Mating Fever (8 page)

Gabriel’s wolfen senses burst to life a
second before the faint scream echoed on the night air like the cry
of a dove. His head snapped up, his pulse hammered, his body went
tense with sudden, repressed violence.

He knew instantly who the cry came
from--Jessica. The sound of his chosen one in danger reverberated
through his being.

He cocked his head, centering on her
location, though her voice had faded away. She was in the cemetery,
where he’d told her not to go, where he’d followed her anyway. He
was close, but not nearly close enough.

He threw his head back as the wolf inside
growled, erupting from his throat in fury, a haunting challenge
that carried on the air.

For the first time in his life, he was out of
control. He wasn’t near enough to her. She could be dead even now.
Hurt. Raped and ruined.

He refused to believe that.

He took off at a run, low to the ground,
lower, leaping over obstacles in his path until he was flying with
the speed of strength borne of desperation. The quickening surged
in his blood, spread through his muscles, invading his every pore.
The beast was eager for blood, eager to protect its claim. He
recognized the cry for what it was--the sound of prey.

Someone hunted his woman.

He would kill them for hurting her.

Chapter Five

The man bent over her. Hot, fetid breath
spilled over her face and chest like a palpable force. He stank
like a dog, his feral stench turning her stomach. He growled and
nuzzled her breasts roughly, as if she’d invited him to touch and
taste.

She strained against her fleshly bonds, but
the hands holding her down yielded nothing, allowing her not even
the slightest movement.

Hopelessness crept into her, growing like a
cancer.

“No!” she screamed. Her ears desperately
searched the air for sounds of rescue that would not come.

Jessica gnashed her teeth, unwilling to
succumb to it. She swore to kill them if given the chance.

In the distance, a dog howled at the moon.
She wondered dimly if it was one of Gabriel’s werewolves prowling
the night. She’d never be so lucky.

The man on top of her halted suddenly,
sniffing the air. He snarled, growling deep in his chest, like a
Doberman giving warning to a trespasser. Jessica felt her heart and
lungs freeze--there wasn’t enough air to breathe.

One of the others snapped his jaws, growling
in response. The hairs rose on her skin, shivers crawling over her
like swarming ants. Why didn’t they speak? Their animalistic
behavior kept pushing her to the edge, panic dulling her mind. She
swallowed against the rising tide, trying to keep calm.

The man between her legs stiffened, twisting
against her thighs. He released her abruptly as something came
crashing through the night with the force of a barreling semi. The
hands holding her arms and legs disappeared, ripped away.

Jessica gasped at the bruising wrench, the
sudden freedom. She scrambled upright, pushing her dress down,
peering into the shadows. She couldn’t see anything. She felt like
her eyes were closed, like this was a nightmare come horribly to
life. Jessica continued scrabbling back, until cool stone pressed
against her back. She kicked her feet out, waved her hands in case
anyone came near.

In the dark, the men snarled and growled like
pit bulls at a dog fight. Jessica didn’t know if she was more
scared or relieved. Had some guard dog come to defend her? Feet
scuffled on the worn path, grunts echoed meaty strikes.

“It’s because you are pups I don’ kill you
for this,” a voice growled in the dark to the accompaniment of
heavy thuds.

Jessica’s bones nearly melted from her body
at the velvet drawl she’d recognize anywhere. Gabriel. Somehow,
he’d come for her, known she was in trouble.

Jessica huddled on the ground, not daring to
move lest she distract him. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t
see a damn thing and she was too scared she’d injure him if she
entered the fray.

Something liquid splashed against the ground
next to her feet, and the coppery scent of blood filled the air as
the beatings continued, interspersed with painful groans and
shouts.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of
unbearable tension, someone touched her shoulder. Jessica startled,
looking up to see the faint, star framed silhouette of a man above
her.

“Chere
?”
Gabriel asked.

“Gabriel!” Jessica breathed in relief,
getting to her feet. She hugged him fiercely and felt her thin
dress soak through with sweat or blood or both--she couldn’t tell.
He ran his hands against her back in soothing circles.

“Did they hurt you?” he murmured against her
hair.

“No. Nothing I can’t handle.” She pulled
back, wishing she could see him. “Thank you, Gabriel. I don’t know
what I would’ve done without you.”

He stifled a groan and slumped heavily
against her.

“Oh my god. You’re hurt. Gabriel, where is
it? Where are you hurt?” His silence unnerved her. Jessica felt
around his body, but she couldn’t find anything that could have
weakened him so much--unless it was something internal. The thought
galvanized her. “We have to get you to a hospital.”

“No,” he said and pushed away from her.

“Yes.”

“No,” he said emphatically. “You can ... take
me ... home.”

He sounded like he was just before passing
out. She couldn’t blame him. He’d run off three men nearly as big
as he was, and from the sound of them, they’d been insane. She
didn’t have time to be impressed. They had to leave before the
thugs had a chance to come back. “I’ll take you home. But first we
have to catch a cab or something.”

“My car is out front,” he said, and leaned
into her for support.

Jessica stood under his arm and they hobbled
their way to his car--an old Camaro, its color indistinguishable in
the faded dark.

She followed his directions, and he fell
asleep as she drove up the long Ponchartrain Expressway. A wooded
area came into view, and she stopped at the first house as he’d
instructed: a sprawling two story Victorian with a gazebo and porch
swing on one end, interconnected with the porch curving around the
house. The area was lit by two security lights on either side,
giving some semblance of safety.

Jessica didn’t stop to admire the house,
pulling the Camaro onto the lawn along a roughened patch of dirt
until she neared the front entrance. She stopped the car and
switched it off, giving Gabriel a concerned glance before she got
up and went around to help him.

