NocC 023 - The Ancients 05 - Bonnie Vanak - Incubus Wolf - Harlequin 2012-09 Read online

  He settled atop her, supporting his weight with his hands. His chest hairs rubbed over her overly sensitive nipples like a brush of silk. The rounded edge of his penis pushed into her. Swollen from her climaxes, she wasn’t certain she could take him. He was too big.

  “Yes,” he murmured, reading her mind. “You can take all of me. Relax. Open to me.”

  His thick erection slid into her slowly. His smoldering gaze locked with hers.

  When he withdrew, waiting, Alex pumped her hips.

  “Don’t stop.” She barely recognized the sultry purr of her voice.

  Dominic smiled darkly and obliged her.

  His thick length filled her as he penetrated to her womb. Dominic rested his forehead against hers, a bead of sweat dropping onto her cheek and splashing down like a tear.

  He groaned and began thrusting in long, slow strokes. Blood thundered in her ears and rushed to her loins. Her limbs quaked wildly beneath the steady, hard thrusts.

  Emotions flowed out of her. Alex closed her eyes, the words spilling from her lips.

  “Dominic, oh, love me, please. Love me.”

  She felt him touch his mind to hers, the gentlest of caresses.

  Open to me, my sweet Alexandra. See how beautiful you are. Nothing can ever mar your beauty, for you are lovely to me. Time cannot erase your beauty, nor can man’s scars upon your heart take your soul. Bond with me, my Alexandra. I have longed for this moment, have waited since the first moment I saw you. Show me the deepest, darkest desires of your heart and I promise I will always cherish and honor you.

  Her lips parted in wonder. She opened her eyes to see him gazing fiercely at her as he surged into her.

  “Yes,” she sobbed, writhing.

  “You are beautiful Alexandra,” he whispered, brushing his mouth against hers. “I see inside you.”

  “I love you,” she cried out.

  With a satisfied smile, he thrust harder. His hips hammered into her, hard male flesh smacking against her soft yielding femaleness. Alex arched, desperate to touch him. Her hips bucked as he rode her hard and fast. A scream rose from her throat.

  Pleasure so intense she couldn’t bear it built to a shattering crescendo. A scream tore from her throat as her hips jerked convulsively, Dominic rode her throughout without mercy, his shaft hammering into her as he gripped her hips. Tossing back his head, he groaned, his big body shuddering as he released his seed. Dominic collapsed atop her, his breath thundering into her ear. Slowly, as if resenting leaving her, he pulled out of the tight clasp of her body.

  Trembling, she lay on the sweat-soaked sheets, feeling him untie her bonds. Then he joined her on the bed and gathered her close. There in the security of his strong arms, she surrendered to sleep.

  Chapter 8

  Alex awoke a short time later. Golden light from the flickering candles touched the angles and planes of his face. His hair was tousled, black silk as her fingers threaded through the strands. With avid hunger, Alex’s gaze caressed her lover’s naked body, splayed out on the sheets. A triangle of dark hair covered his chest, arrowing down his muscled abdomen to the darker, thicker hair at his groin. She looked her fill, tracking each clean line of hard muscle and bone, the knobby indents at his hips.

  And then his face, the lower lip slightly fuller, inviting her taste. Alex leaned over and kissed him. She bit the curve of his lip gently, catching it playfully between her teeth.

  Eyes of sharp blue opened, making her breath hitch.

  Alex drew back on her haunches, watching in anticipation. A crooked smile tugged at his mouth as he stretched and gave a very wolfish growl.

  Dominic crooked a finger at her.

  “Come here, Alexandra. That was very naughty of you to awake me like that. I shall have to punish you.”

  She shook her head.

  “Alexandra…”

  With a graceful leap, he tackled her, pinning her to the bed with his heavy weight. She writhed underneath him as his smoldering gaze penetrated hers.

  “What are you going to do with me?” she whispered.

  A smile, honed as the edge of a razor, gave her the answer. Dominic fisted a hand in her hair and gave a deep, drugging kiss, stroking his tongue deep. He kissed her as if he couldn’t wait to mount her again.

