Authors: J. Hali Steele
Harlow.
Her name rolled through Cass’s mind, forcing him to lick dry
lips to capture her lingering essence and pull it into his mouth.
Sweet
blood
. Never had he wanted a human woman so badly, or a wolf for that
matter. Both types of animals filled his place tonight yet he found himself
alone and masturbating, the picture of a she-devil dancing behind shuttered
eyes. He’d briefly thought about dragging one of the female wolves with him,
bending her over the desk, and taking her without mercy but he understood nothing
would satisfy the burning need filling his loins tonight.
Only Harlow could do that.
Why in hell had she shown up here of all places? Fingertips
tingled oddly from touching the base of Harlow’s spine just above a generous
swell of buttocks. Doing so, Cass had begun to weave a spell that would pervade
Harlow not only with thoughts of him, but his essence would also seep into her
pores. Something else happened, something that had never happened before—he had
let a human taste his blood. He fisted his dick harder and jerked the length faster.
Swiping dots of precum from the engorged head helped to ease his fingers up and
down his shaft. “Shit, yeah…
yeahh!
” he shouted as a stream of cum
splashed his abdomen.
Unsatisfied, he rose, pulled his pants up and closed them.
Cass grabbed his shirt to wipe his belly before tossing it in the trashcan. A snort
of laughter escaped his mouth at the sight he presented with jeans around his
ankles as he jacked off hidden in his office like a horny teenager. “Fuck me to
tears.” He stomped to a wardrobe filled with a few changes of shirts, jeans and
chaps and yanked out another tee, pulled it over his head, and then he returned
to the chair behind his desk.
It was with great relief he sniffed out Hatch before he
knocked. “Get in here.”
“Jesus, man, place smells like a brothel.”
“Screw you. Is she home safe?”
“Yes.” He leaned against the desk. “Cass, she’s not one of
us so she’ll go nuts tonight wondering what the hell is happening.”
“I’ll be there.”
“She’s on De Soto near Lassen.” Hatch pointed to the door
leading into the restaurant. “Isn’t it enough you could have any female out
there?”
“You want her?”
“That’s not the point.”
Cass studied his best friend. “Are you going soft on me?”
“No, it’s… Shit, man, there’s something about her. I can’t
put my finger on it.”
Castle Briggs understood what his beta meant. The instant he
saw the woman and gazed into her eyes, he knew he’d do anything to have her for
one night. “You can take her next.” He damn near doubled over at the pain in
his gut. “Fuck.” The idea of the man beside him holding Harlow’s hips or
pressing his mouth to her naked breasts, kissing the lips he still tasted, had his
wolf seeing red.
What the hell!
He’d shared women with Hatch often and
it had never before been an issue. “Why did you pay for her dinner?”
“I figured you would have if you hadn’t been otherwise
occupied.” Hatch laughed.
The sound grated down Cass’s spine. “What’s funny?”
“She said you can’t touch her.”
“She doesn’t know me.”
“Maybe you don’t know her. I think she got under your skin a
tiny bit.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You marked
her
, Cass, but damn if I don’t smell Harlow
Hardison seeping from you.”
“Be careful, Grisom.” The office grew humid, close, as if
the air conditioning had died. Sweat beaded on his brow, making Castle wish he
could jump on his bike and ride for hours to Joshua Tree or Morongo Canyon. In
either place, he could shed his flimsy human skin and release the wolf baying
inside his body. However, Castle would go across town, find Harlow, taste her
blood again, and take her the way she cried out to be taken. Not soft, not
easy, but hard and rough the way he liked it. He sensed the vibe from her and it
had been a long, long time since he’d run into a human woman who sought what he
enjoyed delivering. In fact, most of the she-wolves he kept company with had an
aversion to pain mixed with sex and they only submitted because there was no
other choice.
Her scent engulfed him, wreathed Cass’s head with the sweet smell
of pain.
A kindred spirit.
