Wolf Tales II Read online

  “One of these days I’m going to lead you as far as I can take you. You know it’s where you really want to go.”

  “You think so?” Tia cocked her hip and rested her knuckles at her waist. Luc still grinned at her. Her thudding heart finally settled back into its normal cadence, and her smile felt more like the real thing. “So, you were checking out my dimple when I was just sixteen, eh? There’re laws against people like you.”

  He wagged his finger under her nose, teasing, playful. “I just looked. Didn’t touch. Rule number one: never, ever touch the boss’s underage daughter. Knowing your father, that most likely would have led to a drastically shortened life span.”

  Tia rolled her eyes. “I know.” She gave Luc a serious up-and-down look and licked her lips. She still tasted him. Still wanted him. Felt as if all her senses were full of him.

  “This…us…it could get ugly. I’ll always be his little girl.”

  “Delightfully all grown up.” Luc stepped closer, once more invading her space.

  Tia grinned and shoved him in the chest. “Tell that to my father.” Her dry comment hung between them. She wondered if she’d just issued Luc some sort of ultimatum.

  Luc’s hands covered her fingers. His light grasp felt warm, strong. Comfortable. Not at all threatening.

  “Maybe I will have a talk with your father. Maybe he won’t be so surprised after all.” Luc grinned, a lopsided smile that went straight to Tia’s heart. “Get some rest.” He leaned close and kissed her cheek. The soft, almost brotherly brush of his lips against her skin made Tia smile, especially after what they’d just been up to.

  Luc turned away, opened the door, and stepped out on the front porch. He stuck his head back inside the partially opened door. That same lock of hair fell forward, an upside-down question mark over his left eye. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Get some sleep. You’re gonna need it.” He winked, flipped the lock on the door handle, and shut the door quietly behind him.

  Then he was gone.

  Tia stood in the front room for a long time after Luc closed the door. She wasn’t certain exactly what had happened this afternoon, had never experienced the deep, soul-shattering desire for another human being she’d felt for Luc. Somehow she sensed things were not as they seemed. No man could be so perfect, so overwhelmingly passionate.

  Not so perfect. There’d been that moment of fear, as if Luc had tossed his humanity aside and let his inner beast, a feral side she’d not recognized, free. Tia hadn’t been all that far away. Was it Luc who frightened her, or Tia’s own uncontrolled response?

  He hadn’t touched her breasts. Hadn’t groped between her legs. He’d brought her close to climax with nothing more than a kiss.

  But, hot damn, what a kiss!

  Tia touched her lips with her fingertips, reliving the feel of Luc’s mouth on hers. Then her stomach growled and she yawned. She’d missed lunch and had been up since three in order to catch her flight. She yawned again, exhausted as much from the long day as the aftermath of passion. Sleep won out over food.

  Smiling, imagining Luc joining her in the big four-poster bed, Tia headed in to take a nap, undressing as she went. She left a trail of travel-worn clothes on the floor behind her.

  Luc closed the car door behind him and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Damn. He’d almost shifted, right there in her bedroom. He couldn’t recall ever feeling so turned on, so needy. So damned out of control.

  She was perfect. Everything about Tianna Mason called to him, even beyond the fact she was Chanku. Her physical beauty, her intelligence, her sense of humor. He had to bring her over, convince her to embrace her birthright. He had to do it without scaring the crap out of her.

  Luc stuck the key in the ignition and pulled out onto the street. He needed a shower. He hadn’t even slept with her and he still smelled like sex. For that matter, he needed to jack off and get rid of some of the tension that had kept him hard as his damned name ever since his first look at Tia.

  His balls ached. His muscles hurt like he’d run a mile, and if he hadn’t been hanging on to the steering wheel like a lifeline, his hands would be shaking.

  Luc laughed out loud. “You poor bastard. That little girl’s got you by the balls.”

  So true. He should have guessed this would happen. Shit…he’d picked her luggage off the baggage carousel by scent alone. Thank goodness she had her name tags on the bags or he would have had a devil of a time explaining how he’d known they were hers.

