Big Bad Billionaire (The Woolven Secret Book 1) (11 page)

She knew in her bones that he would not hurt her.

Something told her that even if she were to pick up the plasma gun, he’d do nothing to stop her.

Even if he knew she was going to pull the trigger.

Or maybe she just wanted to believe it because everything that made sense to her was all dust and ash. The only solid foundation she had was gone.

She reached out a tentative hand to touch his shoulder and his eyes closed. A low sound rumbled in his chest almost like a purr. Or maybe it was a growl? Whatever it was, the sound reverberated through her.

In this state, there was no hiding what he wanted from her.

His cock was thick and hard, demanding her attention.

Randi was afraid to look. Afraid of what she’d see. That she’d like it, that she wouldn’t. He was an animal now, so what did that make her?

Her eyes were drawn down against her will and her breath caught in her throat.

His voice was so deep, raw. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of me,” she confessed.

“Why are you afraid?”

“Of wanting this.”

“With an animal? A beast?” His voice held no recrimination.

“With the man responsible for my father’s death.”

“For the last time, Randi, I didn’t kill him. I swear on my pack, I didn’t.” He morphed back down into the familiar shape of the man she couldn’t resist.

“I know you didn’t kill him with your own hand, but you are no less responsible.” She shook her head. “Yet I still can’t resist you.”

He cupped her cheek. “You seem to be doing a great job of resisting me. Even now, when I’d have you sweet and hot beneath me, you’re standing here tearing my heart out.”

She titled her cheek into the caress. “See? It’s not fair that you say things like this. I don’t know why I ever thought I could fight you.”

“You don’t need to fight against me. Fight
with
me. I promise, your father’s killers will be brought to pack justice.” He leaned down ever closer. “Your justice.”

Wrapping her arms around his neck was as inevitable as the tide, no matter what he’d said in the moment. She hated herself for that, but the draw between them was magnetic. Her lips fluttered against his and, when is hands locked around her hips, she knew the time for fighting had passed.

Her body had surrendered to the conquering beast.

Only the beast wasn’t Blake, it was her own desire—not just for his body, but to feel wanted. Like she belonged.

Even though he was something from legend, something forged in nightmares, he was the only thing that made her feel safe.

“Goddess, Randi. I can only bear so much. Stop, stop now, or I’m going to take you here amongst all this blood and death.”

“Yes, right here,” she gasped. “Please.”

He growled again and she reached between them, closing her fingers around the length of his shaft. She stroked him slowly and with purpose. Randi wanted him as aroused as she was. She wanted the undertow of this thing between them to pull him out to sea, to the deep water where he couldn’t swim. So he’d know how she felt. So he’d be there with her.

“Drown with me.” Her voice didn’t sound like her own, low and throaty. Seductive.

“I am.” Blake buried his face in her neck. “I’m drowning in the fire of your hair, your scent, your taste—” His tongue darted out against the pulse in her throat “—but most of all, I’m being smothered by your doubt.”

Only, he didn’t pull away.

He crushed her closer, and she fell under his spell.

It was almost like the flower—some drug—the polarity between them inevitable.

He kissed her again, his mouth ravaging hers, and she knew there was no turning back. No stopping. This would happen.

She was so wet and ready, but when it was over, Randi would have to face what she’d done—reconcile all the feelings twisted up inside of her. For now, she just wanted to experience Blake Woolven.

She just wanted to know what it was like to be with a man like him.

Blake lifted her easily and held her aloft as she wrapped her legs around his waist. It occurred to her again how powerful he was, how strong. He didn’t strain or tense as he carried her, it was as if she weighed nothing. That was its own aphrodisiac.

He swept his arm across the metal table where instruments of truth and pain had been so carefully laid out and flung them to the floor, forgotten. Then he eased her onto the table, peeling her jeans and panties down after he’d positioned her at the edge.

This was no sweet unveiling, no tender connection, but it was a joining nonetheless. It was intimate—it was more that the heated friction of bodies, it was home.

