Mistress of Wolves Read online

  She looked behind her just as he swept her out the door into the darkness; her little gasp and the way she clung to him fed his male ego. The terrace was dimly lit, but he had excellent night vision and drew her aside to a darkened corner.

  “That’s better,” he breathed in relief, setting his back against the wall, her hand still in his. “Well now, isn’t this a nice spot to get to know each other?”

  He didn’t pull her to him or try to coerce her in any way. The male animal within wanted to. It snarled and raged against his control, demanded he use his strength to capture her and make her submit to him, loud and feral. He didn’t. Ignoring the impulses, he just waited. She would decide.

  He didn’t have to wait long. With a small sigh, she stepped closer, into his embrace. Relief crowded his chest. It looked for a moment like she’d walk away. Never, growled his instincts and he knew at that moment if she had walked, he’d go after her. She was his, and no young werewolf back in that room, however good looking, would take her from him. Ever.

  Shoving the disturbing, possessive thoughts to the back of his mind, he lifted his hand to brush a strand of hair from her face. It wasn’t out of place, he just wanted an excuse to touch her. Her lips softened at his touch. When she lifted her face to his, he took the invitation and leaned in.

  A soldier, with a passable face and a physique most men would envy, Archer was no innocent, but the first taste of her rocked his senses. Soft and sweet, her pliant lips clung to his, just a little. With a groan, he drove his hand into her hair, holding her at the nape and angling her head so he could deepen the kiss. She didn’t argue, opening for him at the first brush of his questing tongue against the closed seam of her lips as her small hands spread out over his shoulders.

  He thrust within, a first foray into the hot, sweetness of her mouth. She tasted decadent, sinful…a mixture of champagne and something else he couldn’t define. Whatever it was, it became a need, an obsession so great he never wanted to stop kissing her. He sought her tongue while his free hand slid to the back of her hips to pull her up flush against him. His cock, hard and aching, was caught between them and he relished her small gasp as she registered its presence.

  She broke away, looking up at him, heat in her eyes. “Seems like you’re pleased to see me…”

  Chuckling, he nipped at her lower lip. “Babe, you have no idea.”

  * * *

  Whatever Reena had expected from tonight, this hadn’t been it. Lust surged through her veins at the sharp nip of his blunt human teeth against the full flesh of her lower lip. Heat arrowed down to her clit, and the small bundle of nerves pulsed in need when he brushed his tongue over the tiny hurt.

  Fucking hell, where had he learned to do that? How did he know how to play her body and her reactions so perfectly? Why had she never seen him before? It didn’t matter. With a groan, she leaned against him and offered her lips for his kiss.

  He didn’t pass up the invitation. His tongue dipped between her lips again, found her tongue to stroke it in a hot, wet dance of pure delight. She growled in pleasure, the sound a soft rumble in the back of her throat and dug her nails into his shoulders to anchor herself. She needed the anchor. Needed to ground herself as everything about him threatened to sweep her away.

  His growl answered hers, the low sound hitting her deep inside, dampening her panties more. Wriggling, she pressed her hips forward and ground against his erect cock. Fuck, he was big. The long steel-like shaft sent a wave of awareness through her so complete that goose bumps rose on her skin and her nipples puckered under the layers of fabric covering them. Too much fabric. Her wolf snarled in frustration. It wanted naked. Now. Naked and pressed against the virile male it smelled so close to them. She hushed it. She couldn’t fight her own instincts and that of the beast too.

  Breaking away, he panted against her lips. “You are fucking gorgeous. How are you not marri-mated?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve avoided that trap so far.”

  She smiled, hands exploring the broad expanse of his shoulders and sliding around to test the muscles across his chest. Pleasantly solid. He had to work out, unlike most male wolves. They neglected their human form, relying instead on the strength of their inner beast when they needed. Not this one… This one seemed to take as much pride in himself as a man as he no doubt did as a wolf. She wondered what his beast looked like. Probably large, powerful across the shoulders, and as swaggeringly male as the man who stood in front of her.

