Heart of the Wolf

Chapter Four

BELLA STROKED HER BOTTOM AGAINST DEVLYN’S RAGING arousal, triggering an undeniable lust for the woman he’d coveted endlessly.

“Damn it, Bella, stop it.” To still her actions, he tightened his hold on her waist, the insatiable urge to take her filling him with feral aggression.

“I can’t help it. Your scent and your touch are driving me nuts,” she growled.

“You only say that because you want me to let you go, but I don’t trust you.”

Ignoring him, she pressed herself hard against him, challenging him to mate.

No human or lupus garou bitch boasted the same alluring scent as Bella. Taking a deep breath, he drank in her wild fragrance, a heady aphrodisiac compelling him to mate with her against all common sense. He nuzzled his face in her silky red hair, making the attraction stronger, not controlling his behavior as he should.

Devlyn ran his hand over Bella’s side, down the gentle curve of her hip, to her inner thigh. She parted her legs for him, and he groaned with insatiable lust. Sliding his hand up her belly, he reached her breast and squeezed the full soft mound.

She moaned and pressed against his heavy loins again. “Be still,” he whispered into her hair.

“You don’t want me to be still,” she growled. “Not if you’re going to keep touching me.”

Hungering to mate with her, he lifted her leg over his. She stiffened her back.

“Nothing that will get us into too much trouble, Bella. Just going to relieve some of your tension.”

As soon as he slipped his fingers between her legs, into the hot, wet, swollen folds, she trembled. Stroking her, he whispered next to her ear, “How does that feel?”

“Harder, faster,” she managed to get out.

The thrill of having her tight against his body, naked as he had imagined for so many years, filled him with primal need. “Breathe, Bella. I don’t want you passing out.”

Squirming against him, she prodded him to quit talking and do more.

Reveling in the sweet musky scent that was all Bella, he stroked in and out and then touched her nub again. She placed her hand on his, pressing his fingers harder against her, forcing him to rub faster. Arching her back, she groaned. His arousal stretched out to her like a pike readied to enter her virgin territory, touching her between the folds, but not penetrating. Her moans of ecstasy and writhing lithe body undid him. With Bella’s body squirming against him, his erection sliding against her folds, he fought losing control.

Her body shuddered, she cried out, her inner muscles contracting with her climax, and he quickly pulled away before he finished what he’d started.

She gazed at him with darkened amber eyes. “Are you okay?”

His hormones raged out of control, his arousal ached for release, and she had to ask if he was all right? In a husky voice, he motioned to the bathroom and said, “Why don’t you wash up, Bella.”

“Right.” She crossed the floor to the bathroom, her silky skin covered in a fine sheen of perspiration, her red hair in tangles as though she’d been well loved.

God, how he wanted to make her his mate for real. He was a fool to have touched her, knowing how she turned him on, but even when he’d played with her when they were young, there was always the need to conquer her, to make her his own. Pacing across the room, he tried to get his wolf instincts under control, when instead he wanted to join her in the shower and lick and nip every inch of her delectable skin and penetrate her slick folds.

The shower ran for a short while and then shut off, and she walked out of the bathroom—the towel wrapped around her head, the rest of her naked, her rosy nipples extended, willing him to touch them with his tongue. He took a ragged breath and stalked toward the bathroom. “I’ll wash up.” A dip in the icy stream back home would cool him down nicely about now. He paused at the door, scowling at her while she slipped into bed. “Don’t leave, Bella.”

A sly smile curved her lips, stirring his libido all over again. “Why would I do that when you can relieve my ... tension, so well?”

He growled. “Don’t mention it.”

“We didn’t mate,” she said softly, pulling the cover to her breast. “Don’t give it another thought.”

As if that could ever happen. He’d think of every stroke, every moan of ecstasy she’d made, the feel of her soft wet folds, her musky sweet scent, every bit of her forever. Just as he couldn’t get out of his mind the kiss he’d given her so long ago.

