Midsummer Heat (6 page)

Without thinking, she did as she was told, opening the door of the truck and sliding into the passenger seat. For a moment she was alone, as Max stalked around the back of the vehicle, tension radiating from every line of his body. The smell of the leather seats and the lavender air freshener tucked into the air vent wrapped around her. She sniffed appreciatively, letting the aroma of the essential oil soothe her. It was the real deal, wolves didn’t do anything chemical if they could help it. It irritated their noses, and disrupted their sensitive sense of smell.

She managed a shaky breath, then another as Max yanked the driver’s door open and slid into the seat next to her. Without a word, he started the engine and threw the truck into drive. The tires sprayed gravel up as he spun the vehicle around and pulled out onto the road, his movements jerky and angry. Tension filled the interior of the car like a third passenger.

 She couldn’t help but be aware of the silent man next to her. Of his lean, strong body and the lust that rolled off him in waves. Anger drew the wolf to the surface, his skin rippling with a shadow of fur. She swallowed. It was the nearest she’d ever seen him come to losing control.

She nibbled her lower lip, trying not to squirm on the seat. The nearly full moon beat down, its silvery light a siren call that stirred the wolf within. Long without a pack nearby, she’d learnt to control the urges that all wolves felt as the full moon neared.

The urge to run and fuck filled her, to slough off the human skin and celebrate the creatures of nature that they were. The need to hunt and kill, chasing down small game to its end in a snap of her powerful jaws. The snick of her teeth as they sliced through fur and skin, the crunch of bone and the hot, metallic-sweetness of fresh blood as it flowed down her throat.

Each month she tried to avoid it. Each month as the moon rose she resorted to sleeping tablets to dull her senses and get her through the night. Most times it worked. Without other wolves around, and surrounded by the concrete jungle of the city, her wolf was lulled into a stupor. If it wasn’t, then she picked her nights and drove to the edge of the city to allow the creature within a few hours freedom.

But her sleeping tablets were back at home, too far away to do her any good. She caught Max’s glittering gaze and looked away quickly, the lust and intent in his eyes too much for her as anger shifted to something altogether more dangerous. They were beyond the tablets now, beyond talking and rationalizing the situation. Once they got where they were going, up into the mountains if the road he’d turned the big truck onto was any indication, then she was going to find out just how dangerous baiting an alpha could be.

The drive passed in silence. She watched out of the window as the scenery of her childhood sped by and then they were higher into the mountains. The trees crowded around the road like sentinels, only allowing thin slivers of moonlight through their guard. It made no difference; she could still feel its presence overhead, calling to her. Eroding her control.

Max swung the car off the road, down a short drive to what had once been the Ellison property. She remembered old man Ellison chasing them off his garden with a stick, yelling about ‘damn fool wolf cubs’. Even though he was human, he’d lived on the outskirts of Stratton and around the pack all his life, staying on alone after his wife died and his kids abandoned the small town for careers abroad. Max must have bought the place when the old man died.

The truck pulled to a stop in a flurry of dirt, and Max hauled the brake up. Both hands on the wheel he took a deep breath, as though centering himself. Hand on the door handle, she looked out of the window and tried to gauge the distance to the tree line.

“Run.” His voice was low, the words a harsh plea. “Please… Run.”

The need to chase shone in his eyes, the dark orbs glittering with a potent combination of need, lust and anger. Anger with her for daring to leave again and a hint of what looked like self-loathing.

She glanced toward the trees again as she cracked the door slowly. She could make it. Maybe. The cool night air filtered through the gap between the door and the truck body, bringing with it the scent of the forest after the rain, of the night and of freedom. In the space between one heartbeat and the next she made her decision, schooling herself to open the door fully and slide, lady-like, from the passenger seat.

Behind her Max sighed, the sound full of disappointment as he opened his own door. Adrenalin raced through her, senses all on high alert as she waited, holding everything within as she listened out for the sound of his pants sliding over the leather of the seat, the dull thump of his boots as they hit the dirt on the other side of the truck.