  His grin at her answer was immediate and maybe a little bit sly. “All the better for me then.”

  “Oh?” She lifted her head at that, the light of challenge in her eyes. He thought he could take on the Mistress of the City, did he? But immediately as the thought hit, she knew he had no idea who she was. Sure, Griffin was a small pack but everybody knew the Mistress was not mated. And she liked that, liked that he didn’t know who she was. It meant she could be herself and not the caricature everyone expected. “You talk too much.”

  He brushed his lips over hers again, breaking away for a second to say, “Good point. I have far better uses for my lips.”

  She moaned as he set about proving that. His kiss deepened and became dominant. Less a kiss, more a statement of intent. A claiming as he thrust his tongue past her lips to demand her response. She gave it, but challenged him at every turn. Every stroke. Every tangle…she made him work for each one.

  He growled, frustration and lust mingled, and turned them. Her back hit the wall and a gasp broke from her lips when his hand covered her breast, large and warm. He nipped her lower lip again, before moving along her jaw to leave a trail of hot, wet kisses. A strong hand slid over the side of her throat, his thumb tilting her chin up to allow his lips better access.

  A whimper broke free as his teeth grazed the soft flesh. To bear her throat was a sign of submission, unheard of for the Mistress of the City. But her wolf was in accord with her, the creature all but rolling over and showing its belly to the dominant male. It was good he didn’t know who she was. There was no way he’d have been this way with her if he did. Too many people were scared of her anger, afraid of her reaction, to ever be this way with her, even if she’d picked them tonight to share her bed.

  And she found she wanted it… Wanted the domineering side of his character. Needed it. Needed for one night to yield control and just be a woman. Not the mistress. Just a woman who needed a man’s touch. A man’s control.

  He reached her collarbone, tongue flicking over the tiny hollow at the base of her throat and she was lost. Her nails caught in the back of his shirt, slicing the fabric and catching his skin. The scent of blood blossomed on the air and they both gasped.

  “Fuck,” he rasped, fingertips playing with the edge of her neckline. “It feels good.”

  She had to agree. Her own hands not idle, she sought the buttons at the front of the shirt. The need to touch him, to feel the hot, silky skin and hard muscle of his chest and abdomen, overrode all else. The buttons gave, torn from the shirt in some cases. She sighed in relief as she slid her hands beneath the fabric, a sound that became a shiver when his fingertips hooked beneath her bodice.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he whispered against the sensitive skin of her cleavage.

  Strong fingers pulled the fabric of her halter dress and bra aside. The cooler air hit her exposed breast and the nipple puckered in a cry for attention. He didn’t ignore it. Hot breath washed over her a second before he flicked his tongue out, rasping against her in a warm, wet lick. Her pussy clenched, desire driving her hard. She couldn’t think past the need to touch him, and have him touch her.

  His lick was followed by another, large hand cupping her, molding and caressing her breast as he held it in place for his lips. Then he closed his lips around her and drew the beaded nub into the warmth of his mouth to suck. Arching her back, a sibilant sigh escaped her lips at the pleasure.

  Unable to think, just following instinct and need, she tugged at his belt and got it undone
. They were hidden here in the darkness, and her guards would have seen them come out here. No one would disturb them.

  She’d made her choice for the evening.

  Chapter 3

  She was… Amazing. Gorgeous. So fucking sexy it hurt.

  Archer growled in the back of his throat as her fingertips dipped below his waistband to stroke the tender skin across his stomach. Sucking in a breath, he paused in his attentions and rest his forehead against the delicate curve of her shoulder. His cock jerked. He tried to recite the seven times table in his head. Backward. Anything to retain control and not fall on her like some ravaging animal.