Not trusting her to stay put, he hesitated. She watched him, her expression curious as he pondered what to do. Then he gathered their discarded clothes that were piled on the floor. He didn’t think she’d try to run without them.

She cast him an annoyed look. He gave her a tight smile and hurried into the bathroom, leaving the door open. A quick shower with the curtain pulled aside would have to suffice, as he didn’t trust little Bella to not run off.

After he finished showering, he towel dried and then strode into the darkened room. His blood heated when he saw only pillows stacked together where she’d lain down.

He yanked the pillow away and stared at the vixen. Bella was sleeping soundly, as innocent as an angel.

Innocent, my ass. There was no innocence in the way she tasted, smelled, or felt.

He walked around to the other side of the bed and slid between the coarse bleached sheets. As soon as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against his body, she hummed. “What took you so long? And why didn’t you make me move over for you this time, Devlyn?”

He grunted. “I thought you were asleep. Guess you were only pretending.”

“Nearly asleep,” she said, her voice soft, alluring, tempting him.

He ran his fingers through her silky, damp hair. “Why haven’t you found this human mate of yours yet?” He wasn’t sure what got into him to ask—maybe the annoyance he felt that she wanted one, maybe the concern she’d come close to finding one. But afterward he wondered if he should have brought the subject up or kept it buried, like so many other things he didn’t ever want to discuss with her. She tensed in his arms. “Haven’t had the time. I have to be selective, you know. One chance for the mate of a lifetime.”

“You’ve had a lot of years to find one. You’re lucky we don’t age as fast as humans or you’d be dead and gone by now.”

“All the more reason to find the right one. Besides, because I haven’t been around our kind, this was the first wolf heat I’ve ever come into since I left the pack. Not sure why it happened this time, unless it’s my human age catching up with me. Haven’t had much of an urge to find a mate ... until now.” She paused. “What about you? Why have you never mated?”

“Maybe I have.”

She grew quiet.

Maybe she wasn’t so determined to find a human for companionship after all. “I’ve never chosen a mate. Seems I can’t find the right one either.”

She let out her breath. “Why have you never left the pack? I thought you would years ago.”

“I did, a few times.” He wasn’t about to tell how long and hard he’d searched for her. “But I always longed to be back with my own kind. When Argos took me in—”

“What?”

“I thought you knew.”

“Argos’s wolf pack wasn’t your own?”

Nuzzling his mouth against her ear, he nibbled at the lobe. “No. They took me in like they did you.”

“I thought you were part of the family.” Her fingertips caressed his arm with feather-light strokes.

His body hardened in response, but he fought giving into his baser instincts. “I was ... am. They’re my family. And, as much as I don’t care for Volan, he’s the pack leader. For the most part, he rules well and keeps the pack safe. I’m not a lone wolf kind of guy. I like being a member of a family.”

“So your cousins who came with you aren’t really your cousins?”

“They are, in a manner of speaking. You’re a distant cousin, if you want to get right down to it.”

“Thank you, no.”

“Don’t think you’re good enough to be a cousin to a gray?”

A sensual chuckle issued from her belly, warming him several degrees.

Ringing her nipple with the tip of his finger, he enticed it to harden. The sensation shot a spark of interest straight to his groin. He could never get enough of touching her to make up for the time lost. Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew she didn’t want him, that it was only her wolf’s heat that made her crave him. “Argos wondered if we did you a disservice by not finding a red lupus garou pack to return you to, if maybe you would have settled down with your own kind.”

“I’m afraid I’ve been with the bigger grays for so long that the reds look puny.”

He stilled his hands. “You’ve been in touch with some, Bella?”

“At ... at the zoo.”

“What?”

“Two men. About our age. They said they’d break me out. One urinated along the fence line. Didn’t you catch his odor?”