As he drew her legs around his hips, his thick, hard cock pushed into her, and she realized the truth of it. She belonged to him in the same way he said he belonged to her.

Blake began to move, pushing deeper, faster, hips pistoning to fill her with his cock. All she could do was cling to him as the pleasure spiraled and made her dizzy with need even as it fulfilled her.

Randi clawed at his back as she tried to get closer, demand more, feel more. He rewarded her with a low growl and the sudden scrape of his predator’s teeth against her throat. She didn’t experience the fear as before. It was still there—because she didn’t want to be a wolf. But her rational brain was no longer in control, but the primal, the animal that lurked deep in her blood. The animal trusted him, needed him.

It was as if he knew all of this.

Because just as she considered her own desires through the haze, he lifted his head away from her throat, his arms tightened around her and he pumped into her with more ferocity. Each thrust stripped away more of her humanity until she snarled and growled back at him, their dance a joining of two beasts, not one.

When her orgasm hit, she bit his neck—hard.

A roar tore from him as he spilled inside of her and the sting of his claws was sharp on the globes of her ass where he gripped her.

But she couldn’t say she minded.

Even as she settled against his shoulder, his strength never flagged. Many of the men she’d been with seemed to lose all of their strength, all of their vitality, after sex. Or maybe the shiny simply wore off the penny. With Blake, he still stood strong and fierce, though his embrace changed.

Perhaps there some tenderness remained between them after all.

Chapter Eleven

Blake considered the possibility she might really kill him.

It took everything in him not to bite down on her throat and infect her with his venom—to mark her as his.

He held her tenderly now, gently, like the lovely bloom she was. When he thought about what could’ve happened to her, everything in him ached with a loss he didn’t think he’d survive.

A loss that his enemies better pray he didn’t survive.

Blake wanted to stay buried in her hair, lost in her skin, but he had a war to fight.

He brushed his lips across her forehead. “I’m so proud of you, Randi.” His chest swelled with emotion. The way she’d faced down Hector, the way she hadn’t hesitated to blast him to nothing, and the way she’d surrendered to Blake—trusted him. She was brave, strong, all the things an Alpha bitch should be.

“For what? For taking your cock like a champ?” She snorted.

He laughed and his cock jerked, rising to the idea. He’d love to take her again, but this wasn’t the time. It seemed the biggest part of being an Alpha had nothing to do with taking what he wanted, as some of them seemed to think, but more to do with sacrifice. With self-denial. He exhaled, schooling his thoughts and his body to obey him.

“For being fearless.”

“I’m so far from fearless.” She tucked herself against him. “I ran to you like a little girl when I saw Hector because you told me you’re the king of monsters and I wanted you to save me.”

“It’s right that you should turn to me, Randi. It’s what I do. I protect what’s mine.” He tilted her chin up with his index finger and thumb. “I care for those people as well. I make sure they have what they need to thrive. That’s who I am—what I am.”

She seemed uncomfortable with his display.

Sometimes, his human side and all other humans perplexed him. Communicating as a wolf was simple and honest. Direct. Wolves didn’t lie. Wolves weren’t ashamed of their needs and wolves didn’t deny themselves, not unless it was what was best for their pack or their mate.

To Blake, wolves were noble.

He’d seen nobility in humans as well, ones like David Rutger.

His determination to find the man’s killer doubled in on itself, making it heavy and leaden. The weight of it dropped like an anchor between them, locking them together, but in such a way so he knew they could go no farther together until it was addressed.

She touched the place on his neck where she’d bitten him. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me.”

He had some suspicions, but he wasn’t sure if it was the right time to address them. Especially not when sensation kept roiling through him at her touch. It tingled there, where she’d bitten him, doubly so with her fingers gently probing the slight bruise. If his cock got any harder, he was sure it would break. He still didn’t want her to stop.

“But you do, don’t you?”

“Is it as annoying to you when I do that?” He looked down at her.

“You mean knowing that there’s something I don’t want to talk about, but making me do it anyway? That? Yeah.” She nodded.

“I’ll work on that.” His lips curved in a smile.

