FireWolf (2 page)

“Are you up to eating?” Hector sat next to her, his arm around her shoulder, supporting her.

“Yes. I need to eat.” She desperately pushed upright, but his arm stayed around her, ready to catch her if she needed support.

The food looked amazing. Her body ran hot because of her father’s bloodline so she burned more calories than the average half-wolf. Self-consciously, she blotted at her nose with a napkin, making sure that no more blood was appearing. The heat of the chicken wings gave her an excuse to check her nose while she and the strange wolf sat side by side, eating.

Nachos and wings were not a first date food, but by having him sit next to her, she was spared the indelicacy of gnawing at the bones with an audience in front of her. The cheese and tortilla chips spiced with jalapenos and salsa with a side of sour cream satisfied her cravings for sweet, hot, sour and savory.

With noise and satisfaction, she cleaned the fingers of her right hand with licking and sucking, then was about to take the left into her mouth when it was intercepted. Hector took her thumb into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it before sucking strongly.

The reaction of this treatment to her thumb caught Hailey by surprise. A dark tugging started low in her belly in time to his mouth. When he took her limp index finger into his mouth, his dark eyes on hers, she got wet, a moisture emanating from her core to dampen her jeans. She could smell her own heat and it brought a flush to her cheeks, exacerbated by his taking the rest of her fingers into his mouth in turn.

She was positively squirming on the bench seat when he let her hand go and calmly took a wet wipe to her hands, removing the last of the sticky sauce. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion overtook her. She slumped against Hector and he held her tightly.

* * * *

“
Hailey
, are you alright?”

“Just tired.” She fumbled in her back pocket and withdrew several twenty-dollar bills. “Could you pay the nice people? I need to sleep.”

“You need to transform. It will heal you.”

She mumbled, “Don’t wanna. Look funny.”

He chuckled. “You don’t want to transform because you look funny?”

“Yes.”

“That is a new one.” He cuddled her to him and looked up at the trio who were watching them intently. “Is there anywhere she can get some sleep? I noticed a motel attached to the Café. Can we use one of the rooms?”

He looked down at the bills on the table. “It looks like enough for a night.”

“Please. Don’t trouble yourself about the money. She looks really pale and she should get some rest.” Cathy and the men came together in a triad, holding hands and looking worried.

The relationship between the three was obvious. The lovers seemed more intent on them than they should be, but if they were going to give him someplace to help Hailey, he would take it.

Xavier was still out there, he could feel the creature circling. Whatever he was, Hector wanted Hailey as whole as she could be before Xavier got up his nerve to attack. If she thought her wolf form was funny looking, he would just have to convince her that he wanted her for her scent, not her looks. It wasn’t flattering, but the day Andrew had sent him the swatch of fabric in the mail, he knew that Hailey would be his. The auction that he was invited to was a shock, he had to fight the urge to punch out Marty Aster when he had the nerve to sell his own granddaughter in order to pay off his gambling debts. A more pathetic Alpha had never been seen.

Hailey was out cold. He picked her up easily. She weighed nothing. If she hadn’t been Andrew’s daughter, he would have been worried about her elevated temperature, but she was half-fire elemental and it came with the territory.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he imagined her extreme heat wrapped around his cock. He could feel it pulse in anticipation and stifled the growl that rose in his throat. He couldn’t do anything until she felt better, and if only a shift would do that for her, he would have to convince her that she was better off funny looking than injured.

He needed to be inside her at their first opportunity, this was beyond normal desire. Something was pushing him to her and he was only too happy to be the tool of fate in this instance.

Hailey grunted as he carried her to the motel room. He took the key from Adam and opened the clean and sparse room. He closed and locked the door to the room behind them, then placed his squirming burden on the bed.

“What? Where are we?” She was up and scrappy, but her eyes were glazed.

“We are in one of the motel rooms so you can get some rest. If you won’t shift, then you need sleep.”

“Don’ wanna shift. I look funny.” She was listing to the left and slumped against the pillows, but her eyes were still open.

“So you have said, but it is the fastest way and the dark creature who flew at your car is still looking for you.” He placed a chair under the knob of the door to hold it shut. “You need to get up and running as fast as you can.”

“Don’ wanna.”

“Fine, then I will appeal to the elemental in you to speed up the process.” Steeling himself for a fight, her mild curiosity was a welcome relief.

“Whatcha doin?”

“I am removing your clothing so that you can let some of your heat out.”

“Good plan.” She nodded sagely and let him strip off her shoes, socks, jeans, panties.

He had to stop and take a deep breath there. The scent of her earlier arousal was still very strong. Then he removed her blouse and bra.

She giggled. “I am naked.” She lifted her foot and prodded his shoulder, innocently opening the wet petals of her sex.

The view from between her thighs was one he wanted to remember on a postcard with the words
Wish I was Here
emblazoned on it. The deep pink petals of her sex were glittering with moisture. Hector leaned forward and tasted her, closing his eyes as he groaned when the sweet juice of her lust set off a roaring wave of heat in his loins.

Taking a deep breath for control, and inhaling more of her natural perfume, he slid a finger into her, swirling it in the glistening moisture before working it slowly in in short thrusts. She arched her back and purred at the mild penetration, encouraging him to go deeper. Hitting the barrier inside her sheath surprised him a little. He tested it and it held without tearing.

Gritting his teeth, he slid another finger into her body, stretching her a little for the cock that ached to be inside her. Her heat was amazing. Scalding satin flexed and contracted around his fingers, hot enough to make him aware, but not hot enough to burn. Gods above, he wanted that burn.