Hell and damnation. Fisting his hands in her hair, he knew damn well what the red intended with his actions. “The breeze must have shifted.” Damn his bad luck. Not only would the reds frown on another male lupus garou trespassing, but a gray trying to take a red to another wolves’ territory wouldn’t set well with them. “You should have told me.”

“You’re not worried about them, are you? We left the zoo and then ended up at the hospital and now here. They won’t be able to follow me.”

“The news will carry the story about your hospital stay and subsequent disappearance. The mystery woman found in the wolf’s pen, without clothes, the disappearance of the red wolf, and most likely my description, too. If the red who targeted you is a pack leader, no one would cross him. So he’d know I was from out of town, not a member of his pack.”

“He was young, your age ... early twenties, small. He wouldn’t be a leader.”

“Reds are smaller.” He wasn’t dismissing the fact that they could have more trouble than they bargained for— first zoo man Thompson, then the cops, and now a pack of red wolves.

“Besides, Devlyn, I am selecting my mate.”

“That’s what this is all about? You want to choose instead of a male choosing you?” His voice sounded as incredulous as he felt.

“This is all about not wanting to be Volan’s mate. Don’t you see?”

“He’s the leader. You should be proud a leader wants you. He’ll always safeguard you. Besides, I thought you and he shared a connection.” He couldn’t help sounding peeved. But, in truth, besides the fact she wanted a human mate and the way she denied wanting to be with Volan, he felt otherwise.

She didn’t respond. “Bella?”

“Leave it,” she snapped.

“Why do you despise him so? It’s not because he killed the boy at the lake. You hated Volan long before this, although I recall a time when that wasn’t the case.” The instance when Volan had encouraged her to eat after the death of her best friend—yet she’d bitten Devlyn when he’d tried to console her—hadn’t faded from his memory. The image of Volan’s arms snug around her and Bella’s head pressed against his chest still burned hot in Devlyn’s mind.

She abruptly changed the subject. “You never told me what happened between you and Volan the day I ran. I didn’t think you’d survive.”

“Disappointed?” He knew there was something more to the story with Volan, damn it.

She tried to wriggle out of his arms. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I didn’t want him hurting you. I didn’t want him hurting the human boy either.”

Attempting to squash the hard knot in the pit of his stomach when the image of her lusting after the human in the lake came to mind, he redirected the conversation. “Volan was pretty angry with me for kissing you.”

“Some kiss.”

The way she said it, dreamily and with intrigue, diminished his annoyance with her over the human boy. “Did you like it?”

“It was all right,” she responded too nonchalantly—as if she were playing a role in a movie but overplaying her part a bit.

“You’ve had better?” he asked, his tone mocking. Silence greeted him.

Inwardly, he chuckled. “Thought not.”

“I’m not going to tell you about all of the guys I’ve kissed.” She tried to squirm free, but he tightened his grip. Sighing heavily, she quit her struggles. “What happened between you and Volan?”

“He planned to tear me to shreds until you ran off. Then Volan hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to kill me or chase you. After scrapping with me for a couple of minutes to make a point, he took after you.”

“Were you badly injured?”

“Nothing that wouldn’t heal in a couple of days. When Volan returned home two days later without you, he was hell to live with. After I healed, I left the pack.”

“In search of me?”

He couldn’t reveal that a feminine red lupus garou had brought a big gray to his knees. And he didn’t want to tell her that he not only couldn’t win against Volan, but he couldn’t locate one little runaway female red wolf. This time he didn’t answer her.

When he didn’t respond, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it, warming him thoroughly. “Did you see a newscast about me?”

“Yeah, Argos said it was you right away.” She shrugged and muttered under her breath, “Could have been another.”

“Nope, had your trademark all over it.”

“I’ve never been caught and stuck in a zoo before.” He nudged her neck with his cheek. “No, but you’ve needed rescuing before. So, how was Big Red?”

