Claiming Ana (7 page)

He finally released the buttons. “Floor’s good. Already got blankets. Or the table. Then again, this countertop is looking pretty good.”

Her laugh ended on a gasp. “You’re aggressive, obviously, in anything you do—work, relationships.”

He took it as a step in the right direction when she pointedly ignored his comment.

“If you mate, it’s for life.”

Let me taste you, Ana.
He conjured wicked images, sent them to her through the intimacy of their link. He knew she saw every one of them. Felt her crave them, want them just as much as he.

I can’t think when you’re inside my head.

Then don’t. Give in to me, Ana. I’ll show you pleasure such as you’ve never known or will with another. Lie with me?

Oh, yes.

He scrunched her skirt up around her hips, slid his fingers past the silk of her panties and worked them into her wet heat.

Leaving that odd mental link open, he lightly touched his lips to hers while he teased. Never had he been as fascinated with a woman as he was with Ana. She was so hot and tight. He wanted to feel what she felt when he kissed her, played with her.
I need to be inside you.

Her lips parted on a sigh as she surrendered to his touch.

He took her deeper into the kiss. Plundering, assaulting every sense she had, taking every taste. She was his now. Nothing else mattered. Not the short time he’d known her. Not what they were. This was more, much more.

7

Ana had never felt such an immediate attraction to any other man. She didn’t believe in one-night stands. Never had, but two seconds in a room with him and she was ready to toss all her morals out the window. Howl ravaged her mind with the most erotic images as he kissed her. His words caressed her, had her shivering with need.

Outside, another storm raged, but a greater one grew within her. One she was helpless to stop. Somewhere in the house, the weather radio sounded, but she was oblivious to all but Howl.

Oh, God how I need you.
Now it was she who burned with fever only he could soothe.

Howl wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her.

Ana felt the hot length of his need pressing against the silk of her panties.

Where’s that bed you’re so fond of?

Down the hall and right. Hurry, Howl.

They spoke with thoughts, instead of words, leaving them free to touch and taste. She slid her hands in the rich silk of his hair as she’d wanted to do last night, and pressed her mouth to his. His taste was potent, addictive. The mental link she’d resented earlier was something she craved now. An intimacy most couples could never experience. What a wonderful gift.

Ana felt cherished and fragile as Howl climbed the stairs as though she weighed nothing. His eyes had clouded to deep rich amber, and he seemed as lost as she. She had a second to think this was madness. But then, her whole world had gone mad the instant Howl had walked into it.

* * * *

Howl kicked the door open. The room’s rich jewel tones and delicate furniture should have been out of place with the rustic pine floors and walls, but somehow it worked and echoed the woman in his arms. He pushed the bedroom door closed with his heel and carried her to the bed. He breathed in the fresh rain-kissed air from the open window. It mixed with the scent of her jasmine perfume, and something darker, something hot that was purely Ana.

Howl slid his hands in her hair as he coaxed her mouth open with his.
So beautiful.

Please…Howl.
She begged, writhing under him, a moment before she huskily breathed those words aloud. The teeth of his desire lashed free. He dipped his hands in the vee of her blouse and bra, rending flimsy fabric and lace to shreds. Her eyes darkened with the sound; her body cried out for him.

She was his mate, the wolf insisted. For a moment the animal within reared up and he lost control. The need to change her became so strong, so compelling, that he almost broke his word. He growled low in his throat and brought her breast to his lips, tasted the sweet tip. Inside, the wolf reveled.
Mine to taste and touch.
His wolf craved the coupling as much as he did.

Ana arched up, a sinuous bow, to meet him.
Howl, now. Don’t wait! Need you.

The wolf demanded all from her. Yes, take her. He forced himself to rein in his need, to lock away part of himself that wanted to change her.
See there, the line of her throat exposed by need. Bite her and she’ll be changed forever. A lover’s bite and she’ll belong to you
.
She won’t hear your thoughts in time to stop us. She can’t hear me.

He drew a thin line with his teeth along her neck. She tasted of desire and magic. He wanted to sink his teeth just there, taste the power that ran in her blood. Share it. Make her what he was.

No.

Howl.
She brushed his mind with hers, gentle as butterfly wings, slid her fingers into his silky raven hair as she pulled him up for a kiss. His eyes, reflected in hers, were a molten gold, as if he were changing.
What’s wrong?

Fighting the wolf. I gave my word. I won’t break it. You’re safe from him, Ana.

Burying his face in the hollow of her throat, Howl fought for control. She had to be completely his. He craved his mate, just as the wolf did, but he would not take her that way.

You won’t hurt me.

You’re perfect just the way you are.
He slid down her body until he could see the shadowed junction of her thighs, trailing light kisses toward her center. She squirmed with need no longer in her control. Lifting her, he pressed his tongue inside. She writhed, rocking her hips against his mouth, lost in the dark pleasure he gave. Again he speared his tongue into her. His wolf quieted as he gave in to Ana’s silent request. Moving faster, until he felt the tremors signaling release.

“Please. I want you inside me.”

“Go over, sweetheart. I want to watch you fall. Then I promise I’ll join you.” Howl replaced his mouth with his fingers, working them in and out in a lightning-fast rhythm. His name screamed from her lips as he suckled her.

“You’re so beautiful, Ana.” He eased up the bed and over her, waiting for her to catch her breath. “I love you. I don’t know when it happened or how, but I do. Right or wrong.”

