Scarlet Heat Read online

  “Thanks, boy,” I whispered, collapsing on my side. “Good boy. Such a good…boy.”

  My eyes were already closing but to my surprise, the wolf came around the bed and hopped up, taking the other side.

  “Hey now,” I protested, trying to sit up and failing. “You can’t…can’t do that. Fur on…the sheets. Victor will be…pissed.”

  But the wolf wasn’t budging. And at this point, neither was I. I barely had strength to roll over, let alone try to push him off the bed. With a sigh, I gave up. Let him stay—there was nothing I could do about it now.

  My eyes closed but I was cold. Marshalling my flagging strength, I tried for a minute to get under the covers but I couldn’t…they were tucked in too tightly. Whoever had taught Victor to make a bed must have been into hospital corners.

  With a little moan, I curled in on myself, trying to tuck my arms and legs into the white t-shirt I still wore and gather a little warmth. Cold…so cold. It was the story of my undead life. Ever since I had been turned, I could never seem to get warm enough, no matter what I did.

  To my sleepy surprise, the wolf seemed to understand my problem. He scooted closer to me, pushing his long furry back against my front until I found my face buried in his ruff. And oh, he was so warm.

  With a little sigh of contentment, I wound my arms around his furry neck and pressed closer, letting the delicious animal heat penetrate to my bones. His fur tickled my nose but I didn’t care. He smelled wild and yet, somehow familiar. Like fur and leather and sunlight in the woods.

  Speaking of sunlight, I could feel the sun rising to full glory overhead and I couldn’t stay awake any longer. Between my terrible weariness and the delicious feeling of finally being warm, I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore.

  I nestled closer to the wolf and let sleep claim me.

  * * * * *

  “Mmm, you’re so warm,”I murmured as I rolled over in Victor’s arms. He had a smooth chest after all—not hairy as I had imagined. I pressed my cheek to the hard, warm muscle and listened to the steady beat of his heart.

  “And you’re so soft,” he growled in my ear. One large hand slid down my bare back and cupped my bottom as he pulled me closer. I could feel him rubbing against me everywhere—my tight nipples pressing against his chest, my sensitive pussy mound rubbing against his thigh. The hard ridge of his cock branding my belly.

  Looking down, I realized we were naked, both of us completely bare and pressed together in the most intimate way possible. Some part of me knew this ought to bother me. That I should be frightened—Victor was so big. And I shouldn’t want to do this—hadn’t I sworn never, never again?

  But for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I should be frightened or upset. I only knew how good it felt to be in his arms. How right.

  “You feel so good in my arms, baby,” Victor murmured in my ear. “Want to touch you now.”

  He nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply as though he was memorizing my scent. At the same time, his big hands started exploring me, cupping my breasts and teasing my nipples…sliding lower to caress my ass and part my legs. I arched against him like a cat that wanted to be stroked and opened my legs willingly for the long fingers that invaded my pussy.

  “Yes,” I whispered in his ear. “So good…God, that feels so good.”

  “Feels good to me too, baby,” he growled softly, his fingers working gently, going deeper and deeper inside me. “God, you’re wet. Going to feel even better when I’m inside you…fucking you…breeding you.”

  “Please,” I whispered, wanting desperately to submit. “Please yes, I want you in me. Please, Victor, please…”

  With a low growl, he rolled me under him and replaced his fingers with his cock. As he filled me with himself, thrusting his thick length deeper and deeper into my pussy, I moaned his name and gave myself, submitting completely and without reservation. I was his, his completely and I had no wish to be anything else.

  I had the strangest urge to throw back my head and howl…

  Chapter Five—Victor

  I woke up with the feeling I wasn’t alone. There was someone in bed with me. A soft, warm weight was pressed against my bare back and a delicious feminine scent filled my nose. It made me instantly hard.

  Who…what…? As always, I was a little disoriented after coming out of my wolf form. I had vague memories of the night before—running in the moonlight, howling and returning the howls of the other wolves, and then putting my paw into something that bit and bit and wouldn’t let go…

  The memory made me realize my left wrist was aching. In fact, that might have been what woke me up in the first place. I was lying on my right side so I brought my left wrist up in front of me and squinted in the dim room, trying to see the problem. Nothing seemed to be broken but it throbbed painfully. Great—so I wasn’t going to be getting much work done today—good thing it was the weekend. But something told me that my injury might have been much worse. If it wasn’t for her…

  Her, whispered a voice in my brain, the voice of the wolf. Pale girl.

  A picture formed in my head. A girl with long, dark hair and deep blue eyes. She was beautiful and very kind, the wolf informed me, through more picture messages. She took away the pain. She gave delicious food. She smelled right—like a wolf, not a dead one. She was pack.

  I shook my head in disbelief. Was I seriously understanding the other side of my nature correctly? I had been certain that the wolf inside me would hate Taylor—she was a fucking vampire, for God’s sake—the ancient enemy of our kind. I had been afraid to change around her—afraid the wolf would hurt her. Instead, it seemed my furry self wanted to adopt her, to claim her as part of the family.

  She is pack, the wolf affirmed in my head.

  What the hell? How had Taylor won over my inner wolf so completely and quickly? A flood of images was my answer—Taylor leading the wolf inside the house, taking away the silver pain thing that had been biting his/my paw/arm. Then feeding him-me bacon (delicious man-food! the Wolf sent excitedly) and curling up close to him/me in bed, sharing rest and comfort the way pack members do.

  Hmm…curling up in bed. Behind me, the warm, soft weight shifted and someone gave a contented sigh. A soft arm crept around my side and settled on my chest. Then someone slung a long, slender leg over my hip.

  “Mmm,” Taylor murmured, sounding as if she was talking in her sleep. “So…warm.”

  She was pretty warm herself, for a vamp. Not that I made a practice of sleeping with them. I inhaled deeply. God, she smelled good, even better than the night before. The Wolf was right—she did smell more like a wolf than a vampire. And there was another layer under her scent—a thin, scarlet ribbon of heat that seemed to be growing.

  My hard-on got even harder but I frowned, lying perfectly still and concentrating on what my nose was telling me. That hot scent just under Taylor’s natural smell was familiar somehow. I knew it instinctively, although I hadn’t smelled it in a long time, not since I had been cast out by my home pack years ago. And I had never thought I would smell it on a vamp—or on any female other than a were or a shape shifter for that matter.

  It can’t be right, I told myself uneasily. She’s a vamp. There’s no fucking way she’s going into—

  “Mmm…” Behind me Taylor stretched and hummed in her sleep, sounding like she was just about to wake up. Her soft body pressed even closer to mine and it didn’t feel like she had many clothes on. My cock suddenly felt like it was going to burst. I had the urge to roll over in bed and take her in my arms but I couldn’t do that—couldn’t scare her or take advantage that way.

  “Uh, Taylor?” I ventured, turning my head to see her. It was pretty dark in the room but the clock on the table said it was around three in the afternoon. Wasn’t that kind of early for a new vamp to be up? I had thought that only the really old ones could be awake during the day. Was it possible that Taylor was just stirring in her sleep and wasn’t about to wake up after all?

  Gently,