The small bud at the top of her open petals was rock hard when he tested it with his tongue, rivalling his cock for engorgement. He used his tongue to flick and swirl around it, with a random suck now and then while still working her with his fingers. Her temperature rose, high, higher and spiked when she screamed her release to the open air.

Gods, he loved a woman who made a lot of noise. The next time she screamed like that, he would be inside her.

“Okay, Hector, get your damned fingers out of me and explain why I am naked.”

He knew his gambit had worked. Magic healed, you just had to find the trigger. He raised his head, a grin spread over his features as he took in her flushed and satisfied look. Her hair was wild and the blush spread across both perfect breasts with their rosy peaks. If he could have her in his bed with that look twice a day, he would die a very happy man.

* * * *

The
shine on his lips was from her juices and her skin stayed flushed. He pulled his fingers out of her, slowly causing the unconscious clenching of muscles that she had never worked on before.

“Let me guess, magic healing?”

“Yes. Since you wouldn’t shift, I had to appeal to your other nature.”

Those words stumped her. “You know I am…”

“A fire elemental, like your father. Yes.”

He knew her father. Wait. Then his reason for being at the auction… She didn’t have a chance to think on it anymore when a figure broke through the window, strode to the door and gripped her in his arms.

Hector howled and lunged for them, but was stopped by a blast of the same energy that had broken the window. His gnashing teeth and clawing hands did not help him as the energy pushed him back against the wall and held him tightly in place.

“My dearest Hailey, I am so happy to meet you at last.” The voice was deep, dark and chilled her to the core with its urbane lack of emotion. “I am Xavier and you are mine.”

He turned her in his arms, letting her see the creature that held her. “I have waited a long time for you, Hailey, it is very difficult to find a virgin in today’s society.”

She shuddered at the cold perfection of his ivory skin and coal black eyes. The silky midnight of his hair brushed his naked shoulders, bringing her to the awareness of her own nudity against him. There was an erection within his leather pants, but if he wanted a virgin, he wasn’t going to do anything about it.

Cold comfort. “Why a virgin?”

“When I fell, I was told that only a virgin would have the power to free me from the mortal realm. It took several false starts before I realized that it had to be a virgin with power. Your grandfather assured me that you have the ability to shift and your scent declares your untouched state, so we are going to try and see how you taste.”

“Taste?” She swallowed heavily, sharp white points were stretching out of his mouth and she just knew she wasn’t going to like this.

His answer was to bite deeply into her neck while Hector howled and thrashed in the background. Pain flowed freely, but Hailey stood still to keep his teeth from tearing her apart. The strength in his jaw was incredible so she simply put all of her survival instincts into holding completely still.

When he released her, she would have fallen, but his arms around her held her up. Tenderly, he licked the wounds on her neck closed, but she was only conscious enough to register the cold slither of his flesh against hers.

His happy growl was chilling. “That was wonderful, now take my blood and be beside me as we tear through the veil of eternity.” His teeth ripped open his wrist and, without ceremony, he held it to her mouth.

Trickles of coppery ichor ran into her mouth without her willing it. His thumb pressed her jaw and held it open for her to take more of him.

Hector’s growls were no longer human and, when the wolf pushed through the energy field to take the creature down, Hailey was not surprised. The enormous wolf carried the vampire out the window with a crash that removed all remaining glass and hopefully did some damage. The vampire was riding her fresh blood though, and it was a heady thing to drink the blood of a powered virgin.

Hailey dropped to her knees and shoved her fingers down her throat, throwing up all of the vamp blood that she could. When some of her lunch came up as well, she smiled grimly, she had gotten as much as she could.

The bit of vamp blood inside her joined her to Xavier in a way that made her nauseous all over again. He was enjoying the battle with the great wolf, and counting on his backup to arrive in the form of the vampires who were surrounding the motel and café. Son of a bitch.

Stupid looking or not, she was going to have to shift and get into that fight. Kill the vamp and destroy his bloodline. Of course, she could feel changes in her already so she now qualified as a member of his bloodline.

It was easier to shift when naked, and easier still when she had high adrenaline, so out into the battle she ran.

While Hector tried to rip Xavier’s throat out, she climbed his back and used her knees and arms to break his wings. One advantage down. He screamed and threw her off, launching her through the air and that was all that she needed. Coming down on all four paws, her fur a black and red flaming combination that melted the snow around her for meters. She howled, throwing her head back and letting the flame of her other self gear up to high.

Waves of heat came off her as she approached Xavier, the wolf and vamp stopped their battle to watch her come toward them. Four feet high at the shoulder and bristling with flame, she was not your average wolf. She was the next generation and proud of it.

Faster than the eye could track, she ran for Xavier and tore a chunk out of his shoulder. Where her teeth sunk in, flame erupted. She worried at him, tearing bits, circling and always staying out of his reach.

The creature was completely engulfed in flames, he had been foolish to take her blood, it carried her talent within it. His cold skin felt heat, raw and blistering from top to toe. His wings were gone, burned as soon as they tried to regenerate. He was hers, and she would burn him to the ground.

She circled him, his minions tried to get to him, but a growling snap from her jaws sent them scurrying back. She was not stopping until Xavier was nothing but ash.

Hector came toward her, his head low as he sniffed at her cautiously. She let him in, her talent buffering him from the blaze of heat she was generating. Xavier was really hard to burn.

She let Hector rub his head next to hers and exchanged scents with him. She yelped and bit him when he was a little too interested in getting under her tail.