Red and Her Wolf (24 page)

“Lass,” his deep voice caressed the side of her neck, stoking the flame.

His hands were on her waist, pulling her close. Her body melded with his, his heat hers and hers his. The thick length of him seemed to grow harder the more she bit and she moaned when his hands began to trace the curve of her back, up and down.
Resting casually on her rear, before fingers tiptoed down its slope.
Heat splashed between her thighs, she was wet and so ready.
But for what?
She didn’t know what else to do, her body needed more, but she didn’t know how to get it.

There was fire in her blood, her head,
her
veins. Panic clawed, screamed. She wanted this.
Now.
Now.

But… but…

She shoved him back, wiping the back of her mouth with her wrist. Thigh muscles twitched, her stomach ached. He was breathing hard, his chest heaving for air. His irises had
slitted
again.

“You liked that?” Her question came out an accusation.

He closed his eyes,
trying,
it seemed, to regain his composure. “
Yer
nay ready, Red. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know what--” Her voice cracked and the tears that’d threatened earlier began to spill down the corners of her eyes, blinding his face. “I’m sorry, Ewan, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Quickly, she exited the water, scooping up her clothes and running back to the cottage with them pressed to her heart. It was gone.
Her hatred.
It was gone. She couldn’t hate something she wanted so desperately, but the wanting scared the hell out of her.

Later in her room, when the rest of the world was silent as the grave, she punched a fist into her pillow and wondered what she’d say to him tomorrow.

How could she explain that she hadn’t run from him, but from herself? From the madness spreading through her brain screaming that he was hers as much as he’d let the whole world know she belonged to him?

Violet stared out the window, at the sky bejeweled with silver stars, but all she could see was the memory of his golden gaze flashing with hurt when she’d run away.

Chapter 15

Ewan said goodbye to the Hatter and his
Alice
and then taking a hold of Red’s elbow, guided her into the spiraling blue tunnel.

Last night had been a nightmare. He’d gone to bed harder than a rock.
Her teeth on him, gripping him.
Tiny nails clawing into his flesh, she mated like a wolf.

He glanced at Violet, she was silent, pale. They hadn’t spoken after last night.

Sighing, he looked away. She didn’t need to worry that he hadn’t liked it. He’d loved it.
Gloried in it.
A wolf mated violently, it wasn’t softness and
rose
petals. It was soul to soul, striped, bare, and raw.
A melding of two like hearts.
To an outsider it might even appear brutal, but it wasn’t. It was passion at its very essence.
Untamed and wild.

But she’d think he was lying, he knew that.
Was coming to know her more and more each day.
His Red was perfect for him, if only she could see that.

“Where are we going?” she asked, still not glancing at him.

He cleared his throat.
“Beyond the Misty Isle, where the kraken roams.”

She shuddered.
“A kraken?
My Aunt hates me.”

Ewan laughed and was delighted to note her answering grin.

“Nay, Red. She only wishes to prepare
ye
.”

Blue light sped past in a dizzying arc; millions of silver bursts studded the ever revolving tunnel of blue. It was surreal and yet lovely. Violet’s gold blond hair almost seemed to sparkle.

She was trying to make peace; he knew this wasn’t easy for her. There were dark rings beneath her eyes; she’d slept very little last night, if at all.

“So what this time?
Do I have to suck that things soul out too?
Because I draw the line at squid.
I’m allergic to shellfish.”

His laughter echoed hollowly, booming long and loud down the distant span of space and time.
“Shellfish?
Don’t they have soft bodies?”

She shrugged and finally glanced at him beneath long, thick lashes. “About last night--”

He shook his head. “It shouldn’t have happened. Ye were nay ready.”

Violet placed her finger on his lips, stopping him. The soft weight of it tugged on his heart.

“If you keep talking, I’ll lose my nerve, Ewan.”

She took a deep breath, and all he wanted to do was pepper the tip of her upturned nose--covered in a fine smattering of freckles--with kisses.

“I like you.
A lot.”
She licked her lips.

If he knew she wouldn’t bolt, he’d lean down and taste her, lick at the seams of her closed lips until she parted for him.

“I like that you’re always naked around me. I like that I can look as much as I want. I like that you want to be around me. I like that you’re a killer. I like the darkness in you. I like that you’re big and bad and scary. I like that you make me feel small and safe and special.” She sighed. “I like you.”

All the blood rushed to his head, making it hard to hear as his ears buzzed with the hot rush.

Her eyes were wide and frightened like a hare caught in a snare. The pulse at the base of her throat jumped, and it was all he could do to pretend her words hadn’t given him a painful erection. One he’d barely been able to stop sporting a few hours ago.