  A gentle finger beneath his chin lifted his face to hers and she kissed him. No, not a kiss. Instead, she made love to him with soft lips and gentle nips. Remaining passive under her touch, his hand smoothed over the sensuous curves of her body. She crowded closer. Hands either side of his jaw, she flicked a quick lick against his upper lip and his control slipped.

  With another rumble, a feral sound from the center of his chest he’d never heard himself make, he caught her to him and pulled her away from the wall. One hand drove into the hair at the nape of her neck as the other slid down her back. His fingertips moved over rough skin and he pulled away to frown. He’d felt skin like that before, on his own body. The kind of marks left by violence. Anger washed over him, rage so complete, it stole his breath and the need rose to hunt down and slaughter whoever hurt her.

  “Who did this?” he demanded, voice harsh in the darkness, as his fingers traced the marks over her lower back. “Tell me, and he’s a dead man.”

  She shook her head and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. “Doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”

  “It matters,” he insisted, hand tightening in the back of her hair to stop her kissing and distracting him again. “Someone hurt you...and I’ll make them pay.”

  The moon chose that moment to peek through the clouds and touch her face with silver light. Her eyes were dark, sultry with desire, and her lips a bee stung pout swollen from his kisses. She might have been a wolf, but right at the moment he didn’t care. At the moment, she was a woman, and he a man.

  “They already paid. I promise.” Her voice was soft. “Let it go, just kiss me. Kiss me again so I can forget.”

  How could he resist a plea like that? His grip gentling, he bent his head and claimed her lips again. If their kisses had been hot before, it didn’t compare to the inferno they became now. As soon as their mouths met and mated, heat surge between them. His body tightened, every muscle, every cell alive with the need to take her and make her his. She was so small, he easily crowded her back against the wall again. Their hands were everywhere. Stroking. Exploring. Caressing.

  Snapping his fly open, she slid her small hand within his pants and wrapped her fingers around his cock. At her first touch, he lost the ability to think, his brain short circuited. Then she stroked. He broke away to swear. A muffled curse before his mouth crashed down on hers again.

  He had to touch her. Had to know everything about her.

  His movements almost frantic, he reached down and pulled her skirt higher. A sigh of relief escaped him as he slid his hand beneath the voluminous material and found the soft satin skin of her thigh. She nipped his lip, again challenging him for dominance of the kiss, and he growled. Fuck, what was with the animal noises?

  She didn’t seem to mind. The whimper in the back of her throat as he hooked his fingers behind her knee and pulled her leg up over his hip urged him on. Her strokes on his cock didn’t falter, and a familiar buzzing raced down his spine.

  “Too much,” he broke away to whisper, stopping her hand by the simple measure of pressing closer and trapping it between their bodies. “Too close. And I want to be inside you.”

  She nodded, biting her lip and the sight of her straight white teeth mangling the plump lower curve did it for him. Lust roared in his ears, his heart thumping in his chest as his pulse pounded in his cock. He eased himself away, just a little, to free her hand at the same moment he swept his hand up her inner thigh.

  Questing fingers found the edge of her panties and she gasped, her head falling back to rest against the wall. He watched her, gaze intent on every flicker of expression, as he slid his fingers beneath the damp satin, found her pussy lips and stroked between them. Then it was his turn to gasp, a sound echoed by the softer, more feminine version she gave. She was hot, wet with her arousal, and ready for him. But that didn’t mean he was stopping now, not before she was boneless with pleasure.

  He said nothing, kept his gaze on hers as his fingertips slid higher to seek her clit. The tiny knob was easy to find and he slicked her own juices over it. Rubbed and circled, feathered his touch over and around it. She gasped and shuddered beneath his touch, her lips parting and her eyes half closed.

  He teased and tormented, using the little clues she gave him to play her body. Like the parting of her lips and the soft little mewling sound she gave when he rubbed just so. Or the widening of her eyes as he slid lower to tease the entrance to her body. Bringing his thumb into play, he rocked it against her clit and slid a finger into the tight embrace of her pussy.