“No, I mean, why would you? It’s a good super power to have. And if you’re not doing it to me, it means I can’t pry this answer out of you. Whatever is going on in your lupine brain, share it with me. I think I deserve to know.”

“I think if you search yourself, you’ll figure it out on your own.”

“This isn’t
Star Wars
. I don’t want to search my feelings. I want you to tell me.” She pulled back from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I should’ve taken your shirt off, too. I’d enjoy that pose much more if you were naked.”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to get creative?”

Blake laughed and found himself intrigued considering just what her creativity might entail. “Another tidbit? Wolves are curious creatures. Don’t tempt me with a what if. It’s too much like chasing down prey.”

“Damn it, Blake.” Her frustration was obvious in her tone.

“Look, Randi.” He sighed. “You’re not going to like what I have to tell you. I think you’ll fight it less if you realize it on your own.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I’m going to be like you no matter what I do, aren’t I?” Her voice was small, resigned, and miserable.

Blake took her in his arms again, holding her close. “That’s what I believe. We can have Medical run some tests to be sure.”

“Part of me wants to blame you for doing this to me, but you didn’t do it to me. It’s just what was in my DNA, isn’t it?” She looked up at him, eyes luminous.

“You can blame me. I can take it.” He steeled himself for the telling of the next part. Blake wasn’t going to lie or let her discover it on her own. “Sometimes wolf DNA can lie dormant through many generations, especially if they’re separated from a pack. It’s a way to protect our kind. Lone wolves don’t generally do well, especially if they have no one teach them control.” He wet his lips. “Or that they don’t have to be monsters.”

“I don’t want this,” she whispered.

Even though, the very idea of what he was about to suggest tore his heart out, he spoke anyway. “I’ll get you into Medical in the morning. They’ll need your DNA to work out a suppressant specific to you.” He touched her face, his thumb stroking over her cheek. “And you need to tell me where you want to go.”

“Go?” She canted her head.

“You need to stay far away from the packs, especially me. Choose somewhere that will make you happy, give you the life you want, and I’ll make sure you get it.” He turned away from her, unable to contain his own pain any longer.

“Blake?” Randi’s query was so soft, he wouldn’t have heard it if not for his supernatural hearing.

“What?” He steeled himself for her answer, for facing his pack afterward. He didn’t turn to look at her, he couldn’t. Instead, he found his slacks and dressed.

“What does it mean for you, if I have this suppression done?”

Endless pain and emptiness. A loneliness like that of which no human mind could comprehend.
“That’s not your problem. You don’t want to be a wolf. This is about your freedom. Take it. Let Mrs. Westwood know tonight.”

“Why can’t I let
you
know?”

“No one is going to hurt you, Randi. Not my brothers, not Mrs. Westwood. You have the plasma gun if you’re afraid.” He couldn’t talk about it right then.

“You’re just never going to see me again?” She was incredulous, hurt—he could see the pain in her eyes.

His wolf wanted to growl and snap at her, bite her tender places so she hurt like he did. No, no—that wasn’t his wolf. That was the human side of him. It wanted his wolf to hurt her like she’d hurt them. His wolf only wanted his mate to be cared for and safe.

“Goddess above, Randi, what do you want from me? I’m an Alpha, not a saint. I can’t be around you. I want you too much, and you have made it clear that you don’t want what you get with me. This change your body is going through, it’s preparing you to be my mate. With me gone, it will help stop the process.”

“What about my father?” She squared her jaw, as if preparing for a fight.

“I swore to you I’d find and punish the guilty party or parties. I will keep my promise.” He could feel his wolf rising once again to the surface, and he knew his eyes shifted to amber—the first stage of his Change.

“I can’t think about any of this until that’s done.”

“Is finding your father’s killer worth trading your mortal lifetime? Worth trading your humanity? Because that’s what you’re doing. Every second, every breath you take inhaling my pheromones, is changing you. By the time we catch your father’s killer, your body will be ready to Change, but your mind won’t.”

“Yes, okay? It’s worth it,” she cried.

