Desert Fate (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 3) (16 page)

Home.

Home tasted like the Southwest. Bold and tangy, big and fresh. Alive, as the rippling action of his abdomen told her. His fingers in her hair were screaming,
Yes, yes, yes
. She came up for a breath of air then swooped in again, determined to bring him to the very edge. One taste, then another, and another, until she was consuming him with desperate abandon.

“Stef,” he whispered. Then all that came out of him was a throaty groan.

She fisted a hand around the base to keep up the rhythm when she pulled back and blew lightly. This was what she’d heard about but never experienced before. The sensual haze wasn’t only his, but hers. The need to claim, to glory in her own power.

She’d never felt more alive, more capable. When her lips pulled back his foreskin and her tongue shot out to lap up the first dewy drops, the mountain under her moaned.

It really was him, trembling under her. It really was her, having the nerve to take it this far.

It really was love, powering it all.

Love,
her wolf agreed.
Told you so.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Stef.”

Kyle wasn’t breathing, wasn’t moving, except for his lips forming her name over and over. His fingers were threaded through her silky hair, trying hard not to clutch her closer or to push her away. Because Stef was taking him to a place way, way off the charts, where no woman had gone before. Where he never dared follow—until now.

“Right there,” he breathed, thought, or groaned. Could have been any of the three.

He’d started with defenses a mile high that had PACK and DUTY graffitied all over them like a subway wall. The needy sheen in her eye set off an inner rumble, the first tremors of an earthquake. When her lips formed words—words like
yes
and
more
—the first fissures appeared. And when those lips touched down on him, the whole of the castle keep came tumbling down, one watchtower after another while he went deaf and blind to everything but the message coursing through his blood.

Mate. Mine.

He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the sliding sensation of her lips, the weight of her hands on his thighs. She took him deep then pulled up, tugging the foreskin before plunging back down and setting him flying on another rush. He heard the rattle of a shaky breath and knew it was his own. He was balanced on the razor’s edge, wondering if any minute now the wolf would come ripping through his skin with a roar. The position was too submissive, too off guard for a wolf.

Like I’d go anywhere right now.
The beast was lost in a lusty, helpless purr.

Stef came up for air and glanced his way, her lips glistening. “Is that good?”

“So good.”

He managed that much before she formed a perfect O with her lips and closed over his cock, obliterating all thought. His world became a cascade of pleasure as she took him so far, he was teetering on the edge. That it was forbidden only added to the high. He was a kid on a carnival ride long after midnight, glorying in the rush.

You’re supposed to be protecting her, not making things worse.

That’s what he’d been told, but Christ, here he was, getting blown by her, getting ready to bury his balls deep in her welcoming body—center-of-the-earth deep. If that didn’t provoke the North Ridge wolves, nothing would. But the entire desert seemed to be urging him into seventh heaven and for once, he wouldn’t deny himself. She was his; he was hers. It was as simple as that—or at least simple enough for right now. He’d leave complicated for later—or better yet, never.

And yeah, he’d like to see Cody turn his back on a moment like this with his mate.

Just watch you don’t fuck things up.

He wouldn’t. He’d find a way to make it work. Somehow.

The thought gave him the willpower to jackknife up.

Stef sat back on her heels in surprise. “No good?”

“Too good.” He pulled her in for a smothering kiss then broke off just long enough to explain. “But coming in your mouth is not where I want this to go.”

The taste of him on her tongue set off his wolf again.

Take! Claim! Mine!

And not just the wolf, but his human side, too.
Mine!

“And where do you want this to go?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with desire.

“Here,” he grunted and rolled.

She came right with him, drawing her legs up along his thighs, locking her heels behind him. Whatever she did to shape those legs—running? biking? soccer?—worked because they were taut and sleek and roped with muscle. Aligning her body precisely with his and drawing him in.

“This okay?” he asked, pinning her arms over her head.

She smiled, sweet and sultry. “I haven’t been this okay in a long time. Maybe never.”