He came awake as she opened the door and got
out on his own, but Jessica fussed and continued to help him walk.
It was just like a man to try and be macho about serious injuries.
She didn’t know about his, but she wasn’t about to take any more
chances than he was already forcing her to take.

The front door was unlocked, which she found
oddly trusting considering the state of this day and age, but she
pushed it open and went through. A long, wide hallway shot straight
through, past the narrow staircase, to the back door, and large
rooms parted off from each side.

“There’s da livin’ room,” Gabriel said,
pointing to the right tiredly.

Jessica shuffled to it, feeling on the wall
for the light switch. She found it easily enough, flipped the
lights on, and guided him onto a worn, leather couch facing an out
of date TV. He collapsed on it, closing his eyes and throwing an
arm above his head. He was wearing the same basic outfit she’d seen
him in before: Jeans and no shoes or a shirt. Blood smeared his
chest and throat, and she knew she had to clean him off to properly
to assess the situation.

Jessica left, in search of a bathroom or a
kitchen. She found the kitchen in the back of the house on the
left. A small cupboard above the sink revealed clean dish rags, and
she pulled several out and wet them before returning to
Gabriel.

She stopped in the doorway, watching him a
breathless moment as she waited to see the rise and fall of his
chest. Breathing a silent thanks, she went in and dropped onto the
hardwood floor on her knees, leaning over his chest as she slowly
wiped the blood away.

There were no wounds anywhere, not even the
beginnings of bruises. She kept wiping at him until she’d cleaned
his chest, then moved up to his throat and face.

Gabriel slept through her ministrations.
Still, she found nothing, no wounds to explain his weariness. She
changed rags and cleaned his arms and hands. His knuckles were only
slightly reddened, when she’d expected to at least find them split
open. She frowned down at him, wondering how he could be unscathed
after a fight like that.

Some residual blood clung to a patch of skin
bared by a rip in his jeans, and Jessica wiped it away, flushing as
she realized how close she was to his groin. She looked back at his
face to see if he’d woken up, and nearly choked when she saw him
watching her with a hungry look to his eyes.

He looked at her with such heated interest,
she could almost swear she knelt before him naked. Instant,
unbidden arousal swamped her body, making her ache in untouched
places.

“Gabriel, are you okay?” she asked with a
breathless little whisper.

He said nothing as his hand snaked out and
grasped the hand still holding the towel, lingering near his groin.
She dropped it and it rolled down his hip into the cushion of the
couch. Jessica gasped as he pulled her toward him, closer, until
she was lying splayed atop his bare chest, her mouth inches from
his own.

His faint, warm breath made her insides
quiver with anticipation. If felt good to lay on top of him, with
her breasts squashed into the hard planes of his chest, her belly
melded to his rippled, washboard abs. She felt as malleable as
molten metal.

His mouth curled into a satisfied smile.
Jessica was caught between the urge to strangle him for making her
worry, and the urge to kiss him breathless and wipe the grin from
his face.

“You weren’t even hurt, were you?” she asked
with an exasperated, accusing breath.

“I was wounded more than you
know,
chere
, ta think you
could be harmed.”

The reminder of what had almost happened made
her shudder, and his eyes darkened until they appeared almost
black. A primal look flickered in them, strengthening as he pulled
her head down to greet his lips.

Jessica gave in to him, her concern weakening
her defenses. Her lips throbbed under the insistent pressure of his
mouth, and an electric thrill of excitement rippled through her
veins, dancing like heat lightning before a storm. He nibbled her
lips, coaxing her, running his hands over her back. Her skin
sensitized to the pressure of his hands, and suddenly she had too
much clothing on. She wanted to know what it would feel like to
mold against him, skin to skin. His whispery touch made her burn,
sent her blood pulsing through her body.

He hooked a hand firmly around one thigh,
pulling it up and over his hips to settle against the opposite
side, hoisting her off the floor until she lay on him completely,
pressing him deep into the soft folds of the couch. Her dress rode
up from the movement and position until she felt air in places that
had never seen the sun.

His mouth grew rough, hungrier to have her
above him. Her pulse thundered, echoing in the tight clench of her
pussy. His right hand eased around her back, a thumb skating
against the side of one breast. Jessica trembled with excitement at
his daring, the steady pull of his hand on her thigh, the touch at
her breast.

Jessica moaned as her legs parted and his
jean clad erection connected with her bare cleft. He thrust upward
with rough, sensual promise. She’d forgotten her panties were gone
... until his hand slid up her thigh and he cupped one bare
buttock, slipping his fingers in the bottom cleft of her cheeks.
Her skin suddenly sensitized, his possessive fingers lighting a
sizzling fuse in her body.

Heat curled through her slit, flooding her
with moisture, and Jessica gasped at the feel of those callused
digits strumming a heady tune on her nether lips, dangerously close
to the core of her femininity. He played with the wetness he
aroused, smoothing it on her lips to cool in the air, skimming
through her swollen folds as though she belonged only to him.
Jessica whimpered into his mouth, jolted with the white hot
pleasure shimmering between them.

Distantly, her subconscious railed against
giving in, but she could no more resist him than she could cease
breathing. She was helpless against his devouring mouth, helpless
to keep from drawing further under his spell.

She groaned and plunged her tongue into his
mouth, rubbing her body against him, eager to put the fire out that
raged in her blood. Her clit throbbed with the rough abrasion, the
frantic movement of her hips. He tasted addictively sweet, as
delicious as chocolate, as potent and stimulating as coffee. She
drowned in his scent and the molten feel of his muscular body
trapped beneath her.