  He’d never even noticed the tags, not until she asked him how he’d chosen her luggage. What if he’d told her the truth? Told her both bags were rich with the scent of her heat, redolent with the essence of an alpha bitch in her prime?

  After she knocked him on his ass, she probably would have called the police.

  Shit.

  She shouldn’t be this recognizable as Chanku, not without the supplements. Her scents should still be human, her sensuality levels not nearly as powerful.

  Luc glanced at the bulge in his slacks. Try telling that to his cock.

  The poor fellow hadn’t stayed this hard this long in years. All Luc could think of was burying his needy length in that hot, tight pussy of hers. He knew she’d been wet and ready, had smelled her sex like a dose of heavy perfume. It hung in the room, clung to him even now. He groaned aloud, shifted his butt around in the warm leather seat and then glanced at the clock on the dash. Time to get home, shower, grab a quick bite to eat, and put on some clean clothes. Time to figure out how he was going to deal with one Tianna Mason.

  Damn. Ulrich’s little girl was definitely all grown up.

  Chapter 4

  Why, when Tia saw the wolf this time, did she immediately think of Luc? Tia’s chest felt tight, as if there were no room for air in her lungs. The muscles in her lower abdomen clenched and she shifted to her back, sliding softly on the slick bedspread, raising her knees in invitation, opening to him.

  He stood at the end of the bed, his big paws resting on the footboard, tongue lolling, amber eyes glinting. He seemed to be trying to tell her something, but she wasn’t sure what he said. All Tia could see was his upper body, the broad wolven shoulders covered in thick, black fur, the beautifully formed head, thick ruff of fur around his neck, the intelligent eyes.

  Her pussy wept. She felt the cool brush of air across her damp and swollen folds, the trickle of lubricating cream as it coursed slowly over her perineum and down the crease of her ass. Her muscles clenched, begging, so needy.

  She touched herself, trailing her fingers through the moisture, finding her distended, sensitive clit and shoving back its tiny, protective hood. The wolf watched, blinking slowly, its gaze penetrating, perceptive. Tia circled her clit with her fingertip, then spread her labia wide, showing him the way.

  The wolf leaned closer, his sharp ears, slightly rounded at the tips, pricked forward. His eyes gleamed and his mouth opened, exposing his long, pink tongue. He swept his tongue over and around the side of his muzzle, then sat still, panting softly. The sound seemed overly loud, almost echoing in the still room.

  Though her fingers were busy between her legs, Tia’s concentration focused entirely on the wolf. On Luc. They’d become one and the same. Luc as wolf. The wolf, Luc.

  What she did wasn’t for her own pleasure, her own physical satisfaction.

  This was all for Luc.

  Tia stroked herself, her fingers slipping ever so slowly in and out of her slick and greedy flesh, the sounds wet and hungry, even to her own ears. Hips lifting to meet each silken thrust. Clit begging for attention, standing in the way of every outward stroke, blocking every slow, wet slide into her welcoming cunt.

  Her breasts ached. Her nipples twisted, budded into tight, needy points. She rubbed her palm against them, pinched and tugged, found a rhythm that matched her other hand.

  Tia felt it and welcomed it. The strange, rippling, stretching, itchy sensation across her arms, down the length of her legs. Her skin literally craw
led across her bones, a feeling she linked to her impending orgasm.

  This time, though, the crawling grew stronger, and, with it, the sense of something huge, something just beyond her reach. It overwhelmed the sensual pleasure of stroking herself so intimately. Cried for recognition, for acknowledgment.

  The wolf yipped and stood straighter, rising up on its forelegs so that it arched over the footboard. Then, with a single leap it jumped up on the bed and sat beside her.

  Watching.

  Tia felt the mattress dip with the wolf’s weight, sensed his tension, his massive control as he watched while she pleasured herself. She could have reached out and touched his head, stroked behind his ears, even touched his long, powerful legs, but to do so would somehow break the spell the animal seemed to have woven about her.

