Embracing the Wolf (4 page)

She remembered sitting
curled up on his lap on an armchair in front of a roaring fire, his
arms wrapped around her, comforting and tight. The fire had been
the only light in the dark silent room. The snow had been falling
heavily outside and blanketing the world in white. Amon had ordered
that they were left alone. She had never had such a perfect moment
in her life as that, and all they had been doing was holding each
other.

Her eyes closed with the
memory. The silence of the cemetery joined with it to soothe her,
invading every pore until she felt as still and peaceful as her
surroundings.

The hairs on the back of
her neck rose.

Someone was
close.

She turned on a pinpoint,
at the same time drawing one of her guns with her right hand. When
she came to a halt, she found herself staring down the line of her
gun at Amon. Her hand trembled, as unsteady as her breathing. The
whole of her shook along with it.

“
Leyton told
me.” His voice was pure seduction, low and sensual. It caressed her
ears, warmed her heart and made it beat a little
quicker.

She breathed out sharply,
sucked in another breath, and fought to hold her gun
steady.

Amon’s long black coat
flared out in the chill breeze. He moved towards her. She held her
ground, keeping her gun on him. Her feelings collided inside her.
Fear fought calm, anger battled happiness, and hate warred with
love.

She took a step back,
needing the distance. Her palms began to sweat. She wiped her free
hand on the leg of her black combats and then wrapped it around the
one holding the gun. It still shook.

Her heart beat at a
dizzying pace. Breath short and sharp, she glared at Amon. How
could he still affect her like this? After four years, her feelings
hadn’t faded in the slightest. Just the sight of him made her knees
weak and her body tremble with need.

A faint smile curved his
lips. The moon made his eyes twinkle. Damn he was
beautiful.

He went to move towards
her. She jerked her gun, locking her arms tight to show him that
she was serious. He rocked back on his heels and
frowned.

“
Did you attack
someone tonight?” The words came out fast. She had to ask, even if
the idea that he might say yes petrified her.

Amon shook his head.
Tangled threads of his black hair hung across one eye, the tips
stroking his strong jaw. He hadn’t shaved. Another smile tugged at
the corners of his lips and sent her heart fluttering.

Her hand went for her
other gun but she didn’t draw it. The gun she held aimed at him
wavered so much that she couldn’t focus on it.

“
I took care of
them for you,” he whispered. “I wanted us to be alone...
undisturbed.”

Kat looked into his eyes.
Their dark depths held her, familiar but foreign at the same time.
They evoked a montage of memories made up of all the times that she
had stared into them. It culminated in that moment beside the
fire.

Undisturbed.

They had been alone then.
He had always wanted her all to himself. It seemed he still wanted
it that way. The warmth inside her heart became fire that spread
through her body, reigniting the sensations that she had felt in
today’s dream. She fought her desire and need, telling herself that
she wasn’t going to give in to him. She wasn’t, no matter how much
she wanted to.

It was a shame that her
body wasn’t getting the message. It was turning hotter by the
second. Urgent need for him burned up her heart until it was
impossible to ignore. Liquid heat pooled at the juncture of her
thighs. Her skin flushed with prickly heat at the thought of his
touch.

He took another step
towards her, ignoring her threat to shoot him.

Her breath shortened. Her
fingers closed tighter around her gun, a last stand that felt
redundant. Her heart said to surrender and let him have her. She
had missed him so much—his touch, his kiss, and his strong embrace.
She had missed all of him. And she could have him back if she only
gave up the fight.

Another step and she lost
the battle with her desire.

Kat lowered the gun a
fraction. The moment she did, he knocked her hand away, sending the
gun tumbling from her trembling fingers, and caught her cheeks in
his palms. In a heartbeat, he had tilted her head up, pressed his
body into hers, and crushed her lips with a kiss so fierce that it
branded her heart with its demand.

He wanted her.

It echoed her own need and
hunger, and her eyes closed. Her fingers grasped the collar of his
jacket and she dragged him against her. The fervour of her kiss
matched his. Her tongue hungrily plundered his warm mouth,
desperate to taste him. Stubble scratched at her lips, reddening
them, and she didn’t care. She needed more. She needed all of
him.

He drove forwards with
force and a speed that had her almost falling over her feet. The
lid of the sarcophagus behind her slammed painfully into her back,
knocking the air from her. It didn’t stop her from kissing him.
Nothing could.

Kat pulled harder on his
collar and then pushed her hands up over his strong neck. She
tangled her fingers in the soft threads of his long hair and held
his mouth against hers. He groaned, the sound of it sending a warm
rush through her entire body that heightened her desire. Filled
with an urge to feel his strength, she pushed against him with her
elbows. He responded exactly as she’d wanted.

With a growl, he shoved
forwards, slamming her back into the tomb. A firm hand settled
against her lower back, his other one snaking possessively around
the nape of her neck. He leaned into her, trapping her arms against
his chest. It still wasn’t enough. She needed to feel that this was
really him. He tasted the same on her tongue, his lips were as soft
but sensual as she remembered, and he smelt like cinnamon and fire,
but she still felt as though she was dreaming. An ache to touch him
settled deep in her core. She longed to trace the planes of his
body with her fingertips, charting muscles that she had once
intimately known and recalling paths she used to take across them
to the secret spots that made him moan. The sensitive areas that
only she knew.

Her hands went to his
collar again. She pushed his coat off his shoulders and dragged it
down, only for it to become stuck at his elbows. She had to get it
off him. She had to feel him against her. Only that would satisfy
her need and make her believe this was real.

