The kiss was like the sharing of their blood. A primitive and sacred communion. A starting point.
Soon tenderness gave way to desire. The past to the present. And Domino rose above her, but not before he’d stumbled upon a cold shiver of fear over his gaining control to the point where he could freeze her in place with a thought.
He sent a warning in the instant before he commanded her body, pinning her wrists to her sides and her ankles to the carpet, her legs spread so that he could kneel between them.
Her heart raced in reaction, her pulse jumped and made him fight to keep his fangs from descending. And even though she fought the restraint, she didn’t demand that he let her go as he lowered his mouth and captured a dark nipple. Pulling and sucking on it until the thundering in her veins was a molten fire fueled by The Heat.
He took her to the edge with his lips at her breast, his fingers on her clit, tugging and stroking, gripping and releasing. Brought her close to climax repeatedly but didn’t allow her a release.
Dakotah thrashed and arched, held in place by his thoughts alone. She felt the full measure of his power over her but also his desire to do what was right, to never abuse her. She felt his need to dominate, to protect, to possess. To be everything to her. And she accepted it. Even reveled in it. Though it didn’t make her submissive.
“Now,” she demanded, meeting his gaze in challenge, watching as his face tightened and his nostrils flared. As something alien moved through his eyes.
He hissed, letting her see his fangs, but she saw it as a victory, an acknowledgement of her own power, an indication of how aroused he was that some of his control had slipped.
The wild urges of his ancestors screamed in Domino’s cock. Demanding that he subdue her, answer her challenge in a way that would prove his mastery. That would make her as submissive as the kadines created and raised for his race.
But as quickly as the thought came, the wolf bristled and the man laughed silently—all in the second before The Heat made it impossible to delay, to play, even to tease.
With a thought he freed one of her hands, erotic images pressing in on him as he said, “Pleasure yourself. Let me see you come from the touch of your own hand.”
And satisfaction rushed through him when her fingers went to her slit, her clit—not because he’d commanded it of her, but because he’d asked it, because she could read his fantasies and was willing to make them his reality.
He had to take his cock in hand in order to stave off orgasm as she manipulated her engorged knob and drove her fingers into her channel, sliding in and out as the smell of her arousal invaded his senses, enflamed him. Made him want to cover her and thrust into her. To surround himself with her wet heat and slick feminine flesh.
He resisted the temptation. Hissed when he saw her knowing smile. Waited until she jerked under her own hand, her cunt burning against her fingers, clenching and unclenching. And then he fell on her. Freed her so that she could wrap her arms and legs around him and hold him tight as he fucked her, loved her, became one with her.
They were still naked in front of the fire when Fane arrived. His amusement as he plopped down in a chair as though he intended to watch them grated over Domino’s nerves and made Dakotah smile.
Domino rose to his feet, flashing his fangs when Fane’s gaze traveled over Dakotah’s body as she stood.
She slipped her arm through Domino’s, laughing, her heart light, the bond with Domino allowing her to see that beneath their outward sparring, the two men had a history, a deep loyalty to one another. “Don’t waste yourself on him,” she joked, leading Domino back to the bedroom. “You can’t afford to let him weaken you before the challenge.”
Her comment earned her a flash of fangs and a growl while Fane laughed in the other room. But all too soon the humor was gone, replaced by somber watchfulness as they left the house and arrived at the site of the challenge. The lightheartedness replaced by the unmistakable smell of nervousness as a handful of wolves gathered at the edge of a small moonlit patch of bare earth surrounded by a dense forest of trees.
Even without the deepening of her senses that Dakotah had gained with Domino’s blood, she was aware of vampires and dhampirs in the woods around them. The cold, alien presence they projected made chill bumps rise along her arms. And though she couldn’t see them or count them, she knew they greatly outnumbered the wolves.
The wolves knew it too. They huddled together in a defensive pack. Separating themselves from the naked man who waited at the center of the clearing. Their positioning a silent statement that Victor Hale stood on his own. That his fate was his own.
Dakotah squeezed Domino’s hand. A thousand thoughts tumbling through her mind. Including the belief that it should be her going into the clearing.
Don’t even consider it, Dakotah, he said. Obsidian eyes meeting hers, warning her with a look that he would take complete control if she pushed him.
Hurry up and get it over with then, she said. Confident he would win, though her heart raced with the fear that something would go wrong and he would die because of her.
Domino pulled her to him, poured love and the promise of a future together into her with a kiss, then set her aside. His gaze meeting Fane’s in a silent communication that had Fane moving closer, his shoulder against Dakotah’s, as Domino stripped and entered the clearing.
The wolves moved forward in a tight knot and Dakotah tensed. Fane took her arm and said, “Don’t worry. The pack elders are only going to state the terms agreed on by the padralls and hear Domino’s formal acceptance of them before the challenge begins.”
It was done in a second and the wolves retreated. Then Victor Hale shifted into a grey wolf. Attacked. No doubt hoping to catch Domino as he changed form.
But where Domino had been, the black wolf shimmered into existence. Its bulk larger than the grey wolf’s. Its speed and savagery stunning. The product of an evolution far more intricate and ruthless than the one that had created Victor Hale.
It was over in a fury of movement, of breaking bones and torn flesh, of blood loss and spilled internal organs. The grey wolf’s life pouring into the dirt, its body changing for a final time, becoming a human corpse to be disposed of.
Domino trotted over to where Dakotah stood. The wolf not wanting to relinquish its form when the moon was out and the forest called. Run with me. And Dakotah’s wolf shivered with joy, pressed against her skin in remembered pleasure.
She laughed, thinking about what had happened the last time they ran. You mean mate with you.
He play-bowed, obsidian eyes dancing with joy. That too.
Next to her Fane laughed and said, “Oh how the mighty have fallen.” But Dakotah couldn’t resist Domino’s call. She stripped and handed her clothes to Fane, then changed and darted for the trees, the black wolf bounding after her.
EPILOGUE
Palazzo dei Venti Oscuri . Palace of Dark Winds.
One look at it and Dakotah could see how Matteo Cabrelli’s home got its name. It loomed high above the ocean as though daring the sea and air and earth to challenge it. To try and topple it from its perch along the cliffs.
Dakotah’s stomach tightened, though her heart raced with anticipation. She even managed a smile when she remembered Helki’s assertion that she would see Sarael again sooner than she might think and be a part of Sarael’s world for more years than she could imagine.
Next to her, Domino laughed softly, pulling Dakotah more tightly against him in the backseat of the limousine that was now making the slow climb upward. It’s a good thing my mother’s mother is so sure of her readings and her visions that she never needs to say “I told you so.”