“If I survive whatever comes with
Malvena
--”

“Ye will,” he growled, knowing in his soul he’d do whatever it took to make it so. Even if that meant betraying all of his kind, killing them mercilessly and ruthlessly, he’d do it. He’d move heaven and earth to keep his Red safe.

She shushed him again. “If I do, then I think… maybe…”

Narrowing his eyes, his brogue grew thick when he said, “Aye?”

“Maybe…” She leaned up on tiptoe, their breaths mingling.

Tiny pink tongue darting out the corner of her mouth, so close, all he’d have to do was stick his own out to taste it. Small hands roamed the breadth of his chest as her nails began that delicious sliding scrape against his flesh.

He was only a man, a wolf one at that, she tempted him beyond reason. And all the promises he’d made to
himself
last night to be good, to keep his hands off--they melted into the ether. Ewan gripped her luscious bottom and lifted her, forcing her to open her legs and straddle him.

He hissed when the rough texture of her jeans slid along his shaft.

“Ewan,” her voice broke, and then she claimed his lips.

Ewan had no idea where they traveled, they should have exited long ago, but none of that mattered. He couldn’t think around the passion burbling through his brain.

She was wild, rough. Her teeth bruising his lips with each punishing kiss. There was no place for him to brace his back on, so he knelt, dragging her with him. Her nails gouged the back of his head.

“Can you make it stop?” she panted, nipping and clawing around his face and neck.

“
Wha
, lass?” he moaned, catching her lips between his teeth and sucking on its firm fullness, laving his tongue along its smoothness.

She moaned hard and pulled away, almost frenzied in her effort to touch him. Nibbling on his collarbone, his flesh broke out in goose bumps.

“The wanting, Ewan,” she murmured.
“The needing.”
She bit him and he groaned
,
balls so tight and hard to his body he was sure the pleasure would kill him. “I see you.
All the time.
I want you.” She bit harder, sinking in so hard his skin very nearly broke.

Beads of sweat dotted his brow. He tugged on the shell of her ear gently, nuzzling the sweet scent of her neck, imprinting her on his heart. Ewan blew small puffs of air into her hair, her flesh, marking her with his scent. Letting anyone else know she was his and his alone.

“I can,” he mumbled and then shuddered when his hands found her breasts. He palmed them, kneading and rolling the nipples expertly between his fingers.

She arched, moaning in wild abandon and pride bloomed in his chest. His touch did that to her, his mouth, his tongue. She danced for him.

“Touch me everywhere.” She hissed when he rolled her nipples again, a rosy flush crept up her neck and settled in her cheeks making her blue eyes almost seem to glow.

“Are ye sure, lass?” If she ran away now, he’d go feral.

“
Mmm
,” she mumbled, fumbling with the button of her jeans.

With a growl, he ripped the button off and then shoved his hand down her pants, fingers seeking the center of her. Pleasure swirled through his cock, made him grind his teeth with the pleasure/pain when his fingers became slick with her heat.

“Oh my gods.”
She flung her head back, arcing her neck and back, forcing him to brace her with his one hand, lest she slip from his grasp.
“Yes, Ewan.”
Violet wiggled on him as he slid a finger in.

She was tight and when he encountered her virginal barrier his heart screamed with joy. The
lass was
untouched.
All his, always.

“Red. Red,” he moaned and then she gripped him in a tight fist and he jerked at the exquisite torture. The friction of no lubrication was nothing compared to the pleasure jackknifing through him.

“Too much clothes,” he snarled, extracting his hand to pull her jeans down.

She kicked, trying to help.
But only succeeded in getting herself tangled up in her pants.

“Calm
yerself
, Red,” he murmured, and with a swift tug tossed the jeans aside.

“I don’t know…” she said.

His heart almost stopped beating. Squeezing his eyes shut, panting harder than he ever had in his life, he rested his forehead against hers and ground through his teeth, “If
yer
gonna
force me to stop, say it now.”

His cock and balls ached so much; the merest touch of her hand against him would make him come.

“No,” she moaned, eyes bright and feverish looking.
“Oh, goddess no.
I just don’t know what to do. What do I do, Ewan?" There was a panicked edge to question.

He laughed, and then growled deep in his throat when he jerked against her hand.
“Whatever the bloody hell ye please.”

“Okay,” she said, and then bit him at the base of his throat.
Just like she had last night.

Ewan hissed
,
lights danced behind his eyes as the bliss rolled wave after wave over him. Drowning him in pleasure so deep he never wanted to resurface.

Wild, desperate, his wolf rolled just beneath the surface of his control. “I need
ye
. Now,” he groaned, when she licked the tender flesh she’d just bitten.

“Yes, oh yes.”