  It was almost too much for him…the feel of her clamped around him, tight muscles and silken softness. He could already feel it around his cock and every instinct he had demanded him to step back, free himself, and bury his cock balls deep in her heat.

  “So close…” She whimpered, hips rocking as she rode his hand and his eyes snapped open. Triumph surged, feral male pride and possessiveness tightening every line of his body as he bent all his senses, everything he had to ensure her pleasure.

  “That’s it, babe,” he whispered, bending his head to press soft kisses its line of her throat. “Come all over my hand. Then I get to fuck you.”

  * * *

  His words, issued in a low rough-cut voice, reached deep inside and flicked a switch. Crying out, she clutched at his shoulders as pleasure washed over her. Heat consumed her. Raced through her veins and reached into the pit of her soul to touch something there. The feeling it released wound itself around her pleasure, a thread of emotion that was elusive, slipping away from her when she tried to study it. It didn’t matter, so she let it go in favor of riding the waves that coursed through her body.

  Holding her close, his gentle embrace was at odds with the erotic nature of his hand between her legs. His fingers stroked her. Each soft touch gentled her as she came down from the wild ride of her climax. She could feel the need caged in his body and a small devil sat on her shoulder, wanting her to shatter it.

  She lifted her chin, seeking his lips. The kiss was a conflagration of dark desire. She moved closer, pulling him into her embrace, and slid her tongue against his in a wild ride. Her hand drove into the hair at the nape of his neck, and she smoothed the other down the small of his back, yanking him against her. His cock pulsed between them. When he broke away, they were both panting.

  “I recall some promises about fucking being made,” she whispered between kisses, and a small smile played over her lips when he growled in response.

  “As the lady wishes.” He pulled back, hands pulling at her skirts to yank them up. She bit her lip again as he lifted her easily, her back against the wall, to settle between her thighs. The head of his cock pressed against the entrance to her pussy.

  She felt her eyes widen, thrill running through her. He was as big as she’d thought, the thick shaft pressing against, and then slipping inside her. Stretching her as he pushed in one long, slow thrust. As before, he didn’t take his eyes from hers. The scrutiny, the intensity, ramped the heat higher and higher. She’d never had a man look at her as deeply as he took her, as though searching for something in her eyes and she in his.

  His face tightened the deeper he went. She caught her breath, pussy stretched tight around him. He was so big, filling her like she’d never been filled before. She clenched. He gasped and a small muscle in his jaw jumped as his nostrils
flared.

  “Hold still,” he rasped, fighting for control. “Or this will be the shortest screw you ever had. You’re so tight.” Pausing, his body was rigid as his eyes sought hers in concern. “Please tell me you’ve done this before?”

  “What? Oh…” She smiled, her heart touched by his worry for her possible virgin state. “Hell yeah, I have. Have you? I wouldn’t want to think I’m corrupting some poor innocent young lycan.”

  His teeth flashed in a broad grin and with a surge of his hips filled her to the hilt. “Babe, believe me, there is no chance of that happening.”

  “Good,” she murmured, distracted by the feeling of him completely in her. “Now move, before I scream.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the screaming part soon.”

  He pulled back to thrust in again with a quick movement that sent stars flaring behind her eyes. Planting his hand on the wall beside her head, he did it again, then again until he built up a quick, hard pace that threatened to have her begging for more. The sensation as he filled her was incredible. Utterly incredible. She wasn’t an innocent by any stretch of the imagination, but there was just something about him, something about the way he moved…touched her...that pressed buttons she didn’t know she had.

  She looked up in confusion, hands on his shoulders to brace herself as he powered into her. “H-how…”

  “How what, babe?” he grunted, shifting position and sliding his hand around the back of her hips to hold her in place. Now each time he thrust into her, he added a roll and pressed her clit to trap it between their bodies. She gasped as it throbbed, a new deep, need arching through her body as though she hadn’t come in months. “How did I know what you need? How you like to be touched?”