The Dark-Hunters (208 page)

Terrified of what she was about to do, she took a deep breath and braced herself for his rejection.

“Would you make love to me?”

Instead of the laughter she expected, he pulled back from nibbling her throat to look at the open windows of her shop. “You don’t mind?”

Heat exploded across her face as she realized it was dark outside and anyone passing by on the street had a perfect view of the two of them necking like horny teenagers.

“Hold on,” she said, scooting out of his arms to lock her door, flip her Open sign around to say Closed, and dim the lights.

She wished she still had an apartment to take him to, but maybe this was better. If they left here together, she would most likely chicken out, which would be the smart thing to do.

Or he might change his mind.

No, she wanted to do this. She wanted him.

Taking his hand, she led him through her shop, toward the door to the back room.

As she opened the door, he pulled her to a stop.

Bride looked back to see him staring into the dressing room that was to her right. A wicked grin spread across his face.

Walking backward, he led her into the room and shut the curtains.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He pulled his T-shirt off, over his head.

Oh, dear heaven! Bride couldn’t breathe as she got her first look at his bared chest. She’d known he had a great body, but this …

It exceeded anything from her dreams. His broad shoulders tapered to a washboard stomach that could do enough laundry for an entire nation. Forget six-pack, this man had eight, and they rippled with every breath he took. His entire torso was lightly covered by hair, making him look even more masculine and raw.

There were several deep scars that curved around his left shoulder and biceps, and one that looked strangely like an animal bite of some kind.

It was all she could do not to drool.

Or faint.

Really, no mere mortal woman should be in the presence of someone this fine and not need oxygen.

He opened the button on his jeans, then pulled her back into his arms.

“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered. “I’ll be gentle.”

But that wasn’t what she was afraid of. What she feared was his reaction when he saw what she looked like naked. Good grief, he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him and here she was a good, solid size eighteen.

He was going to run screaming for the door any minute.

Instead, he reached up and pulled her hair down around her shoulders. Running his hands through it, he pulled her lips to his so that he could ravage her mouth again.

She moaned in bliss. This man certainly knew how to use his tongue to his advantage. She could have kissed him all day.

Bride ran her hands over the lean muscles of his chest, amazed at how good they felt. She flicked her fingertips over and around his hardened nipples, delighting in the deep moan she heard from him.

He moved to unbutton her dress.

“It’s darker in the back room,” she said.

“Why would I want it darker?”

She shrugged. Taylor had always insisted on absolute darkness whenever they made love.

She shivered as he unbuttoned her dress and dropped it to the ground. She expected him to pull away.

He didn’t. He still wore that hot, hungry look as he stared at her in her underwear. Thank goodness it actually matched and it wasn’t her old stuff.

Vane had never been more unsure of himself than he was at this moment. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her carefully, afraid he might hurt her. Ever since he’d hit puberty, he’d heard stories of wolves who had killed human partners accidentally while mating with them.

Human bones lacked the density of his kind. Their skin bruised much more easily.

Carefully, he pressed her back against the wall so that he could feel every inch of her lush curves against his hardness. The smell of her perfume and skin intoxicated him. It was all he could do not to howl in triumph.

He nibbled his way from her delicate mouth, down her jaw, while he reached behind her and unhooked her bra. He heard her sharp intake of breath as her breasts were freed. They were a lush bounty. Pale and swollen, they overflowed his hands. He’d never seen anything more beautiful. She laced her hands in his hair while he dipped his head down to suckle her.

Closing his eyes, he groaned in pleasure as he ran his tongue around her puckered nipple.

He hadn’t touched a female in almost a year—a record for him. But since the night his sister had died, his life had shot from bad to worse and there hadn’t been anyone who appealed to him.

Not to mention that memories of Bride the one time he had seen her in the Square had haunted him. Midnight fantasies of him taking her in every position known. Of him exploring every single inch of her succulent body.

He’d spent hours damning himself for not leaving Sunshine to her own devices and following after this woman.

Protecting Sunshine had cost him everything, and for what? For a damned Dark-Hunter’s happiness?

No good deed goes unpunished.

It was Fury’s favorite saying. A rogue wolf, Fury was as unreliable and selfish as any, but there were times when the wolf was amazingly astute.

But now as Vane held Bride in his arms and felt her soft, tender body against his, he felt a strange sense of comfort that had eluded him all these past months.

It didn’t erase the pain he felt at the loss of his siblings, but it lightened it.

And that alone made her priceless to him.

Bride couldn’t think straight as she watched Vane savoring her breasts. He looked as if he were tasting divinity. Her body burned in rich desire. He was spectacular.

His eyes were hooded and dark. She stared at his back in the mirror and wondered at the scars that marred his smooth, tanned flesh. She touched the ridges of them while he moved from her right to her left breast.

What had happened to him to cause so many scars? She’d never seen anything like it. Some of the scars were obviously claw and bite marks that looked like he had been mauled by some kind of wild animal. One in particular was deep and large. It went down his shoulder blade, up under his arm.

There was something so deadly about him and yet he held her with a gentle touch. He ran his hand down her stomach, burning a trail over her skin.

Her eyes half-closed, she watched him in the mirror as he dipped his tanned hand under the elastic of her black panties and touched her intimately.

Bride groaned at the sensation of his long, tapered fingers separating the tender folds of her body so that he could caress her. At the sight of his hand playing there in the mirror as he gently sank his fingers deep inside her.

She moaned at the sight and feel of him.

It was so odd to be able to see him from so many different angles. To see herself being loved by him.

She should be embarrassed and yet she wasn’t. She didn’t even feel self-conscious. If anything, she felt strangely empowered by it.

A man like this so hungry for her.

It was unimaginable.