  She turned her head in order to see his eyes. Intelligence gleamed in their amber depths. Sentience. Tia’s limbs felt strange, disconnected. She pinched harder, faster at her swollen nipples. Her fingers flew now, circling her clit and dipping inside her slick and greedy cunt. She drew her knees up higher, raised her hips slightly off the bed to meet the thrust of her own fingers. The wet sounds of penetration were practically lost in the pounding of her heart, the rush of her quick, panting breaths.

  The sound of the wolf’s slow, even breathing.

  So close to coming, so completely caught up in her own arousal, Tia closed her eyes, concentrated on the slide of her fingers deep inside herself, the pulsing rush of blood in her veins. She accepted the presence of the wolf and then put him away, out of her mind. She tightened her focus, became the clench of her vaginal walls, the tight ache deep in her womb, the need to touch here, to slide her fingers there.

  Her breasts ached and she pinched harder at her own turgid nipples, bruising the dark tips, imagining the wolf’s hot tongue sweeping across her breasts. At the moment the thought entered her mind, she felt him. Felt the animal’s steamy breath, his rough tongue licking the soft curve of her left breast, felt…no. It wasn’t the wolf. It was Luc beside her, leaning over the bed, taking her nipple between full lips, suckling the sensitive bit of flesh between his sharp teeth, biting…

  Tia screamed, arched into her climax, scrabbling at the bedspread beside her with one hand while the other pressed down hard between her legs. Her entire body pulsed and clenched with the force of orgasm. She felt the hot gush of fluids between her legs, the crawling, stretching, toe-numbing sensation that made her feel as if she’d suddenly grown too big, too sensitive for her own skin.

  Gasping, Tia opened her eyes and glanced quickly to her left. Of course there was no wolf, no sign of Luc. A whimper caught in her throat, a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. Masturbation with her fantasies as active participants? Good lord, she really must be losing it. Damn.…

  She lay back on the satin cover and let the final tremors of her climax recede. Waited for her heart to return to its normal beat, her breathing to resume its usual slow and easy pattern.

  Why did she dream of wolves? And why, now that she knew him, had Luc become part of those dreams?

  Well, the answer to the second question’s easy enough. A lifetime of fantasies capped off by the real thing. Amazing how the real thing was better than any fantasy she’d ever concocted, and all they’d done was kiss.

  Damn and double damn. That led to even more fantasies. What was it going to be like when they finally had sex? There was no maybe about it, no doubt in Tia’s mind that it would happen, sooner or later.

  Preferably sooner. Her body still thrummed with her fading orgasm, but where was the languor, the sense of completion? If anything, she felt needier, almost desperate to have Luc deep inside her.

  With that thought, Tia’s pussy clenched and a low, dull ache spread through her womb. She pressed her hand against her swollen labia and imagined Luc’s tongue stroking her there, his large fingers probing.

  His cock filling her, ever so slowly. So completely.

  Moaning aloud with frustration, Tia rolled off the bed, grabbed her makeup bag, and headed for the bathroom to shower. It was almost four. Luc had seen her travel-worn and weary, yet he’d still responded to her. It might be nice to show the man that she knew how to clean up. Even nicer to see how he’d react.

  Luc checked his watch. Still on time, in spite of the beer he’d stopped for at the neighborhood bar where he’d met Tinker. At least Tink appreciated the problems facing Luc…and Tia. No one else, except Ulrich, had a clue.

  Luc knocked on the door and waited. When Tia didn’t respond, he tried the handle. The door swung open. Luc was certain he’d locked it before he left, but he stuck his head through the partially opened door. “Tia? You here?”

  No answer. Luc stepped into the living room. The bathroom door was closed but he heard the shower running. A trail of clothes from the living room to the bedroom told him Tia’d most likely taken her nap in the nude.

  Images of Tia unclothed might be a little bit much for his overactive libido right now.

  As much as he wanted her, as desperately as Luc’s body needed hers, it was too much too soon. She had no idea the secrets he carried. Until he could level with her, explain her birthright as well as his role in her mother’s death, Luc knew there could be no true intimacy.

  Once she was fully Chanku, their minds would link, their thoughts meld. It was part of the bonding process, should he take her as mate. Luc paused in midstep. The image of himself as wolf, covering Tia’s wolven body, made him hard again. As though he’d been able to lose the erection since the first time he saw Tia this morning.

