs of a ferocious black wolf. Before he had time to react, the wolf caught Stefan’s shoulder between powerful jaws, twisted his body and bore him to the ground. Stefan landed, face down, hard, the air rushing from his lungs in a powerful gust, leaving him dazed and disoriented.

Snarling and snapping, the wolf caught his shirt and ripped it away from his back, clawing at Stefan’s flesh, rending it with his sharp claws. Stefan’s pants went next, stripped from his writhing body as he fought desperately to stop the vicious, snarling attack.

Abruptly, he stilled beneath the wolf as understanding slammed into him. This was exactly what he’d wanted all along. Not merely to submit, but to be
forced
to submit, forced to take the punishment due him. Forcing absolved him, allowed him to exorcise the wizard from his mind, the dark desires from his dreams without admitting his acceptance.