She kissed him deeply. “I love you too, but this waiting is driving me crazy.”

Her soft words drifted through his mind and settled in his heart. Ana loved him in spite of all that he was. Such a precious gift he’d been given and that alone anchored him. Not for anything in the world would he hurt her. Though it was like wrenching a piece of his soul, Howl forced the wolf into silence.

* * * *

Ana stared up at this man leaning over her. His gold eyes burned with a scorching heat. Wild, fierce, but pure Howl. She touched his cheek, heard his thoughts as though they were hers.

I’m in love with you, Ana. Desperately, hopelessly in love with you.
Their kiss was untamed as she wrapped around him.
Now.

She locked her eyes with his, connected.
Now.

He slid into her as though they’d loved a thousand times, as if she’d been his in a hundred lifetimes. Minds, hands, eyes, bodies joined to form one entity as they moved together in a lover’s dance, old as time itself.

8

Ana screamed at the top of her lungs, until her throat burned. The metallic smell of blood and terror surrounded her in the dark.
Wake up. Wake up. Just an awful dream.
So much of it everywhere, covering the dirt floor of the shack, and the ruined body of a fair-skinned woman in a brightly colored dress. The dress was rucked up around her waist and torn. She could tell the woman was still alive, barely. The woman’s chest heaved and her cries wrested from her body. Ana wanted to pull the man off the poor woman, but some sort of barrier kept her from reaching them.

The woman’s keening wails were unbearable. Ana’s eyes wouldn’t close, ears refused to block the sound.
Please. I don’t want to see this. Just a dream. Just a dream. Wake up, Ana.
She pleaded with herself and the power of her blood magic holding her bound to the nightmare.

This was the worst part of her gift. Sometimes visions or dreams would come. Ana couldn’t stop them. She was being shown this scene for a reason. Still, it didn’t make it easy to watch. Frozen in horror, she felt sick as the man ripped his victim to shreds with the knife and his body. As the woman died, Ana heard her last words and knew why she had been made to watch.

“Blood and bone, my death heralds your own. Animal you are and you’ll stay. Those who come of you will walk as same, ’til red moon rings three and death is welcomed by she. In my blood, so mote it be.”

“Dirty Irish whore,” the rapist growled as he made a final slash with his knife across the woman’s throat. “Though shalt not suffer a witch to live. Curse me? Damn you to hell.”

Ana watched her die, feeling as though it were her blood that stained the earth. The man turned toward her, as if he could sense she was there, and looked at her with Howl’s eyes.

* * * *

Howl woke with a start. The wind had calmed down, but it was still raining. Ana lay beside him, bathed in a cold sweat, her luscious mouth forming a silent scream. He cradled her closer and shook her.

“Wake up!” He shook her harder. “Come on, sugar. Wake up now. It’s just a dream.”

She fought him, shoving him, shaking her head, before she woke with a groan, her eyes glassy with shock. “Howl? Oh, it was so awful.”

“I’ve got you. You’re okay. It’s okay.” He rocked her in his arms.

“It was so horrible. He raped her, tore her body to shreds, but she still had enough magic to curse him. Enough to curse you all. I saw everything as if I was there. I wanted to save her. Why couldn’t I save her?”

Her body was icy next to his. They had only been asleep for an hour, two at the most. It had been three when he lazily glanced at the clock and rolled her into his side.

“It was just a dream, Ana. I don’t know how the curse was started. I only know what I’ve managed to dig up on my own. Foster parents raised me. I didn’t know about the change until I turned twenty-one and it happened.”

“He had your eyes. I do know, and I think I know how to cure you, Howl. How did it happen that first time? Did you hurt anyone?”

“The first change, I was in my parents’ basement. We had a pinball machine down there, cable, air hockey. I spent a lot of time there when I was home from school. My adopted mom and dad were good to me. I was sent to the best schools. They gave me everything. I like to think they loved me.” If he could tell anyone, he could tell Ana. He snuggled her closer, kissed her, trying to block out the horror in his mind.

“Dark fell. I heard Mom call me to dinner. I remember horrible pain, in my head, my limbs. I thought my heart would explode, it was so intense. I had never felt anything of that magnitude. I had to stay in the dark. When I didn’t come up, she came down.” He paused. “I hadn’t shifted yet, but I was well on my way. Scared. Hurting. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. Mom knocked on the bathroom door where I was hiding. She said, ‘Howl, sweetie. Are you alright?’ She always called me ‘Howl, sweetie.’ Just like that. I wanted my mom. I wanted her to make it better, to stop the pain.”

“Oh, Howl.”

“I was afraid that I would hurt her. I opened the door, yelled something to hurt her feelings so she would stay away. I didn’t know what was happening to me or what I might do. I lashed out at her with my hand, to scare her. I know I broke her arm, probably just below her elbow. I heard the sickening snap. I looked down at my hands. I had claws instead of fingernails. My arms were morphing and covered with thick black hair. I smelled her blood, the ripped flesh, ruined muscles and tendons from the compound break. She was my mom and I loved her more than life. She was my mom and I wanted to rip her apart.”

“No.”

“I ran after her, up the basement stairs, but she was scared and fast. Good thing for her, when I reached the top of the stairs, she slammed the door shut and locked it. I heard something heavy slide over the floor. I don’t remember anything after that. I must have been fully changed by then.”