She arched her back, pushing the soft pillow of her breasts toward him. If anyone came along then to tell him
shouldn’t
or
forbidden
, he’d throw them out a window. Because Stef was right in what she’d said. They were meant to be.

He slid in. A hundred exclamations knotted in his throat as she tightened around him. He nearly lost it right there but fought back the urge to release, focusing on the glow of her multicolored eyes. He wanted this to last an eternity, to get everything exactly right.

“Kyle,” she groaned in a whole new note when he angled his hips, finding the perfect spot. His head bobbed over her nipples with every renewed thrust, bedding his cock deeper and deeper. He gave himself over completely to the interplay of hard and soft as her body first yielded, then clenched over every inch of his length. He wanted to fill her until there was no her and no him but only them. To purge the void inside himself and fill it with the comfort that was all her.

Harder,
she begged.
Deeper.

Was he was reading it on her lips or hearing it in his mind?

Take me,
he could swear he heard as Stef angled her head to one side.

The sight of the smooth white flesh of her exposed neck made his canines pinch against his gums. He ran a hungry tongue over the emerging points of his fangs.

One bite! One bite was all it would take to claim her as his own. All of this would be finished. All the loneliness, the emptiness in his life.

Mate!
his wolf screamed as he dipped closer.

Thu-thump. Thu-thump.
He could feel the blood rushing under her skin. His teeth extended and scraped over her neck, honing in on their mark.

Yes!
his wolf crowed, and a thousand spirit wolves with it.
Claim!

He was dipping his head the last hair’s breadth when a single defiant voice cried out.

Stop!

If his thoughts had been playing out in a theater, a thousand heads would have whirled around. It was the squeaky voice of a boy facing a foe greater than himself. The boy he’d once been.

No!
the boy cried.
Not if you only want this for yourself!

His inner wolf snickered.
She wants it, too! Look at her beg!

You’re no better than him!
the boy shouted.

An icy cold gripped his mind. Did the boy mean his stepfather? Did he mean Ron, the man who attacked Stefanie?

I’ll show you better than Ron,
his wolf grumbled, retracting his fangs.

Yes,
the boy whispered.
Show me. Do it right.

“Kyle,” Stef breathed. “Don’t stop.”

He swept aside the boy and the wolf and focused on the sweet friction along his cock as it slid against the ridges of her inner walls. Focused on Stefanie, who called his name over and over. On the pinch in his balls telling him he was close, blissfully close. When she convulsed around him, her climax shaking her hard, his wolf roared and he thrust madly, losing his rhythm. His vision flashed and his hips jerked. One push, two, and he shattered inside her, coming with his own throaty groan.

He heard her murmuring, telling him how good it felt, her voice modulating as a second wave of pleasure shook her, then a third. He stroked her hair, losing himself in her glow of her skin. He’d emptied himself into her, but all he felt was full—full of something sweet and rare.

When Stef opened her eyes, the colors swirled in delight. The honest brown, the earthy green, the hopeful gray, all of it blending and separating like a kaleidoscope. She smiled a shy smile then leaned forward to meet his lips.

He gloried in the honesty of that kiss. It wasn’t the triumphant glory of a bite, but it felt right—righter than the bite would have been, at least tonight. He settled for a thousand kisses and the promise of later, gazing down the length of her body as her breath came hard and fast. The points of her nipples were rising and falling like a tide. She was so beautiful, so perfect.

So…his.

“Hey, you,” she whispered, running a finger over his lips.

He kissed it. “Hey, you.”

Slowly, carefully, he settled down over her. Her body curling into his set off a low, steady buzz, and the way she wrapped her arms around his neck told him she never wanted to let go.

Just as slowly and carefully, Kyle closed his eyes and looked to his inner wolf. Would the beast be greedy for more? Triumphant? Possessive? He peered beyond the pleasure flooding him and past that inner door.