Hatch said, “Go. I’ll take care of things here.” He seemed
hesitant. “She knows what you are.”
“I won’t leave her a mess. We’ve worked too hard to keep our
presence a secret.” Cass ruled southern California with an iron fist in that
area. Lying with a male wolf left an indelible imprint on human women so if any
wolf slept with one, Cass required they take enough blood to stay connected to
the female and know her every move. Some wolves resented taking blood because
it often became bothersome when the woman showed up demanding more time, more
sex, and it took years for the effect to wear off. The steadfast rule served to
keep most of the dogs away from anyone other than their kind. Still, if they went
out there and fucked around, causing the slightest disturbance, Cass put the
offending wolf shifter down without blinking an eye and carried out the blood
taking himself.
Ironically, this left him tied to a bevy of women who showed
up at The Moat seeking attention. They only wanted to relive the passion they
believed
they experienced in his arms, unaware the bastard who deposited seed in them
lay buried deep in the earth.
It was just such a crowd Harlow had witnessed tonight.
And he planned to make her a part of it.
“I’m more concerned about you being hurt.” Hatch scratched
his head. “Shit, Cass, you just jerked off with any number of women out there
dying to be bedded by you.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Castle grunted. “You need to pick
one to bury your dick in so you stop sniffing around my junk.”
“Kiss my ass.”
Striding to the door, he swatted Hatch’s butt. “A few out
there would love to do that.” He chuckled at the look on his second’s face.
“Enjoy your evening.”
This time, he left his helmet behind. He wore it for longer
rides because he hated removing bugs who committed suicide on his face. He
headed to the parking lot where he mounted his bike, wondering what his friend
meant. Castle Briggs didn’t get hurt. Sometimes he wondered if his heart was
made of stone as he’d watched wolves around him mate and settle down. The idea
of following in those footprints made him shudder. “Not me.” Turning the key,
he backed out and gave the powerful bike full throttle to Harlow’s complex. If
Hatch hadn’t given him an address, he would have found it anyway because Harlow’s
scent still lingered in the air mixed with his. The supernatural beast he was
discerned it from every other smell in the atmosphere. “Damn, she bit me.”
He followed her aroma to the first-floor apartment she
occupied and listened for a moment as she paced. His nostrils flared at the
odor of sex and soap. He’d barely tapped the door when it flew open.
“Bastard, what did you do to me?” Eyes sparked with anger.
Cass stepped back to gather himself. How had she known it
was him? Humans’ sense of smell was nil compared to that of a wolf. “Take it
easy, darlin’.”
“I don’t care what you are or what you think you’re going to
do, but I’ll scratch your eyes out if you touch me.”
He walked in, closed the door and turned the lock. “You’re angry
because you feel a connection.” One hell of a connection if the way she
snuffled air was anything to go by.
Her eyes sought a nonexistent escape while a slender hand
rifled brown hair. “Unlock my door.”
“You feel out of control.”
“Get out.”
“You’re wet and I smell desire slipping from you.”
“Go away.” Her shoulders slumped and Cass didn’t like it.
His woman had to be strong.
Shit, she’s not my woman!
Hell and damnation. “Say
leave, I will.”
“Please.”
“Please what?”
“Don’t make me do this.”
“I won’t make you do anything you haven’t already dreamed.”
“You know?” Her back straightened.
He nodded. “I can end your fear.”
When Castle’s friend had pulled her from the bar, Harlow, uncharacteristically,
kicked and clawed like a wild animal. “Let me go, you oaf.”
“Lady, give it up.”
“Fuck you.” The kind of anger burning in Harlow’s belly was
new, something she’d never experienced before, and no matter what she did, she
couldn’t control the raging fire.
“That is not refined language.”
“Oooh!”