Vane kissed his way down her stomach. Moving his hand, he actually pulled her underwear off with his teeth. He removed her sandals, taking time to rub the arches of her feet before he tossed them over his shoulder.

He crouched on the floor in front of her, looking up with a hot, devouring, intense stare. He still wore his jeans and boots while she was completely naked.

Vane couldn’t breathe as he watched her. There was still a tinge of fear in her, but it was overshadowed by her desire.

He wanted to pull her to him roughly and take her like the animal he was. He wanted to show her how his people mated, forcefully and with dominance.

But he didn’t want to scare her. Most of all, he didn’t want to hurt her.

She was so vulnerable.

A she-wolf would take human form for the mating. She would walk seductively around the available males, making them crazy with lust until they were ready to kill each other to have her.

Sometimes they did.

There was always a battle for the female. Then she would pick whichever male had impressed her most with his beauty and skill. Usually it was the victor who mated with her, but not always. Vane’s first lover had claimed him even though he had lost the fight because she had liked the passion he had shown while trying to win her.

Once her choice was made, the she-wolf would remove her clothes and offer herself to her champion. The male would pin her down and spend the rest of the night showing her just how much stamina and power he had. The female would spend the night testing him. She would try to throw him off or out of her and it was his duty to make sure she didn’t. If he tired before morning or before she was fully sated, another male would be brought in.

It was the greatest shame not to please a she-wolf, to have to call out for a second.

Vane had never been shamed.

And he had never taken a woman like Bride. One who wasn’t biting and clawing at him as she demanded he please her. Something inside him relished the rarity of this.

The gentleness.

In a life where violence and territory and blood wars reigned, it was nice to have a reprieve. A tender lover’s touch.

The human side of him craved this.

It craved her.

Bride bit her bottom lip as Vane nudged her legs apart. His breath scorched her thighs. He closed his eyes and laid his head against her thigh as if he were savoring just being with her. The tenderness of that action brought a lump to her throat.

She ran her fingers down his stubbled cheek, letting the manly feel warm her even more. He nipped her fingers playfully.

She smiled down at him until he nudged her legs farther apart and took her into his mouth. Bride hissed in pleasure as her legs went weak.

It was all she could do not to fall. He devoured her. There was no other word for it. He licked and teased until her head spun, and when she came for him, it was forceful and deep. Bride cried out as her body was turned inside out by his touch.

Vane growled at the sound of her pleasure, at the taste of it. Like all males of his kind, he took pride in her orgasm. There was nothing sweeter than hearing the screams of a lover climaxing. Nothing sweeter than knowing a male could fulfill the female.

He kissed his way up her body slowly until he was again on his feet. She looked up at him with awe shining bright in the amber depths of her eyes. He took her hand into his and led it to his throbbing erection.

Bride swallowed as she sank her hand deep into the denim. His short, crisp hairs teased her fingers as she found what she sought. He growled deep in his throat like a wild animal as she wrapped her hand around the hard length of him. The man was huge and he was already wet and straining.

Cupping her face, he kissed her passionately while she stroked him. Her body thrummed with heat at the thought of having his hard cock deep inside her.

He pulled away from her, then quickly jerked his boots off. Bride held her breath as he reached for his fly and unzipped it.

She watched in a passion-numbed daze as he slid his pants down and she caught her first sight of him in all his glory.

Commando!

There was nothing sexier than a man who dared to wear nothing under his clothes. Then again, there was nothing sexier than the man in front of her.

He was bold and commanding. Wild. And he made her shiver uncontrollably.

Tossing his pants into the corner, he moved her away from the wall. Bride was thankful her dressing room was larger than most. It had been designed to accommodate women with baby strollers or toddlers. And it gave them plenty of room to maneuver.

Vane moved around to her back. She stared at him in the mirror. He was a full head taller than she was and the sideways, hungry grin on his face undid her.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice deep and hungry.

She’d never felt that way. Normally, she avoided looking at herself in mirrors. But there was something terribly erotic about seeing the two of them reflected in the three mirrored walls.

He brushed her hair from her neck, then nibbled the sensitive flesh there. He slid his tongue around the beads of the necklace.

His hands cupped her breasts before he trailed one hand back to the dark auburn triangle of hair between her legs.

Somehow, he lowered them slowly, in unison, to the floor. She wasn’t really sure how he did it without breaking his hold. The man was incredibly strong. She leaned back against him where his body was hot and prickly. Masculine.

His tongue swirled around her ear, then plunged deep inside at the same time he entered her from behind. Bride cried out in pleasure at the sensation of him filling her.

He lifted his head so that he could watch her face as he thrust himself even deeper.

Bride couldn’t speak or think as pleasure overwhelmed her. All she could do was watch him make love to her. Watch his hand pleasure her in time to his forceful thrusts.

Vane growled again at the feel of her wet, welcoming body. Her body was much softer than a she-wolf’s. Born fighters, they were hard-muscled and tough. A she-wolf would be trying to bite him. She would be clawing his arm, demanding he give her more satisfaction. Demanding he move faster and harder until she came again.

But not Bride.

She didn’t make any demands as he took his time, with slow and easy strokes. She didn’t try to throw him out. Instead, she leaned back against his chest and made the most incredible sounds of pleasure with every stroke his body delivered to hers. She completely surrendered herself to him.

The trust it took for her to do that …

He’d never known anything like it.

He’d spent so many months dreaming of what she would be like in his arms. Now he knew.

She was divine. She reached over her head to sink her hand in his hair so that she could hold him close. “Oh, Vane,” she breathed, nuzzling her cheek against his.

He felt his powers growing as he kissed her cheek, and he quickened his fingers. She jerked and moaned in response to him. He felt himself growing even larger. The wolf in him was snarling in satisfaction.