  He’d never taken a woman as wolf. Never experienced the intimate bond Ulrich had told him of. The concept intrigued as much as it terrified. Luc carried too many secrets in his head, and all of them would belong to Tia once they mated as wolves.

  Finding out how her mother died while Luc fucked her senseless wasn’t the romantic scenario he imagined.

  Damn. How the hell was he ever going to tell her? Telling her about Chanku was going to be difficult enough.

  Luc leaned over and picked Tia’s blouse off the floor and then grabbed her denim skirt. Her bra was next, a black, lacy thing, then a tiny pair of black thong panties. Every item of clothing was imbued with her scent and her panties felt suspiciously damp. He hadn’t imagined her arousal. He held the evidence in his hands.

  It wasn’t easy, but he resisted the desire to hold her panties to his nose. He couldn’t risk it. Not now.

  Not after what had happened earlier. He’d never come so close to losing control. Thank goodness Tia had stopped him. On the edge sexually, he’d been bare seconds from shifting. His behavior more wolf than human, his lovemaking ferocious, not tender.

  He wondered if the bite on Tia’s neck had left a mark.

  His mark.

  Another thought intruded as he stood there in the middle of Tia’s living room with her clothing clutched to his chest. Were the others from the pack invited to dinner tonight? Ulrich wouldn’t do that to Tia and Luc, would he?

  If so, Luc hoped the mark showed.

  Lost in contemplation, Luc missed the sound of water shutting off, but the silence caught his attention. A door creaked. Luc glanced up sharply. Tia stood in the bathroom doorway, her wet hair wrapped in a fluffy yellow towel, her body wrapped in nothing more than a leftover wisp of steam.

  She was all long legs and lean body. Her dark skin glowed bronze, her breasts swelled lushly from her chest, full and firm, the areolas dark as ripe plums and even more inviting. Her stomach was flat and her pubic hair nonexistent. She was, for all intents and purposes, a goddess.

  Luc’s lungs stopped working and his hands ceased to function. He dropped the clothes he was holding. They landed in a small, wrinkled heap on top of his loafers.

  Tia’s hands flew up to cover her mouth and halt a strangled scream. She made no attempt to cover either her breasts or her crotch. Luc spun around, turning his back to her.

  “I’m sorry.” He barely choke
d out the apology.

  “Shit. You scared me half to death. I thought you locked the door on your way out. How’d you get in?”

  “It was open. I’m really sorry.” Luc thought he’d locked it, too. He’d have to check on that. After he got another look at Tia’s body. No. He didn’t need to see her. Not now. His heart couldn’t take it. The damned thing felt like it might pound right out of his chest.

  He heard a rustling behind him.

  “You can turn around now.”

  Slowly Luc turned.

  Tia had removed the towel from her head and wrapped it tightly around her body. Her dark blond hair hung in long, wet, curly tangles, partially covering the tops of her breasts.

  Unfortunately, the towel covered the rest.

  Luc cleared his throat. His voice still sounded unusually husky. “We need to check that door. I know I locked it when I left.”

  “Yeah.” Tia sucked her lips between her teeth and stared straight at Luc. She made no attempt to go into her room.

  He realized he was walking toward her, kicking aside and then stepping over the pile of clothes, reaching out to touch her. Tia gazed steadily at him, her amber eyes bright, her skin flushed an even darker hue.

  Luc tangled one finger in her damp hair and tugged. She moved like a puppet on a string, lifted her lips to his for a long, slow kiss. The part of his brain that should be telling him to stop, at least ordering him to take it slow, remained curiously silent.

  Tia moaned into his mouth. Her slim hands came up around his neck and her body flowed against his like hot wax. She was all invitation and warm, willing woman, her lips moving over his, her full breasts flattened against his light sweater.

  He felt the damp towel through the knit, wondered if her nipples had peaked. Luc groaned. Damn. He wanted her like he’d never wanted anything or anyone in his life. Not now, though. Not tonight. Not when he’d have to face Tia’s father over the dinner table.