Hatch had deposited her by the car where she scoured the
bottom of her bag for keys. Finding them, she unlocked the door, got in, started
the engine and backed out so fast she damn near ran him over. Maniacal laughter
gushed from Harlow as she shot her middle finger into the air and yelled,
“Bastard.” Jesus, what was happening? Her lungs burned each time she filled
them with air during the five-block drive to her complex where she swerved into
an empty space. Sunroof open, windows down, she had hoped to dampen hot,
surging anger until a motorcycle rumbled to a stop behind her parked car.
Hatch!
How had he gotten on his bike fast enough to follow?
Damn!
Now the son
of a bitch would know where she lived. After securing the car, she got out and
cut a wide berth around him.
“Harlow, wait.”
“Advise your boss to stay the hell away from me or I’ll call
the cops.”
“He gets what he wants.”
“And you all let him?”
“He’s, shit, he’s…“
“He’s what, an asshole?” Harlow had never been so irritated.
What was it about the man she’d met briefly that got under her skin and robbed
her of self-control? The spot he’d touched on her bare back flared to life.
“Shoot.” She rubbed the place absently.
“You’re marked.”
Her head shot up. “Marked?”
“You belong to him.”
“You’re crazier than he is.”
She got her key in the door, turned it and backed in. “You
all just stay away from me.”
“After tonight, none of us will touch you.”
“Look, Mr. Grisom, hightail it back to where you came from
and don’t show your face around here again
ever
.” She needed to wash her
sweaty body. Especially the spot on her lower back that continued to become
warmer and warmer. It felt as if her skin crawled. She took another step back
to close the door.
Before she did, the man rattled Harlow’s world.
“He’s the alpha wolf and he takes what he wants.” Hatch reached
and pulled her door closed with a thud.
His words registered through anger that still reigned in her
head. “Lord!” Surprise assaulted her mind replacing the fury; however, Harlow
wasn’t as shocked at what Hatch had said about Castle as she should be. “Shit,
shit, shit!” Distress triggered alarms along every nerve ending. “Calm down,
calm down.” Perhaps animal magnetism engendered her reaction. Maybe her base
desire to be handled roughly… Oh Jesus, she wanted him! What would the creature
do to her? What things would he make her do?
Harlow’s wanton response to the man disturbed her more than her
fear of what he was.
Showered, she paced and remembered stories from many
countries she’d recently toured. Before deciding to live in San Fernando
Valley, Harlow had used some of Jeff’s settlement to realize a lifelong dream
of traipsing across Europe searching out folklore. On visits to Greece, Jamaica
and Haiti, she listened to tales. She figured that one day something would
become known if half of what she heard held a grain of truth. In fact, an avid
reader of mythology and strange historical occurrences, she hoped humans
weren’t
the only living, breathing, intelligent beings in the world. Why would God have
bothered creating a universe only to populate one tiny part? Aliens? Well, she
didn’t want to run into one, but a werewolf or vampire, hell it didn’t seem so
farfetched after what she’d learned.
She sucked in drafts of air prevalent with odors she’d never
discerned before. One she knew beyond any doubt belonged to the culprit she
couldn’t clear from her thoughts.
Now Castle Briggs stood in her living room offering to end
her fear.
What overwhelmed Harlow was how biting him at the restaurant
felt right and, damn, from some dark place hidden deep inside, the need to have
him bite back rose to the surface in a cloud of lust. Staring at him,
remembering the taste of his blood, her body ached for his touch, and she
wanted him to restrain and take her any way he wanted. God, what Harlow
envisioned doing for him!
The reason she and Jeff Hardison weren’t together was that
he couldn’t satisfy her any longer. They discussed it and she had implored him
to try new things, things that made her wet thinking about them. At Harlow’s
constant pleading, he had tied her up, spanked her and rendered pain a handful
of times yet it still lacked what she truly desired. Harlow loved it but
discerned Jeff’s uncomfortable attitude toward the role of dominating and soon
sex with her began to turn him off altogether, sending him elsewhere to seek
solace. Harlow never blamed him but she resented his attempt to hold on to her
when she required freedom from the melancholy pervading her life.