She slugged him in the shoulder, forcing him to laugh out loud. Playing with her again felt good, but he wanted more. Resenting that he couldn’t take her for his own, the powerful need to renew the good memories of their youth and to form new ones as mates strangled him. But it wasn’t his business to want the pack leader’s intended bitch and, worse, one who wanted a human companion.

With the need for sleep tantamount, both grew quiet; his arms securely wrapped around her, and they slept soundly for a couple of hours.

Something woke Devlyn. He sat up in bed, his heightened wolf senses taking hold. The smell of men’s cologne, the sound of a keycard sliding into a slot, and the hush of men’s voices in the hallway of their hotel suite triggered adrenaline to course through his blood at racetrack speed.

He jerked the covers aside, jumped off the mattress, and seized Bella’s wrist. Clasping his hand over her mouth, he spoke against her ear in a hushed voice; her heart beat hard and her eyes were wild with fear. “Police, I think, trying to enter the living area of the hotel suite. Get dressed.”

He shoved her clothes to her and pushed the queen-sized bed against the door. Throwing on his clothes, he turned to see Bella, already dressed in the oversized men’s garments, sliding the patio door open and running onto the balcony. Before he could reach her, she climbed over the patio railing. For a moment, she hung from the concrete patio like a monkey, swinging in the cold city jungle, a drizzle coating everything in icy wetness.

He touched her hand. “Can you make it all right?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her amber eyes darkened. She dropped to the grassy ground shimmering with water droplets. Devlyn jumped down next to her and grabbed her hand. When he started to lift her, she objected.

“You’re not wearing shoes, Bella. Let me do this my way.”

“All right, boss, do it.”

Black as night, Devlyn’s eyes studied her for a moment. “It’s about time you said so.” His voice was hushed but different than Bella had ever heard it. Before she could further consider the change in his mood, he lifted her in his arms and ran across a road, the feel of his virile strength feeding her own. Skirting to the backside of an apartment complex, he headed for an SUV.

“I hope it’s yours.”

“Rental. We had several, figuring we’d give the police a good chase with all of us going in different directions. We kept this one here in case anyone discovered us at the hotel.”

Releasing her, he unlocked the vehicle’s doors with the click of the button. “I have a change of clothes for you in the backseat. Put them on while I get us out of here.”

After she slipped into the back, he took the wheel and drove out of the parking area. Unzipping the bag, she pulled out the contents—a scrappy pair of red lace panties, a bra the same color, a pair of pale blue running pants, a sweatshirt, and socks and sneakers, trimmed with hearts.

“Who picked out the red scraps of lace?”

“Tanner.”

She laughed at the thought of Devlyn’s cousin, always playing the bad boy role. “Figures. He always did have a thing for red.”

“If you don’t like the color, you don’t have to put them on.”

“Go without?”

He glanced at the rearview mirror, his eyes smoldering. She clicked the bra closed in front and frowned. “It’s a pushup bra.”

“Didn’t need anything pushed up,” he said, his voice ragged. “But it suits you.”

“Watch your driving.”

“Can’t help the distraction,” he growled. Horny and frustrated, he acted like Big Red at the zoo. She pulled the rest of the clothes on and climbed into the front seat. “I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on those cops at the front door.”

“You were still recovering from your harrowing experience at the zoo. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ll have to take another nap later on.”

“Want to crawl in the back and sleep for awhile?”

“I couldn’t right now. My skin’s still prickling from nearly getting caught.” She ran her hands over the running pants, wiping off the clamminess.

“What’s bothering you, Bella?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t tell me nothing. I can tell from the tension in your voice you’re worried, and about more than the cops almost catching us.”

She turned away from him and stared out the window; a light mist drizzled down the glass pane. “It’s nothing.”

“If you’re considering not going home with me, think again. You’re not safe on your own. Lupus garous have to stick together to survive. Loners get themselves killed. And no matter what, you can’t expose our kind.”

She glanced at him and opened her mouth to tell him off.

Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Devlyn cursed under his breath. “Ah, hell—trouble, straight ahead.”