Obsession (23 page)

A fierce growl rumbled deep in his throat. He seized her hips with his hands, and brought the head of his erect penis to her soaked cleft. Then he pushed inside her. As he fucked her with wild abandon, Jessica closed her eyes, feeling her own stinging need eased.

Connection. She no longer felt like an outsider, but a Lupine who belonged. Taken in fierce desire by an alpha wolf, who’d shared his own inner pain.

They shattered together in a crescendo of cries, Raphael calling out her name as he shuddered behind her. Jessica collapsed to the mattress.

After, she curled up against him, and in the security of his strong arms, she surrendered to sleep.

Chapter 15

Jessica awoke a short time later. Golden light from the flickering candles touched the angles and planes of his face. His hair was black silk as her fingers threaded through the strands. In sleep, Raphael looked boyish and innocent, and her heart ached for him. Was this the real Raphael, hidden beneath a cloak of arrogance and strength?

With avid hunger, Jessica’s gaze caressed his naked body, splayed out on the sheets. She looked her fill, tracking each clean line of muscle and bone, the knobby indents at his narrow hips.

Leaning over, she kissed him. She bit the curve of his lip gently, catching it playfully between her teeth.

He opened his eyes, making her breath hitch with the heat contained inside.

Watching in anticipation, she drew back on her haunches. A crooked smile tugged at his mouth as he stretched and gave a very wolfish growl. Raphael lifted his arm, displaying the dark, silky hair of his armpits. Yet another difference marking them.

So very masculine, and uninhibited. He released her wild side.

“Come here, Jessica. That was very naughty of you. I shall have to punish you again.”

She shook her head.

“Jessica…”

With a graceful leap, he tackled her, pinning her to the bed with his heavy weight. She writhed underneath him as his smoldering gaze penetrated hers.

“What are you going to do with me?” she whispered.

A smile, honed as the edge of a razor, gave her the answer. Raphael fisted a hand in her hair, and gave a deep, drugging kiss, stroking his tongue deep. He kissed her as if he couldn’t wait to mount her again.

Jessica stroked his tongue with hers, her fingers sliding down to cup his buttocks. She teased along the crevice, dipped her fingers inside and felt him laugh in delight against her mouth.

He left the bed, put on another condom, and then opened a drawer. He returned with a small phallus, white, round and smooth. In his other hand he clutched a tube of lubricant.

“Turn over,” he said.

Trembling, she did, peeking over her shoulder as he uncapped the lubricant and smeared gel over the phallus.

Two warm hands parted her buttocks. Jessica tensed.

“Relax,” he said softly. “You’ll enjoy this.”

Coated with the lubricant, his fingers stroked her bottom, then slid between the twin halves. Raphael applied the gel to her opening. It was carnal, and moisture trickled between her legs at the sensation.

He murmured reassurances as he slid the dildo across her soaked cleft. Jessica clenched tight as he stroked.

When she felt herself opening up, her legs spilling open wide in a silent please, he parted her cheeks and pushed the phallus inside her.

It did not hurt, but the fullness felt odd. She rocked her hips against his stroking palm.

Then he flipped her over, and opened her legs wide, settling between them.

Pleasure began anew as he thrust into her. The sweet tension built once more and she arched, clawing at him in her need. The motion of his hips shifted as he rubbed against her clit. The combination was too much. Tension coiled inside her, sharp and sweet, exquisitely tuned to this man punishing her with such pleasure.

“Give it to me,” she cried out.

Panting, he pounded into her, thick cock sliding deep inside her. Jessica met his rhythm with fierce need of her own, her hips rising and falling. Snarling she reached up and bit the hard muscle of his shoulder. He grunted.

The next thrust sent her spiraling over the edge as she clenched around his cock. Jessica dug her nails into his scarred back, climaxing so much that the edges of her vision went gray. With a hoarse shout of her name, he shuddered, his seed spilling deep inside her.

Collapsing onto the bed, she panted. Raphael’s hot breath bellowed into her ear as he rested his head on the pillow. Gently he removed the phallus, tossed it aside. She curled her hands around him, this wolf who’d captured her heart and her body. Yet when he lifted his head to regard her, it was not the smile of conqueror who’d captured his prize.

But the tender smile of a lover who’d captured her heart.

Raphael licked the dampness from her skin, his tongue wonderfully warm and soothing. Then he studied her face with a solemn look.

“You undo me, little Red.”

The stark honesty in his words lowered her barriers. Jessica waited.

“I’ve always felt alone, but until you came along, I managed to hide it.” Raphael gave a cynical smile. “And you exposed all my weaknesses.”

Slight anger filled her. The rawness of his wounds dug into her heart as if he’d clawed his way there. Raphael was so used to being strong, he never cut himself a break.

“It’s not weakness. It’s called being Lupine, and knowing your flaws.” She sat up, and framed his handsome face with her trembling hands. “You needed this more than I did. You needed it because it’s sex that allows you to express yourself. Your emotions. All day long, you’re Raphael the guarded, the one who protects the pack. You have such concern for everyone else, and you’ll die to keep them safe. You’ll struggle and fight and do what you must. But no one ever asks how
you’re
feeling.”

He stared, as if she had divulged his darkest secret. Maybe she had. Raphael pulled her into his strong arms.

“I’m not in charge of this pack, but I am still alpha. Alphas rule the pack, but they also pay a price and walk alone, and never let others know their struggles. I thought I was destined to remain alone forever. Until I met you and felt that spark of connection.”

“Me too,” she whispered. “And then I met you, someone who understood what it was like to feel alone in a crowd, who knew my deepest desires.”