The idea of experimenting more scared her and it didn’t help
that Jeff had repeatedly called her sick and pathetic. Harlow wasn’t sick—she
wanted to
feel
more. Her husband couldn’t stop her from entertaining
sexual fantasies. The man in front of her released something inside, making her
more aware than ever of being alive.
Nevertheless, fear riddled her mind as she sniffed the air.
What the creature unleashed in Harlow frightened her much
more than what he was.
Jesus, Mother and Mary!
* * * * *
Damn, she was hotter than hell with anger smoldering in her
dichromatic eyes. Castle took note of peaked nipples under the tiny white tee
she wore. Long, shapely and tanned legs emerged from a pair of royal blue
paisley silk shorts riding low on her wide hips. Damp brown hair touched her
neck where he watched her pulse beat.
“You wear men’s boxers?” Christ, what a question at a time
like this, a time he should be calming her. “They turn me on.”
“Go to hell.”
“You want to call the cops?”
“Why? After what I witnessed outside your restaurant
earlier, you probably own them.”
“Some of them.” He shrugged. “I keep the peace when they
can’t.” A few men of law aware of him and his kind were at his disposal and
compensated very well for their silence.
“By beating the bad guys up?”
There was nothing left to hide. “The big, bad wolf creeps
out and breaks their spines in two.” Her shoulders remained straight and the
way she looked at him made his animal chomp at the bit. She was human and
belonged to the man, though she would soothe the beast. She trembled before him
and Castle wanted to hold Harlow, make her understand he would deliver only
what she craved. “Nothing in my world will harm a hair on your head.”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand. “What are
you?”
“You already know.” He took a step toward her.
“Don’t.”
He hesitated and spoke softly. “Darlin’, I and other things
like me have always walked beside humans undetected. We’re less monster than
men and women who live next door in all the little cul-de-sacs you think safe.”
“Say it, damn you!”
“Will hearing it from me make a difference?” She blinked
rapidly, but he didn’t read the kind of fear he thought he’d initially have to
deal with. There was something else hidden in their depths. Hunger, raw and
unaffected, seeped from her pores.
“Yes.”
“Shifter. Werewolf. Either works but I prefer shifter.” This
time Castle closed the distance between them and pulled her hand away from lips
he craved tasting again. “Neither of us means you harm.” He touched the small
of her back. “I only want to give you pleasure, nothing more.”
Harlow melted against him. “Don’t… Don’t touch me there.”
“Why?”
“It’s…”
Castle gently massaged above her buttocks. “Say what you’re
thinking.”
“You’re putting me under some kind of spell and I don’t like
it.”
“I’ve marked you so my kind will know and protect you.”
“Are you one of those wealthy jackasses who will try to own
me?”
“I’m not trying to own you.” He leaned and kissed her softly
before murmuring, “In the bedroom, you will be mine.”
“Afterward, you’ll go and leave me alone?”
“I’ll go.” He brought her hand to his mouth, nibbled and
licked her fingers. “Ask me to leave now and I will.”
“If I do ask you to go, no one will come back and hurt me?”
“Never.” He kissed the pulse beating in her neck. “Your skin
is so soft.”
“You won’t…”
“Do anything you don’t want.”
“What if I say you can’t come in if you come back?”
He chuckled as he traced his tongue across her collarbone.
He continued to rub his hand in a circular motion on her lower back, the seat
of her spine, the connection to her nerve endings and the transmitter to her
brain and organs. “I’m not a vampire, darlin’. You can’t just say I can’t come
in.”
“How’d you know about me?”
“Animal instinct.” Cass was glad he had it.
“How do I stop you?”
He gazed into her eyes. “Now? Or later?”
“Both.”
He kissed her, nipped the still-swollen cut on her bottom lip
until she moaned. Swiping blood from the tiny laceration with his tongue, Cass
damn near dropped to his knees at the tantalizing taste. He whispered, “Say
stop.”