Her eyes opened wide when
his hands shifted, claiming her hips with a primal strength that
sent a shiver of arousal through her. He pulled upwards, dragging
the hem of her shirt and her camisole with him. The material
bunched beneath her breasts. The chill night air turned her skin to
gooseflesh. Hot fingers chased away the cold, caressing her bare
sides and turning her blood to molten lava. She moaned into his
mouth, her kiss turning fierce in response to his touch.

A desperate tug on his
jacket revealed it was still stuck at his elbows and his hands
showed no sign of leaving her sides. He was stroking her back, up
and down, his touch light and making her dizzy. Her hands dived
downwards between his arms and under his black t-shirt. The first
feel of his hard abdominals made her groin throb. Prickly heat
chased across her skin. The fine trail of dark hair that led down
from his navel tickled her fingertips. She traced them upwards,
delighting in the way he tensed beneath her touch, until she
reached his pectorals. With a wicked little smile against his lips,
she raked her nails down his stomach. He sneered, grabbed her
backside with both hands and pushed her hard against the
sarcophagus. She moaned at the feel of his hardness pressing into
her groin.

Damn she needed
more.

Four years was too long.
Four years without a man’s touch. Four years without his
touch.

Kat yanked his t-shirt up
and found his chest with both hands. He moaned in pleasure, the low
sound reverberating through her as he devoured her mouth. His
tongue tackled hers and then slid sensuously along it in the exact
way it had in her dream, tasting every inch of her. The feel of his
mouth on hers, his warm hard body pressed against her most intimate
part, and his hands holding her tight awakened a primitive need in
her. Each sweep of her fingers against his tight torso sent a
tremble through her that increased her hunger for him, sending it
spiralling upwards towards a point where she knew that need would
take control and all sense of restraint would be lost.

She didn’t care. She
wanted to reach that crescendo with him, with his mouth fused with
hers, his hands claiming what was rightfully his, and their bodies
as one.

Kat grazed her thumbs over
his pebbled nipples, remembering how his eyes would roll back in
his head whenever she did that, and he groaned.

He cupped her breasts and
had his revenge, rubbing his thumbs roughly over the spot where her
nipples were beneath her clothing. Her breasts ached and tightened
in response to the delicious torture. Another moan broke the still
night air.

Amon’s lips trailed fire
across her jaw and down her throat. He buried his face there,
devouring her neck with kisses and playful bites. God, how she
loved the feel of his teeth against her flesh. She cursed him for
remembering exactly how rough she liked things and leaned her head
back to give him better access to her neck. She never had been able
resist him when he was so commanding, bending her to his
will.

Enslaved by their fire,
she embraced the passion that had always burned between them, ready
for anything and wanting it all.

Amon growled.

Kat’s beast reared up
inside her and an answering call rumbled through her
chest.

“
You’ve
matured,” Amon murmured appreciatively against her throat and
kissed along her collarbone, his thumb circling her right nipple
through her shirt. The knowledge that her werewolf had set up home
in her body clearly pleased him. “The wolf has awoken.”

It raised its head in
response to that and snarled deep within her, aching for freedom.
Kat screwed her eyes closed to shut out the warring words in her
head and kissed him, desperate to forget her fears. She wanted
him.

She wanted to run wild and
free at his side and rule the night with him.

“
Soon you’ll
need to mate...” His panting breath tickled her lips with each
broken word. “Or you’ll become dangerous.”

Those words were lost on
her. It was impossible to concentrate on anything but the intense
feelings that his caress evoked and the enchanting thought of being
forever his. His hands were everywhere, touching, torturing and
tempting her into submission. The beast inside cowered, lowering
its head to his own wolf, and she followed it. She knew that she
needed him, couldn’t function without him, but to have him, she
would need to do the impossible. She could do it. She could do it
to be with him.

He growled
again.

Her beast lurched
forwards.

Kat pushed Amon away,
twirling out of his grasp. He stumbled back a few paces, his look
one of incredulity. She panted hard to catch her breath and clawed
back control. Her hands shook as she ran them over her hair. She
had been so close.

Amon’s look was pure anger
as he stared at her with dark eyes. When he tilted his chin up,
moonlight bathed his skin. His eyes turned golden. They frightened
her. She reached for her other gun, drawing it in the space of a
heartbeat and aiming at him. She had almost given in. He had almost
convinced her.

“
Kat... you’ve
matured,” he whispered huskily.

“
So you said,”
she countered and tightened her grip on the gun. “But it hasn’t
changed a thing. I’m not an animal.”

He looked as though he
wanted to smile at that declaration. Did her fear amuse him? She
wasn’t an animal and she certainly wasn’t going to become one by
surrendering to the creature locked inside her body.

“
It has, Kat.
You look barely a year older than when I last saw you.”

Her heart pounded and,
without thinking, she touched her face. It was true. She had
stopped aging when she had matured.

“
It’s only a
matter of time before someone notices, Kat.” He took a step towards
her, his fluid and graceful movements reminding her more of a
panther than a wolf. There was something deeply sensual and
arousing about the way he moved when he wanted her. It made her
feel as though she was the only woman in existence. The only one
for him.

The gold drained from his
irises, leaving them black in the strong moonlight. He extended a
hand to her. Her throat turned dry at the sight of him standing
before her, his masculine beauty speaking to her as it always had,
making her want him. She had never seen anyone as handsome as him,
and had never believed someone so good looking could want someone
like her.

His fingertips shifted in
a wave, a silent command for her to take his hand. God, she wanted
to. She ground her teeth and locked her elbows, focussing on her
gun. No. She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t accept the beast inside
her. Not even for Amon.