He blinked, unable to believe his eyes. The wolf lay on the ground, panting, then slowly stood and shook its fur as if wet, throwing off the remnants of her gown. Glowing, golden eyes met his as the wolf regarded him. He reached for her, slowly, and ran his fingers through her silky hair.
She tilted her head, watching him as he petted her, marveling that the change had completed. He smiled wryly, allowing his racing heart to slow to normal. He should have known better than to misjudge her strength and tenacity to survive. No woman had ever fought so hard. No woman had ever captured him so completely.
“Are you ready to change back?” he asked softly, rubbing her fur in soothing circles.
He sensed her acceptance, her eagerness to return to human form with the slight tensing of her body. “All you have to do is wish it. The first change always comes with the moon. Once you survive it, you can change back and forth at will. It gets easier with time.” Until then, each shift would be painful, but never like the first time. The body acclimated with the cellular change, able to heal and recover faster as it took hold, until shifting could come as easily as a thought.
And with experience, the rising full moon would not shift her immediately to wolf, though it was hard for even an old hand as himself to resist the seductive lunar call.
“Concentrate,” he whispered. “See your human self and it will come.”
Long moments passed and nothing happened. She whined, and he knew what was wrong. The moon was as yet too strong, still in the sky.
Once it set, she could shift back. He’d forgotten something so elementary.
“Soon,” he promised. He scooped up his jeans and led her to his car for a night that promised to be long.
She hopped into the passenger side and curled in the seat, watching him as he settled inside and cranked the car, heading back to his apartment.
One step more and she would be his ... if she didn’t kill him first.
And he rather hoped she wouldn’t since she hadn’t yet ripped his throat out.
Kaeli awoke with a startled gasp, clutching her neck. She’d dreamt of being savaged, having her blood drained, her body crushed. Had it been real? Or was it just a nightmare? Her questing fingers brushed down her throat, felt tender ridges that had not been there before.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and discovered she was in his apartment, in his bed. Silk sheets clung to her naked curves, rasping across her skin as she sat up and clutched the top edge to her breasts. Her skin tingled, responding to the caress of silk.
She shivered, looking around the dark room. The door was closed, only the barest sliver of light escaping beneath its lowest edge. And yet every shape in the room appeared clearly to her. She could see her hand touching the bed, the edges of a night stand at one side. Further, her gown lay crumpled on the floor, and she could see the tears in it, smell the blood that stained it.
Her heart quickened with fear ... and excitement. She swung her legs out from the bed, wrapping the sheet around her. No weakness assailed her as she walked lithely to the door. She breathed deeply, smelled the aroma of brewed coffee, the cooking fat of bacon.
It was real. Somehow, she’d become more than human. And she was suddenly ravenous for the man responsible.
Kaeli opened the door and padded lightly through the apartment to the kitchen area. He stood with his back to her, turning the bacon. She tiptoed closer, grinning inside.
“If you mean to frighten me, it won’ work, petite,” he said with a teasing note to his voice.
Kaeli nearly jumped out of her skin. Her heart flopped in her chest.
He took the pan off the burner and turned the stovetop off. He faced her with a smile, heat gleaming in his eyes as his gaze roamed down her body.
Kaeli’s flesh warmed at his look, at the scent of him and her own arousal. Already she was wet and wanting. He’d put her off before. She wouldn’t allow it now. Not with everything that had happened. But first she had to know if her suspicions were true.
“What did you do to me?” she asked quietly, stopping mere feet away from him.
His eyes darkened, pain flashing across his sultry features. “You were going to die. I made you Lycan to save you.”
“Why?”
He took a step closer, then another, stopping only when their bodies nearly touched, when all it would take was a deep breath to feel him brush against her nipples.
“I did it because I couldn’ stand the thought of you not being in this world. Perhaps we suffer from misguided honor and old superstition. It is not every woman who is willing to sacrifice so much ... nor any Lycan who would risk losing his love.”
Kaeli felt breathless, dizzy. “How can this happen so quickly?”
“Love cannot be measured in time, ma chere. It consumes in an instant. I’ve known you mere days, and yet it seems a lifetime I have longed to be with you and make you my mate. I love you, petite, and now I am going to make you mine.”
His sulky mouth curved in a smile full of wicked promise as he wrapped his arms around her. She’d heard once that extreme circumstances forged unbreakable emotional bonds like those between comrades at war.
Whatever the reason, her heart swelled with indefinable emotion, a joy to hear his words, feel his touch.
The silk sheet dropped to the floor as he scooped her into his arms.
Kaeli let out a small gasp of surprise. “Put me down! You’ll hurt yourself!”
She was no lightweight, and she didn’t want him to get a hernia. She probably weighed more than he did, knowing her luck.
His smile widened. “Afraid I’ll drop you?”
It was silly. He was a werewolf. They could do anything. “No.”
“I sense you doubt me.” It became a test of manhood after that.
She laughed as he strode into the bedroom, demonstrating his strength as he carried her with one arm. Kaeli shrieked and giggled, terrified he’d drop her, but knowing he’d never dare.
Light spilled across the bed from the open doorway, and he deposited her on her feet before it. All mirth disappeared from his eyes as she slid down his naked chest, her nipples rasping against his smooth muscles.
Each touch felt electrified, powerful, sizzling over her skin.
For what seemed an eternity she had dreamed of his kiss, of feeling him inside her. Everything vanished except the need to be as one with him.
She closed her palms around his back as his arms came around her, feeling the heat of his skin, the corded strength of his back. It excited her immeasurably, his hard dangerousness. She was now a part of his world, a part of him.
With a soft growl, Navarre lowered his head. Kaeli whimpered as his lips closed over hers, only the strength of his arms keeping her from falling.
His tongue plunged into her mouth, slightly rough, overwhelming her senses with the spicy taste of him. He groaned and moved against her as she responded, his thick erection rubbing between her thighs and her bare clit with debilitating roughness.
Wet heat surged through her body, pooling between her legs. His tongue stroked hers, savoring and voracious all at once, as though he couldn’t taste her enough.
Kaeli needed more. She couldn’t take his slow pace or she would go mad. Frantic, she tugged at the waist band of his jeans, forcing her hands between them to his fly. He tore away from her mouth, his callused hands pushed hers away, opening the fly, pushing them down his hips.
Small, frustrated moans escaped her throat as she helped him, unaware of herself. His cock sprang from its prison, and Navarre groaned as she wrapped her hand around his thick length.
He shook his head, pushing her back on the bed, pulling off his jeans completely before dropping down to the floor. Kaeli scooted to the edge, trying to reach him, but he held her still with two palms planted on her thighs. Her body screamed for him, frustrated, her nipples engorged and sensitized, her clit throbbing for his touch.