“Just stop?”
“Just stop.” He pulled her fingers to the front of his
slacks. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Will I have to call you Master?”
“No, honey, you don’t.” Harlow massaged his dick so gently.
“Ever?”
Cass swept his tongue across her lips, savoring her slow
surrender. “It’s enough that you know it.”
“If I want to?”
“Harlow, I don’t play by hard, fast rules. We’ll only do
what makes you feel good tonight.”
“And you?”
He knew how to shut her up. She groaned as he covered her
lips with his. Their tongues stabbed, tangled and tasted. They searched and
discovered lust and desire hidden in every corner. He yearned for more. “Bite
me again, baby.” Jesus, he’d let her taste his blood again!
“What if…
“The pain you bring will never be too much.”
“It might.”
“Then I’ll say stop.”
She pulled her head away and pushed back far enough to gain
space to lift his shirt up and capture a hard nipple. She sucked and teased the
bud with her tongue, setting him on fire. When she pulled the nub into her
mouth and bit down hard enough to draw blood, he roared, “Hell
yeah!
”
Releasing his nipple, she took his hand and said, “Follow me.”
“Anywhere.” Castle had discovered a piece of heaven—and he already
doubted his ability to let it go.
Quite possibly Harlow could deliver more pain than he could
bear.
* * * * *
Stop!
The word careened out of control through Harlow’s head.
Cass didn’t scare her, but once he released her caged
desires and slipped back onto his barstool, who would take care of her then? He
reclined shamelessly naked in a chair at the side of her bed and she had no
idea what to do next. She had read things, knew what she wanted to do, but
Harlow remained frozen, unable to move or talk. Heat blossomed up her chest,
warmed her cheeks as Harlow swept her tongue across lips still tinged with
Castle’s blood and savored the exotic taste.
“So many things I want to show you.” Castle spoke softly.
“I’m not sure what you want.”
“Don’t be afraid of your feelings.” He held his hand out.
“Come here.”
She walked to stand in front of him.
“Your blush speaks of inexperience.” Castle feathered
fingers over her stomach. “I like that.”
“Maybe I can’t do this.”
“You can, and these have to go.” He ripped the shorts from
her and pulled Harlow into his lap. “Say stop whenever you’re uncomfortable.”
He drew her t-shirt up and over her head. “Damn, you’re beautiful.” He grasped
a hank of hair and twisted her to face him. He leaned in and smothered her with
a kiss, tender at first, then he shoved his tongue in her mouth as though he
could snatch every thought from her mind along with every breath she had taken.
Using his other hand, he massaged her breasts, playfully tugged the nipples
until she pulled her lips from his.
“More,” she mumbled huskily. Lord, his scent was incredible.
He tightened his hand in her hair and brought his mouth a
breath away from hers. “I’ll let you know when you can have more.” Cass’s eyes
flickered yellow. “And I’ll tell you when to talk.”
She nodded.
“This time I’ll give you what you want.” He pinched a nipple
roughly. “These would look so good in nipple clamps.”
She whimpered at the idea of him licking and teasing her
buds while pinched in clamps. Should she show him the pair in her nightstand
that she experimented with when pleasuring herself?
“I’m going to make you feel so fucking much.”
“Yes, oh yes.”
He stood, swiveled and placed her in the center of her bed.
“I didn’t say you could talk.” He grabbed her shorts from the floor and tore
them into ribbons.
This is really going to happen!
Thinking back to the
scene in The Moat, Harlow remembered Castle Briggs could have whomever he
wanted and he didn’t need to
take
anything or anyone. Tonight he wanted
her. Yet a small corner of Harlow’s mind remained fearful of what he could do
to her. “Castle…”
His hands stilled. “Harlow, you only have to say stop.”
Calmness slipped from his pores and seemed to trickle into hers.
“Don’t stop, I want this.”
“Are you sure? Because I can leave.”
“No!”
“Lie on your belly.”
Harlow acquiesced.