  Two could play at this. Alex stroked his tongue with hers, her fingers sliding down to cup his buttocks. She teased along the crevice, dipped her fingers inside and felt him laugh in delight against her mouth.

  He left the bed, opened a drawer and returned with a small phallus, white, round and smooth. In his other hand he clutched a tube of lubricant. Alexandra gulped.

  “Turn over,” he said in a dark velvet voice.

  Trembling, she did, peeking over her shoulder as he uncapped the lubricant and smeared gel over the phallus.

  Two warm hands parted her buttocks. Alex tensed.

  “Relax,” he said softly. “You’ll enjoy this.”

  Coated with the lubricant, his fingers stroked her bottom, then slid between the twin halves. Dominic applied the gel to her opening. It was carnal and wicked, and moisture trickled between her legs at the hot sensation.

  He murmured reassurances as he slid the dildo across her soaked cleft, teasing her like the demon he was. Alex clenched tight as he stroked her clit.

  When she felt herself opening up, her legs spilling open wide in a silent please, he parted her cheeks and pushed the phallus inside her.

  It did not hurt, but the fullness felt odd. She rocked her hips against his stroking palm, squirming at the sensation.

  Then he flipped her over and opened her legs wide, settling between them.

  Pleasure began anew as he thrust hard into her, his thick cock penetrating to the hilt.

  The pressure built in her loins once more and she arched, crying out. The motion of his hips shifted as he rubbed against her clit. The combination was too much. Tension coiled inside her, sharp and sweet, exquisitely tuned to this man punishing her with such pleasure.

  “Give it to me,” she cried out.

  Panting, he pounded into her, his thick cock sliding deep inside her. Alex met his rhythm with fierce need of her own, her hips rising and falling with the frenetic pace. Snarling, she reached up and bit the hard muscle of his shoulder. He grunted.

  The next thrust sent her spiraling over the edge as she clenched hard around his thick cock. Alex dug her nails into his shoulders, climaxing so hard that the edges of her vision clouded. With a hoarse shout of her name, he shook, his warm seed flooding her.

  Collapsing onto the bed, she panted, all inhibitions shed. Dominic’s hot breath bellowed into her ear as he rested his head on the pillow. Gently he removed the phallus, tossed it aside. She curled her hands around him, this demon wolf who’d captured her heart and her body. Yet when he lifted his head to regard her, it was not the smile of conqueror who’d captured his prize.

  But the tender smile of a lover who’d captured her heart.

  Dominic licked the dampness from her skin, his tongue wonderfully warm and soothing. Then he studied her face with a solemn look.

  Euphoria faded as Dominic traced a line over her cheek. Suddenly she felt chilled to the bone at his gaze. Something had changed.

  The delicious warmth fled, leaving her shivering and cold. No, it couldn’t be. She still had one day left of beauty, one day to cover her real face.

  She cried out and fled the bed.

  *

  Dominic’s heart twisted painfully as he silently watched his lover.

  Alexandra stood before the wall, staring at the mirrors.

  Blood drained from her face. Standing out in sharp blue relief were the Fae runes. They flared angry red, a sharp contrast to her gold curls and pale skin.

  The runes had been there from the moment he’d seen her, lying in the hollow of the tree. But she had not seen them. Until now.

  Grief shattered her like glass as she splayed a palm against the mirror. “Oh no… He lied, he lied, he must have meant
I’d look beautiful five days from the time he captured me, not five full days.”

  Tears brimmed in her beautiful green eyes. “Ugly, ugly, so ugly,” she whispered. “Why did you come back. Go away.”

  Pain twisted his heart. Oh, Alexandra, why can’t you see yourself as I truly see you?

  Joining her at the mirror, he reached out to trace a flaring rune, but she flinched.

  Gone was the confident, assertive warrior, replaced by the ghost of old hurts. His temper flared. “Who put these marks on you?” He knew who it was, but wanted to hear the answer from her.

  Moisture shimmered in her eyes. She wiped it away with an angry gesture. “Doesn’t matter.”

  Dominic cupped her cheek, turning her toward him. “Fae runes,” he mused. “One says, Beware…”

  Alex jerked away and turned. “Get away from me.”