And damned if the beast wasn’t curled in a ball, thumping his tail in sheer contentment. The greed was replaced by something a whole lot…softer. Kinder. Mushier, if that was the word.

What are you thinking?
he asked the wolf, suddenly suspicious.

The wolf gave a deep sigh, and the image of a couple of brown-eyed, brown-haired pups popped into Kyle’s mind. Cute and fluffy and helpless without his love.

Pups. Good idea.
The wolf nodded then broke into a lazy yawn.

Kyle reeled in surprise, stuck between a chuckle and a heady sigh. He risked a peek into the muted light of his bedroom, worried that daylight would bring all this to a crashing end. Some ugly truth would be revealed, Stefanie would bury her head in shame and regret, and this impossible vision would slip away once more.

But the sun was still shining, the room bright and hopeful. Stef was draped over him like she’d had a decade to find her favorite spot and not just a couple of days. He reached out with a finger, waiting for the mirage to pop and dissipate, but it didn’t. Her muscles were hard, her flesh real, the truth hale and hearty. He wondered when he’d last felt this good, when the house had ever felt so full of…something. Something nice.

“Maybe,” Stefanie whispered, fingers strumming the line of his ribs.

He combed his fingers through her hair, twirling it into a bun. “Maybe?”

“Probably,” she mused.

Probably what?
He cupped one side of her face in his hand, looking into her eyes.

She smiled back, nodding. “Definitely.”

“Definitely?”

Her smile stretched. “Definitely all grown up.”

He gave a tiny nod so she’d go on.

“As a kid, I never wanted to let that happen. But now, I kind of like it.” She smiled, a little mischievous, rubbing her chin against his chest.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I kind of like it too.”

“Yeah?” She studied him closely.

“Yeah.” He pulled her close.

Though
kind of
didn’t come close to the truth. They were meant for each other, and he was all in. No matter what kind of trouble came their way.

The curtain flapped in agreement with both sentiments: that this was the real thing, and that trouble was sure to be lurking somewhere not too far away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Stefanie was still floating on a silken cloud when a movement registered in her mind. She mumbled, finding Kyle’s skin with her lips, and sighed herself back to sleep. But there it was again, the shift of his muscles beside her.

She cracked an eye open. The room was warm as summer, cozy as winter, and it could have been either given the way the slanting sun was making the curtains glow. Late afternoon, she thought lazily and felt a smile spread at the realization. Because now she knew. Being with Kyle was a function of her human heart, not just a trick of the night. She’d spent a happy hour snoozing on that idea, and even the color of sunset couldn’t change her mind.

“Stef,” Kyle whispered. The sound of his voice like his body: all the softness in it had gone rock hard. “Stay here,” he grunted, rolling away.

She reached for him, too late. He couldn’t be leaving her now, could he?

She wanted to call out his name, but the sound caught in her throat. Kyle was listening at the door, naked, every muscle defined as his nostrils tested the air. He glanced back, and the look on his face scared the hell out of her.

That look said
I will die for you,
and he meant now.

She scrambled up beside him to peer out. Lights filled the driveway along with the sound of tires crunching over gravel, the squeak of misaligned brakes. They had company.

“Stay there,” he said, his voice an octave lower than usual. He pushed her gently back, slipped out, and pulled the door closed.

She stared at the doorknob in shock. What was going on? She grabbed the shirt laying on the floor and yanked it over her head then followed him outside. As soon as she stepped out onto the porch, she froze in her tracks. Even with the sunset glinting off the windshield of the truck outside, she knew exactly who was inside.

Ron. Greer. They’d come for her.

Kyle hustled her off the porch and over to the side of his truck then fumbled with the driver’s side door. He cursed when it jammed, and they both whirled at the sudden silence behind them.

Ron slid out of the truck and approached with the easy step of a welcome visitor. For all of two steps, that is, until Kyle growled in a warning.

Stef wished she could be a cobra; now would be her time to strike. She’d spit her poison at Ron and get this nightmare over with for good.