“I don’t want to be the consolation prize, Randi.” He snarled, his face shifting through a half Change and then back again. She blanched, but didn’t run. “After you’re a wolf, there’s no way I can let you go. My wolf won’t let you go. Don’t you understand?”

She slid off the table and padded toward him. “I thought I wanted to destroy you, Blake. I can see I’m doing it, one word at a time. You don’t deserve this. You deserve to be free, too.”

Randi still didn’t understand. “While you draw breath, I will never be free.” He touched her hair, carding his fingers through the long strands. “Perhaps not for a long time until after your breath ceases.”

“Why are you so sure you’ll outlive me?”

He knew she was trying to lighten the tone, but he just shook his head. “Tell Mrs. Westwood where you wish to go. I’ll make sure someone keeps you up to date on our progress.”

Blake wouldn’t abandon her, but he couldn’t be close to her now. He thought for sure that after they’d mated, it would change something for her. But it hadn’t and, faced with the loss he knew was coming, he needed some distance. He climbed the stairs and headed for the boardroom. Hopefully, Mrs. Westwood’s magic wards would gift him with a new shirt.

Maybe he was wrong, maybe she didn’t have wolf DNA, but the way she’d torn into his throat with her blunt little teeth at the height of her pleasure? His cock responded to the memory, and he growled at it. This was not the time. His cock got him into this trouble to start with.

No, that wasn’t true.

Wishing, hoping and regretting did nothing to change his current circumstances. So it didn’t matter. Not really.

When he arrived in the boardroom, Warner and Drew awaited him.

“Where the hell is Parker?” he asked.

“He went to Vegas. He wasn’t kidding,” Drew said.

“Sonofabitch.” His fingers turned into claws in his frustration.

“No, it’s a good thing. He’s going to secure our peace with DeVaughn. Man, we need it.” Drew nodded slowly. “They’ve called an emergency meeting of the Great Council. I don’t know if you’ve checked your phone, but Marchessa de la Luna has been trying to get in touch with you.”

“Business or personal?” Blake wouldn’t discount her just because they used to have sex. Marchessa was shrewd as hell.

“A bit of both, I think. They’re calling the meeting in Rome. She’s there now.”

“And Parker has the jet. Spoiled brat,” Warner said, without any real heat.

“If I know Marchessa—”

“What about Marchessa?” Randi said, strolling into the boardroom, clothes rumpled, hair a mess, and feet bare. She smelled of sex—of their mating.

“Randi, I don’t have time for this.” He dragged his hand across his jaw.

“There are bigger things on your plate than this?” She nodded slowly. “I knew I couldn’t trust you.”

Blake clenched his jaw. In his frustration and fury, he started to Change out of sequence. His teeth tore into his cheek and the copper tang of blood filled his mouth. “Damn it, Randi.” He spat blood which the magic wards immediately cleansed before it even hit the floor.

Warner sighed, grabbed Drew and headed for the door.

“No,” he commanded. “Randi will be leaving us, not the other way around. Charter a jet, tell the pilot to be ready for wheels up as soon as we get to the airport.”

“No, I won’t.” She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin in defiance. “If you think that you can dump that on me and leave me here to go running to Marchessa de la fucking Luna, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Were you not paying attention to the rest of the conversation?” He tried not to snarl.

“You said I had a choice. I choose to stay with you.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Until we catch my father’s killer.” Her eyes fairly burned with her passion.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Warner grumbled. “Youth makes my fangs hurt.”

It made more than Blake’s fangs hurt. It made the dark, secret places in him ache. He wanted to grab her, shake her, to make her understand that what she was doing to him was slowly stripping the meat from his bones from the inside out. He wanted to say that he didn’t care what happened to her father as it wasn’t fair that she’d put her father’s death above Blake’s life.

But he was at war with himself.

The Alpha in him didn’t care how this tore him apart, it only wanted to meet her needs. Only wanted her safe and happy.

“Fine. Your choice, Randi. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” This would go down in flames that he was sure would burn them both long after the fire was nothing but dust and ash.