  He followed her up the stairs, curbing his fury at whoever at hurt her. “Alexandra…”

  On the landing she whirled, her gaze empty. Dominic’s heart lurched.

  “You’re still lovely, Alexandra. You always will be to me. Scars or no scars.”

  “They’re not scars. They’re a warning to stay the hell away. Works well, too. The men I’ve been with since insisted on sex in the dark.”

  Leaning close, he cupped her cheek with a warm palm and spoke softly. “The runes are your barbed wire. You’re as caged as those wolves we freed, sweetness, and you long to be free.”

  He touched one, a rune flaring red on her left breast. Each kiss on the mark caused a warm glow. As it did, he kissed it again, licking it as if a rare treat. To his surprise, it tasted honey sweet. Delicious. He swirled his tongue over it, satisfied to hear her moan with pleasure.

  Dominic lapped her skin over a rune on her belly, tracing each mark. At the dark blue swirls of her tattoos, the marks of shame. The runes began to glow red with the vibrant flush of passion. As if her entire body were a furnace and burning hot.

  He stood and gripped her marked shoulders. “Alexandra, they’re nothing to be ashamed of,” he said gently. “Who put these on you?”

  “It was my stepfather. He did it to punish me after I lost my virginity. My prized purity wanted by his rival, who was promised lands and riches in exchange for my hand. And after I was no longer pure, he no longer wanted me.”

  “The bastard,” he said through gritted teeth. “I should have killed him.”

  “He wanted to mark me,” she whispered, pained remembrance in her dull, blank gaze.

  “As what?”

  “A whore. I can hide the marks with glamour, but every time I become intensely aroused, they appear all over my body. To make me hideous to any lover.” Alex looked as if the pain were fresh and new and searing—as if it happened all over again.

  Fury spiraled inside him, warring with the grief he felt. Alex refused to meet his gaze as he cupped her tattooed chin.

  “You’re not a whore. You’re a beautiful woman, Alexandra. I knew it from the moment I first saw you.”

  “Beautiful because you saw me as that golden-haired imbecile who believed men could be good.” Alex gave a bitter laugh. Now she did look at him and the cold emptiness in her gaze chilled him to the bone.

  “It was you, Dominic. You were my first lover. Only you didn’t remember because I was beautiful. I’m not anymore. I’m…” She spread out her hands and jerked away. “This. And now you see me as I am.”

  “I already did see,” he told her quietly. “From the first moment you stepped into the bar. I knew who you were, Alexandra.”

  But she seemed too caught in her own pain to listen.

  “I can be beautiful again.” She stared into the mirrored hallway. “The wizard promised more of the beauty potion if I brought you to him. I can be myself again, the way I was, long ago.”

  Now he understood her desperation. Belaramos had convinced her beauty could be restored. But wizards lied and deceived with false promises.

  “It’s an illusion, sweetheart. The bastard lied to you.”

  Two single tears tracked down her tattooed cheeks as she violently shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I was beautiful. But I can’t bring you to Belaramos. You did something to me inside, Dominic. Cast a spell of your own, maybe. I won’t betray you.”

  Hope flared inside him, fierce and bright. He reached out for her, but she sidestepped.

  “I’m going home,” she told him dully. “I’ll tell the Society I failed to find you. Serve them another ten years. It will be harder to disguise myself with this face, but…”

  She refused to meet his gaze. Ashamed. He’d seen it so many times in his pack members when they first arrived, before they regained their confidence and realized their self-worth.

  Anguish twisted his heart. He could not bear to see her like this, broken and shattered. The woman burning with purpose, whose passion equaled his own, was gone. Empty and dead.

  It hurt beyond words. Dominic rubbed at the tightness in his chest as she closed the door behind her. He knew what he must do.

  Even if it meant sacrificing himself. At least she would live again. He could not bear the deadness in her lovely green eyes.

  Never could he erase the mistake he’d made the first time when he’d left her. But he could make up for that failure by fulfilling her secret wish.

  Dominic’s shoulders tensed. Belaramos would not be merciful. But if it meant freeing Alexandra from the curse, so be it.

