SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (255 page)

The lady had a not-from-around-here look. Fresh-faced with dark hair, pale skin, and the kind of tight body he sure wouldn’t mind seeing more of. Her pouty lips parted, and her chest moved with shallow breaths like she was waiting to see what he might do next. Even from across the room he could make out the twitch of her hand and the flush of pink that swept up her neck. Ash was content to let her look all she liked. He was also content to look back.

He turned to Jojo with hands on hips, holding his jacket open to remind his idiot half sibling that the pretty woman nursing the zinfandel wasn’t the only one carrying. “Remember the deal, Jojo. I stay out of your business. You stay out of mine. You break the deal again, I’ll be forced to break your face.” He lifted his lip in a sneer. “You do not want me all up in your business.
Comprendes?
”

“Yeah. I got you.” Jojo didn’t sound sure—he sounded nervous. That worked well enough. Ash didn’t trust the little runt any further than the current distance between them, but he’d given sporting warning. Next time, he’d kick the fucker’s ass to Canada. Blood or no blood.

“Good.” Asher gave the bar a wallop with the side of his fist. “Now. Get me two glasses of Black Label,” he said with a smile. “And I assume those’ll be on the house.”

* * *

Sherri pretended not to watch as the Harley-riding troublemaker swaggered over. She studied his reflection in the darkened window while he took sure, quick strides. Right. Toward. Her.

Dammit, if she’d just screwed her time off by reacting to that fight, she’d be forced to give further thought to that recreational drinking plan. Stupid habit, she wasn’t even carrying her gun.

Two glasses landed on the table in front of her.

“I’m sure I did not order those,” she said.

“I’m sure I did.” He dropped into the seat across from her, taking up the entirety of the overstuffed chair. He put a hand over the base of her wine glass and slid it off to the side of the low table between them. “My way of apologizing for causing a stir.”

“Funny thing, nobody in here stirred except me. I wonder why?”

“The folks are laid-back around here.”

She looked him over. He smiled easily, seductively, as relaxed and confident now as when he’d clutched that other man’s shirt in his fingers. Eyes that appeared coal-dark outside now glowed like warm amber, glittering under the bar lights. Blunt nails and roughed-up hands suggested manual labor, but his fingers looked long and elegant. The kaleidoscope-color tattoos of a skeleton wearing a wolf pelt and the bold text that decorated his forearms suggested— “Oh, hell.”

Pack emblems. She’d attended a seminar on them before leaving DC. “You’re a werewolf.” They’d made their existence known over the past couple of decades, small gangs of them living along the Mexico border. Further north, some still didn’t believe in their existence, but their penchant toward violent behavior had landed more than one on the government’s watch list.

The words
Los Lobos Muertos
twisted around each tattoo. His pack name. Must be.

He leaned forward, and Sherri tried to determine if he only
looked
predatory. Slowly, his tongue slipped out, running across his lip. His strong nose and full mouth held her curiosity far more than it should. The FBI’s three-hour training lecture had given her some interesting information about the werewolves and their pack behavior, but she hadn’t anticipated seeing one up close. Certainly not this way. Not one with such a charismatic smile.

Frankly, he didn’t give off quite the Hells Angels vibe she’d been briefed to expect.

He raised a tumbler in each hand. “I feel as if we’re getting off on the wrong foot. That ink you’re eyeballing is from another lifetime. I’m a respectable business owner. I’m also unaffiliated. Lone wolf status. Whatever bad element you might be envisioning, that’s not me.

“That bartender over there is a former associate. We had a minor disagreement. Bad blood between werewolves dies hard, I’m afraid. Even without a pack, we can’t help getting territorial.”

Sherri found herself appreciating the crinkle around the corner of his eyes. “You’re saying you can take the wolf out of the pack, but not the pack out of the wolf?”

He looked up with a lopsided smirk. “I like you.” He held one of the drinks out in front of her. When he gave the glass a tempting swirl, the dark-golden liquid inside glowed and bounced the light in concert with his eyes. “I’m Ash.”

“Sherri.”

One long, sturdy finger traced the edge of a glass. “Such a feminine name for such a strong-looking woman.”

“Strong women can be feminine.”