It was now or never. He was the furthest point away from her. In the truck he could have burst through the passenger compartment and out of the door after her, but now he’d have to come around or over the car, both of which would cost him precious seconds. Seconds she could use to slip into the forest.

Leaving her delicate shoes in the dirt by the truck, she hauled her skirt up and launched herself into motion. Her wolf sang as she raced over the grass toward the darkness of the trees, human toes digging into the thick, rich earth. Max swore, the curse ending on a low snarl as he realized what she was doing. Within seconds he was after her, the metallic thud telling her that he’d come over the hood of the truck in pursuit.

Unable to stop the squeal escaping from her lips she leapt onto the wide wooden decking around the cabin and raced along it. Her feet slid as she hit the corner and she almost lost her balance. Desperation and momentum took her through the corner as he hit the decking behind her, boots hitting the wood like gunshots as he ran after her.

Then she was around the house, the expanse of the garden below her. Power hummed through her body, filling her muscles with energy as she took a running leap off the decking. She landed halfway down the gentle incline of the lawn, legs bunched under her and ready to run again.

Power and energy crackling through the air warned her a second before Max landed beside her. Frustration threaded through the adrenalin as she shot off again. She didn’t get more than a few feet before he brought her down in a heavy tackle that had them rolling across the soft grass. She fought like a wildcat, but his hold was too strong. Within seconds he had her pinned, his expression feral and his eyes amber as he looked down at her.

“Fight more if you want to give it up here,” he snarled, hands firm on her wrists above her head. His voice was low, rough with need and his wolf. “Fight if you want me to strip this pretty dress off you, turn you on your belly and fuck you as the moon rises…”

She whimpered, her resistance disappearing as he bent his head to claim her lips. Hard and possessive, his touch set her on fire, sending need swirling through her body to set up home in every cell until she was a quivering mass. A groan in the back of his throat, he parted her lips and drove within, sliding his tongue along hers in a dance as old as time and as new as the moon above them.

She didn't fight. Couldn't. It was as if his hard hands pinning her to the night dampened lawn had leeched all the fight right out of her. Wetness from the grass soaked the thin satin of her dress in seconds, chilling her skin even as the heat of his body above brought her blood to boiling point.

A ragged murmur escaped her lips, her tenuous control stretched to the breaking point. The moon was so close that she could almost taste it, could feel the fur of her wolf brushing the inside of her skin whenever she moved. Energy rolled over her skin as she fought her dual nature, the woman desperate not to lose control and descend into animal lust and madness and the wolf within who snapped and snarled as she was denied the freedom she yearned for.

His lips grazed her neck again, in rough, open mouthed kisses that dragged a line of fire over her skin. Heat and need arched through her, drawing a line between his hot mouth on her throat and her aching pussy. She whimpered, losing the battle as he nipped, teeth not quite breaking the skin, but enough to send tingles through her blood. Her clit throbbed as a deep shudder rolled through her.

"Mine."

His voice was thick, guttural…almost unrecognizable as he lifted his head. She had a spilt second glimpse of bright amber eyes and the harsh lines of his face, made harder as his wolf tried to push to the surface, before he flipped her over.

"Max?"

Her voice emerged as a gasp as he pressed into her from behind and above, the thick bar of his cock fitting into the groove of her ass. A low snarl was her only answer as she felt rough hands on her thighs, shoving her dress up over her hips. His warm breath, heavy with the whiskey he'd drunk earlier, washed over her neck a second before his teeth returned, harder this time.

Fear ran down her spine in hobnail boots. This time there were no thoughts of argument, or of fighting. She recognized the signs of a wolf too far gone as a warning possessive growl escaped around his lips and teeth in the delicate flesh of her throat. He wasn't hurting her, just holding her still. But like this, with how much bigger than she he was, he could easily do some damage and she wouldn't be able to stop him.