“Including your favorite color for panties?” he teased.

She laughed and ran her fingers through his thick hair. “Maybe I’ll change that.”

“Never.” He kissed her fingers, one by one. “Do not change yourself for me, or anyone else. You are a gift to this world with your humor, your laugh and your kind heart.”

Making love with this strong male and sharing her heart had wrung out every single emotion. She, who thought herself independent and secure, who had shaken her butt in public at staring men, had turned eager and demanding, and vulnerable in Raphael’s arms and shared her innermost self.

Jessica ran her hands over his back, felt the gouges of his scars and thought about what this brave, incredible man had suffered. And then she felt something wet and warm trickling down his side.

Blood. She lifted her hands and stared. Her claws had come out during sex.

She’d hurt him. Raphael, who had been hurt so very badly before.

Jessica burst into tears and backed away, stricken by the pain she’d caused him.

He rubbed her wet cheek with a thumb, the gesture filled with tenderness. “Don’t pull away from me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Stricken at the blood running down his side, she stared at Raphael. “I’ve hurt you.”

He gave a wry smile. “Love tap. Barely felt it.”

But the lacerations she’d inflicted weren’t love taps. “You’re bleeding.”

He lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Sweetheart, I’ve been hurt much, much worse. What you did was show me your passion, and that can never hurt.”

For a moment they lay together quietly. Jessica rested her cheek against his shoulder and played with the hairs on his muscled chest.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Just…overcome.”

Wriggling out of his arms, she pushed him onto his side. Raphael obliged. She kissed every ugly, violent scar on his back, salting the old wounds with her tears. Raphael turned over, drew her into his arms.

“Don’t cry, little Red.”

“It hurts to see your scars and know someone could be so cruel.”

“The world is filled with cruel and violent people. It’s important for us as Lupines to recognize this, and bond together as pack to fight the evil.”

“That’s why family is so important. Your family provides a natural bond.”

“Family isn’t as important as pack.” He smoothed back her hair and studied her face. “Your pack is your backup. Your people will fight for you.”

She raised herself up on an elbow. “I wish I could believe it. Alexa and Molly were my best friends in college. We stuck by each other, comforted one another when we were down and there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do for me, or I wouldn’t do for them. They’re sisters, but what if we have a falling out one day? A real sister of my blood, that’s a bond that can’t be broken. Friends and pack? They’re not blood.”

“Blooded family often sheds blood. Pack is stronger. And the bonds between mates are even more lasting than family ones.”

Silence fell between them for a moment. Then emotion clogged her throat again as she finally admitted to herself the truth she’d suspected for a long time.

“My family is all dead. That’s why my adoption records were sealed.”

He ran a finger down her cheek. “Yes, most likely. Adoption records are only sealed to protect a young Lupine. Adoptions are quite rare among our people.”

The news should have hurt more, but instead, it felt as if a great weight lifted from her shoulders. She could finally push on, and mourn her loss.

Yet she still had no answers about her origins.

With her fingers, she traced the now-healing lacerations on his back. Worry filled her. Why had sex with Raphael brought out her wolf? “How could I do this? I have trouble shifting. I can’t even summon a change unless I’m running with the pack. It takes forever. Why did my claws come out?”

He took her hand, turned it over.

“It happens with alphas.” Raphael glanced up at her.

She shook her head. “I’m no alpha.”

“Perhaps you are.”

“But it makes no sense. Why would this trait come out in me now?”

“Being with another alpha might have caused it.” He looked speculative. “Alphas heal faster than ordinary Lupines. There is one way to find out if you are. But you won’t like it.”

“I don’t care.”

“It will hurt.”

“I don’t care.” Frustration filled her. “I need to know. All my life, I’ve longed to find out who I am!”

Taking her hand, he led her into the kitchen and then removed a knife from the carving block.

Raphael slashed her palm, a quick, stinging cut. She cried out.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “But this is the quickest way to tell.”

The pain faded as the cut on her palm healed, the skin folding together and turning pink. Nausea, dread and thrill roiled in her stomach.

“Oh my gods, what does this mean? I’m an alpha? But this has never happened to me before. I always take forever to heal.”

He stared at her smooth palm. “And I’ve never seen even an alpha heal this quickly. Perhaps something triggered your abilities.”

Sex with him? Jessica rubbed her hand. “Was it you? Me…being with you?”

“I don’t know. But I will find out.” The old Raphael returned, his expression tight with purpose. “Get dressed. We’re returning to my house.”

When they arrived back, he escorted her up the stairs. They returned to his bed, undressed and lay together. Raphael held her tightly, stroking her back.

“Are you all right?”

The question held a note of concern. Jessica shivered, the warmth of his body like a blanket, yet it could not eliminate the deep coldness inside her.

What was she?

“I wish I knew my origins,” she told him.

“Go to sleep.”

As he held her, Jessica closed her eyes. Raphael waited and watched her drift off. Sensations rushed through him. Fierce tenderness, and a strong urge to protect. He dropped a kiss upon her forehead. She sighed and rolled over, presenting her very fine, naked ass to him.

He dropped a kiss upon it.
Mine.

Pair bonding. He was helpless to resist, much as he couldn’t get involved with her. His life was going to turn very dangerous.

For seven years, he’d searched for The Monster. He’d find and kill the son of a bitch. But he wouldn’t risk Jessica’s life.

Not as he’d risked Britney’s.

He jogged to the front door, went outside. He shifted and loped around the house, sniffing the trees for other scents. Few other Lupines ventured here, and those who did, were polite enough never to mark his property.