“Clearly.” He eased forward, thick thighs widening as he came to the edge of the chair. “Now come on, Sherri. Don’t make me drink these alone. I paid absolutely nothing for them.”

The laugh surprised her as it left her mouth. She liked him, too. An angel on her shoulder pointed out that given his potential affiliation, liking him was more than a little unwise. Given her job and what she’d been told about his kind, it was potential suicide for a career already doing laps near the drain.

A shiny, handsome devil fired back that she was on forced leave, that this Ash guy was a law-abiding citizen for all she knew, and that she’d followed the rules for years. Look where doing all the right things had gotten her. Duped by Ryan, who had called her boring.

Boring.

He smiled widely when her fingers closed around his to take the glass. Boy, he really did have sharp canines. She found the way they gleamed in the light so intriguing.

The scotch hardly burned on its way down.

Wild Nights with a Lone Wolf: Chapter Two

They said it was always the quiet ones. Still, he couldn’t believe she’d invited him up to her room.

Ash approached Sherri from behind while she unlocked her door. With one arm on either side of her shoulders, he couldn’t resist the urge to bury his nose in her hair. To drink in her scent. “You smell fucking amazing. Like flowers, and Christmas in July.”

She laughed, still fumbling with the key card. “I had a headache. A few dabs of lavender and peppermint oil dulls the pain when I’m out of medication. That was hours ago, so I’m surprised you can still smell anything.”

The peppermint seared his sensitive nostrils. He leaned in closer anyway, exposing the shell of her ear and sinking a gentle bite. The way she shivered against him got him hard. “My kind has a heightened sense of smell,” he murmured. He trailed the backs of his fingertips over her arms. “I also have a heightened
response
to smell.”

“Mmm. Is that so?” Goosebumps popped up on her skin.

Ash smiled. His touch did that to her.

“It is.” Ash skimmed his palm over the curve of her waist. “Are you having trouble with the key?”

The light on the door handle turned from red to green. The lock clicked. “Nope.” She stuck the tip of her tongue out through the corner of her mouth and bit down.

Ash wanted to get hold of that pink, pointed flesh. Find out what it could do.

“See? I’m good.” She glanced up as she opened the door. Bright green eyes smiled at him. Gorgeous.

He kicked the door shut, tracking her easy, graceful movement across the room. He chilled out against the cool wood, taking in the thick mattress covered in a jewel-toned spread and the matching wallpaper. He’d been in the hotel a million times but never inside the rooms. He looked forward to seeing this proper-looking lady all spread out on the neatly-arranged covers.

Ash threw off his jacket, anxious to be free of his clothes. The night was hot, and his cage had been rattled by the report of Jojo dicking with one of his waitresses. Fuck that guy. Ash’d had enough of his bullshit.

His attention turned to Sherri, who was coming out of the bathroom with a glass of water and her shirt untucked. She’d taken down her hair, letting it fall in dark waves around her shoulders. “Nice.”

A blush rose to her cheeks. “Thank you.”

He threw his jacket over the back of a desk chair. “I meant the room.”

“Oh.” She stopped mid-way through unbuttoning her blouse. “Well take a good look around, Casanova, because if that’s how it’s going to be, then you may as well leave.”

Ash laughed. Oh yeah. This one was spirited. “How about this?” He pulled off his shirt. “I’ll take off my clothes. You’ll take off your clothes. We’ll both get on that bed over there, and I’ll show you exactly how
nice
I can be.” He hooked a finger in her next button and pulled. “Better hurry, though. I have a head start.”

* * *

Sherri’s heart had never pounded so hard. This wasn’t her. Her idea of spontaneous was to schedule a meeting less than forty-eight hours in advance.

Which was entirely the point. This was her getting Ryan out of her head. Being different. Being
with
someone different.

She reached for Ash’s buckle. The heavy metal cooled her skin. His eyes, darker now in the dim light, held hers while she pulled the leather of his belt through one loop and then the next. Each tug sped her pulse.

Sherri smiled slightly when she reached into his fly and encountered nothing but smooth, hard, flesh. “So. You go commando.”

“It makes many things easier. Like this, for example.”

“You sweet talk women into their hotel rooms and out of their clothing often?” She hated to imagine.