His powerful body bracketed hers, his hips rocking and grinding his cock against her ass. He was hot and hard, his body heat ramped up to the max as the energy of his wolf rolled over his skin and called to hers. She tensed and he snarled in warning, using the weight of his body to hold her down. A whimper of distress slipped from her throat as his fingers hooked around the edge of her delicate thong underwear and yanked.

Satin tore, the sound loud in the darkness. Oh God, he was going to do it. He'd warned her, back in the car, but had she listened? No. She'd run anyway, treating the implicit threat as a joke. Thinking that if he caught her, she could just shrug it off as a joke, using her scathing tongue to keep him at bay as she always had. But she'd forgotten that he wasn't human, not at all, and he never had been. Like her, he was a born wolf, the animal inside part of him since before he was born. It had equal claim on his reactions, and now she was paying the price.

She dropped her head in a submissive gesture, the soft sound emanating from her throat not human at all, hoping to placate him. Her fingers bit into the lawn, driving through the turf to the rich dirt beneath. Shivers ran through her body as she lay placidly under him. It had to work.

Despite this new, harsher version she was seeing, she
knew
Max. He tried harder than anyone to keep the animal in check, lectured the pack on remembering that they were human as well as wolf. He would never forgive himself if he took her like this. Took away her chances without asking.

Then it hit her, her body stiffening as she felt her eyes widen in surprise.

She'd run ten years ago because she thought he'd taken away all her options. Had made decisions about her without asking, but now she realized… That wasn't the case at all. Since she'd been back he'd done nothing but give her the choice, warning her when she stepped too close to the line. Always giving her the chance to back down.

She didn't want to back down. The woman and wolf in accord as need rolled through her body, all she wanted to do was shove her ass back and grind against his cock, let him know in a way he'd understand in his current state that she was willing. But she couldn't. He'd never believe her, not with him in this state. It would destroy him if he thought he'd taken her without consent.

Softly, softly. Aware that she held the capacity destroy him, she lay still.

"Max, sweetheart. Come back to me, you don't need to do this here." She kept her voice soft, little more than a murmur but he heard her. His hips stopped moving, the pressure of the teeth on her throat eased up. She was reaching him.

“Let’s go inside, sweetheart,” she murmured, aware he could hear every word no matter how softly she whispered. “It’s kinda cold out here. Be much warmer inside, wouldn't it?”

She shivered to underline her words, trying to tap into the instinctive need of a wolf to protect his mate. It was a double edged sword. She just had to hope he didn't remember that he hadn't placed his mark on her neck yet. That his need to protect her would override all else.

He shifted, easing up from her a little and she allowed herself a small smile of relief. She was getting to him, reaching the man underneath the wolf. Making her teeth chatter to underline how cold she claimed to be, she put her hand over his larger one where it was planted on the ground in front of them. A soft gesture, not sexual but a plea.

“Let’s go inside and get comfortable, shall we?”

He rumbled, the sound a vibration against her neck which shot bone-melting need through her veins. For a second it was hard to think why she couldn't just shove her hips back and demand he finish what he'd started. Grimly, she held onto her focus. This wasn't just about her, it was about him. She couldn't let him do something that would cause him pain.

She held her breath as he remained motionless for long seconds, then finally he unlatched his teeth from her throat. She shivered, mourning their loss but before she could blink, his hard arm wrapped around her waist and he hauled her to her feet. Bending at the waist, he scooped her up into his arms and strode toward the house.

Curling up in his arms, she wrapped hers around his shoulders and buried her face into the strong column of his neck. She was glad no one could see them, not because she was finally yielding to him but because her dress was still around her middle, her panties ruined and lost somewhere in the darkness, and her ass was hanging out for all to see. As if to remind her, nature took the opportunity to kick up a slight breeze. Cool air washed over her exposed pussy, tweaking at her clit as her cunt tightened.

They reached the decking and his heavy footsteps rang against the wood. She had no idea what would happen when they got inside, whether the man or the wolf would be in control. Anticipation raced through her veins. Either way, when they got inside, he would take her.