  Halfway down the stairs, he saw Carla and issued an order. As she wept, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

  “Be kind to Michael,” he told her, his chest tight. “He will need you.”

  As he headed for the front door, he saw Michael. “Stay here. That’s an order. You’re in charge for as long as I’m gone.”

  But I will not be back. In his heart, he knew it.

  “Where are you going?” his second demanded.

  “Going to get a potion. I’m off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Odd,” Dominic murmured as he opened the door to the cold, dark night.

  Chapter 9

  The wizard stared, dumbstruck, at the incubus wolf who’d walked into his living room. And why not? Dominic thought cynically. After all these months of playing games, he’d just walked into his lair like a deer into a wolf’s den. He’d avoided the cabin so many times before in his midnight raids to free the captured wolves, hell, he could find it with his eyes closed.

  “Farrell.” Belaramos flung his hands back as if to send an energy bolt.

  “Do it and you’ll damage the goods.” Dominic tapped his chest. “Me.”

  The wizard lowered his hands. “Why are you here?”

  “To surrender. You can have me. Just one condition.” Dominic spread out his hands to show he wasn’t armed. “Give Alexandra back her illusion of beauty.”

  Belaramos laughed. “Why? You don’t want her, incubus. You only wanted her when she was beautiful. Now she’s ugly as a moose.”

  Moose were beautiful, Dominic thought. So was Alex. Her inner beauty could not be dimmed.

  “You and your pack of misfits. Why do you take in such ugly rogues?”

  Because they needed a home and deserved the freedom of not having anyone judge them. Just like they do not judge me for being incubus. But he kept these thoughts silent and guarded.

  Belaramos went to a cabinet and removed a vial of liquid. It glowed green. “This will restore the illusion. She’ll remain blind to her true looks. Now, will you cooperate?”

  A calculating smile, cold as ice, touched the man’s face. “It’s so much better if you’re alive when I drain you. The blood maintains more power.”

  “Yes, but I don’t trust you to deliver it yourself. Carla,” he called out.

  The small, frightened woman came in from outside where she’d been awaiting his signal.

  “Take the vial to Alexandra. No,” he added as Carla began to cry. “Do as I say. That’s an order.”

  He paused a minute, his hear
t twisting. “And tell her… to be happy. I only want her to be happy.”

  Carla left, clutching the potion. His shoulders sagged with resignation. Alexandra would always feel safe and beautiful now, secure in the illusion. So be it. She came first. It broke his heart to know he could not be the one to make her happy.

  The wizard led him down steps to a well-lit basement to a long metal table and ordered him to strip and lie down. Pain stung his wrists as Belaramos fastened his wrists and ankles to silver handcuffs attached to the table. The table sloped down toward a small drain. Dominic realized with sickening clarity it was to hold his blood.

  The wizard removed a curved blade from a cabinet, toyed with it. It winked in the sharp overhead light. “What a fool you are. Giving your life up for an ugly whore like Alexandra.”

  “I don’t care what she looks like. She’s always beautiful to me.” He gathered his strength. “If we were together, I’d age one day and be a toothless old man. And I know in my heart she’ll still see me the way I am today just as I see her inner beauty because she loves me.”

  “Love is for fools.”

  But he heard the doubt in the other’s voice. Dominic seized on it.

  “No one will ever love you because you’re ugly inside. Dark and disgusting.” His voice dropped to a deep whisper that echoed through the room. “Rotting wormwood.”

  Belaramos screamed, holding his face. Blood began to seep from between his fingers. “What have you done to me?”

  “Only what you’ve done to yourself.”

  Snarling, the wizard jerked Dominic’s head back. He saw the gleam of the blade and braced himself. For you, Alexandra, he thought desperately. Be happy.

  Footsteps, fast and furious. Alexandra leaped from the middle step and landed on her feet. Behind her was Michael, his weapon drawn.

  “Belaramos, you cheating, lying son of a bitch. I don’t want your potion.”

  As the wizard took the blade to Dominic’s throat, she pointed and fired.

  The shot rang out, her aim true, as the wizard dropped dead. Michael raced to Dominic, unchaining the silver cuffs, wincing as the metal made contact with his bare fingers.