He released the button on her pants. “Not as often as you’d think.” He eased her zipper down, one soft click after another. “I fucking love this underwear,” he said with a hiss. “Sweet and silky, like the rest of you.” He ran a finger from her breastbone to her belly, as if to illustrate. “Tell me. Do you do this sort of thing often, Sherri?”

Sherri panted faster. “Never.”

“Let’s find out what we’ve been missing then,” he mumbled against the fluttering pulse in her wrist. “Fuck, I love being right. You’re the good girl, aren’t you? The one who always raised her hand to speak in class. I could see it the moment I looked at you though, you had a bad girl who needed to come out and play.”

God, she wanted that more than she could put into words. For one night, no rule-following pencil-pusher. That girl had gotten screwed over and betrayed. So was toeing the line all it was cracked up to be?

The suits in charge had told her to take a vacation. Might as well go all the way. For one night, she wanted to handcuff the rules and throw them in the back of a deep, dark closet.

She stretched up to taste his wide lips when her pants pooled at her feet. His tongue still carried hints of the drink they’d shared downstairs. And excitement. God, he tasted… thrilling.

“I want you on the bed.” Ash made a growling sound that gave her the shivers as he shucked his pants and boots, standing in front of her in a display of hard, naked, male glory she’d never honestly imagined.

“I…” In her shock, she rudely stood and stared, even as she tasted blood from biting her lip. That line of definition that separated a man’s hips from his legs? The striations across his ribcage? She’d never seen a body like that outside of a magazine. Not even on Ryan, and he’d spent more time in the gym than a pro athlete. Allegedly.

Ash’s abs and chest flexed when he stepped forward with a pointed finger. “On the bed, or I’ll put you on the bed. And I’ll make sure you like it.” He shrugged. “Or say the word, and I can go. If you’ve changed your mind.”

The independent woman in her balked and bristled at being ordered to go anywhere. Yet her underwear, the last scrap of clothing she still wore, grew damp at the suggestive tone, at the way he growled his demand. With a deep breath, Sherri stepped away from her pants and kept going until the backs of her knees hit the mattress.

Sherri let the rapid drumming of her pulse drown out all the warnings inside her head:
This won’t look good if anyone at work finds out. He could be huge trouble. He could be dangerous.

He could be as bewitching in bed as he’d been downstairs in that bar.

Sherri gasped when her back hit the sheets. She’d hardly seen Ash move.
Weres
had lightning reflexes, she remembered from training. Still, she hadn’t expected him to be able to take her down so easily.

Broad-tongued strokes trailed from her baby toe and followed up her leg. She moaned at the heat of them, the chill left in their wake. Ash responded with a deep rumble in his chest.

A sharp nip against the side of her foot sliced through her pleasure with a shock of panic. Her foot jerked. “Wait. Do you—? Is this dangerous, a wolf and a human?”

She’d read these guys could lose control under intense conditions. Big surprise, sex hadn’t come up in the briefing. A rookie mistake, but better to ask late than never.

Ash lifted his head. He crawled forward with exacting care, tugging off her underwear almost as if he hadn’t heard her. His lips skimmed over her belly. Climbing higher, he teased her nipples—
oh, god—
with his teeth before rising to brush his lips over hers.

“I’m twelve times stronger than most human males,” he murmured. “I’m always careful.” Ash trailed his fingers over her collarbone and over her chest. “Skin this soft deserves to be worshipped, not mauled.”

Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.

Knowing it wasn’t fear but desire that sped Sheri’s pulse only made it race faster. She’d invited this guy to her room thinking a crazy one-night stand might be the remedy she needed to feeling jerked around and tossed aside. A walk on the wild side with a guy who looked at her like she was literally good enough to eat? She’d never been in anything resembling this position before.

Still, they didn’t have wolf packs in the northeast. The reality of exactly what kind of wild side she’d dipped her toes into finally grabbed her by the shoulders.
And she wanted it.

Adrenaline made Sherri’s anticipation soar. She curled her fingers in the thick waves of his hair, wanting to pull him forward. Desperate to find the limits of this new rush inside her.

Ash nipped at the peaks of her nipples again. Worked them with his tongue and then kissed her, finessing two fingers into her, and making her moan. Touching places she hadn’t known existed. “Oh. That’s… Wow.” Tremors spread through her core, making her legs shake. No man had touched her so intimately or with such confidence.