Dire Wants by Stephanie Tyler Page B

her shoulder and turned her. Her shirt was still raised, allowing him to cover the brand with his palm and pull her close at the same time. She gasped as their bodies jolted, and he covered her mouth with his, kissed her like he wouldn’t stop.
    His free hand pushed up to cover a breast. He squeezed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and she moaned into his mouth. He knew she would be so wet for him if he pulled her pants off, and he wanted to taste her, lick her, claim her until she had only his name on her lips.
    She pulled him more tightly to her, her hands wandering to grip his ass, wanting to come. And he would give that to her, would howl with pride when he did.
    He bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth, tugged it between his teeth and suckled on it until the lights blew out overhead and the doors slammed open and shut, until the orgasm ripped from her with a scream, shattering her.
    “Stray!”
    He held on to her, forced himself not to dip his hand between her legs as the wolf howled inside his head. Not now. Later—and there would be a later.
    He was never this damned possessive. He heard his own harsh breaths after he pulled away.
    She ran; you chased. That’s all.
    But it wasn’t.
    * * *
    Kate felt completely off balance and Stray looked so calm and collected, even as the aftereffects of the orgasm vibrated through her.
    “Sorry. The prey instincts are hard to control,” he said easily, and she mentally called him a bastard. “I heard that.”
    “I wanted you to.”
    He was too warm and too close. She took a step to the side and sat on the mat so he wouldn’t touch her again.
    In reality, her legs couldn’t hold her any longer.
    “What else is out there?” she asked after several long moments of trying to regain her composure. But what was the point? He knew she’d come, and in reality it was the best orgasm she’d ever had, because it wasn’t by her own hand. “Is this the part where you tell me that every Hollywood monster—that all those horror stories passed down through the generations are real?”
    He bent down, took her palm and placed it flat against his chest. “Do I feel real enough to you? Look, you have nowhere to go that’s safe. This place is.”
    “Only if I do what you want.”
    “Only if you do what’s right. The witch who died and left you her powers—most likely, she died running from our enemies. Leo’s one of them.” Stray paused. “In your heart, you know that has to be true.”
    “I really want to go home and forget all of this. Pretend it never happened.”
    She swore a hurt look crossed his face before he told her, “We all want something.”
    If she didn’t cooperate, what would happen to her? And, once she did, what was to stop him from killing her—or worse?
    She knew exactly what could be worse. Her job working with victims of violent crimes had taught her that in many brutal and equally terrifying ways.
    He stood and began to pace. “You’re better off here, away from the humans.”
    “What do you know about them?”
    “I’ve had thousands of years to study humans,” Stray told her. “I know their ways.”
    “My ways,” she interrupted. “I don’t count myself as witch. I’m human.”
    “You’re fooling yourself.”
    “I’m happy to do so and stay in la-la land,” she told him. “I’m not denying I’m a witch, but I’m human still. That’s how I’ve always lived.”
    “That’s how you lived. Things change, Kate. Everything you know will change, too.”
    It already had. For one thing, she was no longer alone. And while she couldn’t be sure if this was some form of Stockholm syndrome, she realized that going back wasn’t an option. It never had been. “You don’t like witches.”
    “As a rule, no. They’ve never given my kind much reason to like them. And now my feelings toward them run strongly toward hate.”
    “You hate me for what I am. That’s not fair.”
    “Nothing in life is.”
    She wanted to