Wild Fire (Wilding Pack Wolves 5) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (12 page)

As he leaped over fallen logs and tramped through the mossy underbrush, he quickly found the run wasn’t doing the trick—his thoughts kept drifting back to Zoe. His mind had been churning all week, going back and forth about trying again with her. Half the time, he kept his distance, but several times, he’d nearly knocked on her door before turning in for the night. Through it all, his wolf had been howling up a storm… and now, with his wolf loose in the forest, the yearning for her was even stronger.

Fuck.

Why was he so obsessed with her? He’d had beautiful women before. He was a firefighter and an EMT—women were practically on call. Not that he ever mixed it up with patients, but his crew was a randy bunch. They had women coming and going, practically an entire fan club, and the fact that Troy was a shifter didn’t put any of them off. If anything, it was the opposite. With shifters in the news all the time, bedding a male shifter had become a sort of exotic treat for a certain class of women in Seattle. The popularity of that app, WildLove, was proof that the market of human females looking for a hot time with male wolves was very robust. He’d never used it, but finding a bedmate had never been a problem for him.

But they’d all been human.

In fact, his contact with wolves had been pretty limited. There just weren’t that many of them, at least not in the suburbs where Troy was stationed. Or if they were, they kept a low profile, with all the rampant hatemongering. And even before that, it hadn’t exactly been fashionable to come out as a wolf.

Here in the mountains, he was surrounded by nothing but wolves—and not only that, but
super wolves.
White wolves. Magical, blue-magic-fire-spewing wolves, for fuck’s sake.

And Zoe, as far as he could tell, was the most powerful among them.

Was that what attracted him? It certainly turned him on, if he was honest. But that wasn’t what had his wolf howling for her on the other side of the wall all night long.

Troy kept barreling through the forest, trying to outrun his questions and his doubts and his turmoil, but it was no use. His thoughts stayed glued inside his head, and he was getting deeper into the forest without having found the rest of his pack.

His pack.

He was starting to think of them that way, even though he hadn’t sworn allegiance to anyone yet, not even Daniel. The others had accepted him, but he and Daniel had sort of been odd-wolves-out. And now that he had discovered his magic, maybe he wouldn’t want Troy to hang around anymore, either. Maybe if Troy were a white wolf like Daniel, Zoe would give him a chance.

He growled and batted away a branch as he bounded by.

That wasn’t it, either—Zoe wasn’t that kind of person. She didn’t judge him for not being a white wolf. If anything, it was the opposite. She was
afraid
of her power. She needed an alpha to guide her through this
becoming
she was experiencing. To help bring out her witch powers, like Skylar had with Daniel. But Zoe was too resistant to it, like her white wolf was truly something evil inside her. This whole thing with her killing her mother in the womb—he wasn’t convinced it had actually happened, and even as horrifying as that was, it shouldn’t
define
her.

It was in the past and nothing she could change. He wanted to
tell
her that, convince her of it, but he could barely get two seconds with her. And nothing he said seemed to matter.

Troy growled even louder, letting his anger loose as the trees flew past him. He was making so much noise that he didn’t even hear Daniel and Skylar until he practically ran into them. Troy skittered to a stop and fell to a crouch in the underbrush, holding absolutely still.

Daniel had Skylar up against a tree…
and they were definitely having sex.

Judging by the grunts and moans coming from them both, they were preoccupied and hadn’t heard him crashing through the forest. Troy slowly backed up, keeping his paws soft on the forest floor, trying to leave before they realized he had barged in on their lovemaking.

Even as he turned his back, shutting off the image of them half-naked and getting it on like crazy, he couldn’t close his ears. The sounds they were making were punctuated by breathless words that showed they weren’t just fucking. There was something
real
between them, something more than lust driving them to consummate the raging sexual tension everyone had been snickering about all week.

And that stirred all kinds of things inside Troy as he slunk away into the forest.

Once he was far enough, he picked up the pace and literally ran from the sights and sounds of the two lovers. But he couldn’t run away from the feelings that were raging through the magic in his wolf’s blood.

He should have Zoe up against a tree, showing her how he felt.

His wolf was singing for her—she was the one for him, whether she realized it or not. He’d spent his whole life saving people, or at least trying to—first dragging himself out of the gutter gangs of the city, then devoting himself to being there when someone was most in need. A heart attack victim, a child trapped in a fire, even the little old ladies who most needed rescue from the aches and pains of their lonely lives and only secondarily a ride in the ambulance for their most recent gout flare-up.

His work had always been about
being there
for someone else. But it was becoming clear to him that the person he most needed to save was
Zoe.
She needed him to bring her out of her shell. To embrace her inner self. He didn’t believe in accidents, not the kind that placed him in the laboratory at just the right moment to discover her secret. The universe had put her in his path because he was
meant
to know her, inside and out. If only he could convince her to love herself, maybe she would let him love her, too.

The sexual tension between them had been riding him hard all week, and he knew that part wasn’t just him. Maybe she didn’t want a mate—she was probably way out of his league, anyway, being this powerful of a witch-like wolf—but she needed sexual release like anyone else. If he could get her to admit there was at least
that
between them, the raging sexual tension that had been sparking like crazy, then maybe, just maybe, she’d open her heart to him as well.

Just a little; that was all he needed.

He neared the edge of the forest where his clothes still lay in a heap. He pulled them on and headed for the main house. When he reached the door to her bedroom, he didn’t hesitate—he just pounded on it.

“Zoe!” he called through the door. “I know you’re in there. Open up! I have something I want to say to you.”

There was enough silence for enough seconds that he was starting to doubt she was even in there. Or that she would open the door, given he was being kind of an ass. Maybe she was in there, silently cursing him out—

The door opened.

She stood there with her new haircut slightly disheveled, a worried look on her face, and her shoulders hunched up to her ears. “What did you want to say?” she asked, her voice full of caution, and her hand still on the doorknob like she was ready to slam the door in his face.

He pushed it open further with one hand and slid the other behind her head, holding her tight for the kiss he planted straight on her mouth, half open in surprise. Her body froze in shock, and he took that half second to lean into her, drawing her close against his body as his mouth laid claim to hers.

Then she reacted—and she was all over him.

Hands clutching at his chest, then at his shoulders and finally up into his bare scruff of hair… it was like she wanted to touch him all over. He moaned into her mouth and deepened his kiss, bending her back as he gave everything to it. Holding her tight with one hand, he reached back to slam the door shut, then lifted her bodily from the floor, twirled her around, and walked her back against it, pinning her to the carved wood and diving deeper into her sweet, sweet mouth.

He broke the kiss only to dip his head down to feast on her neck.

But that seemed to break the magic.

“Troy.” She was breathless, her gorgeous chest pressing and heaving against his as he still pressed her to the door.

“You are so damn sweet,” he breathed against her neck. He nipped a line up to her earlobe and tasted that.
Damn,
everywhere he touched her was like sparks lighting up his skin. His wolf was growling for more, to sink his fangs into her, but that was insane… not to mention out of the question.

Her hands were pushing him away now. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?” she asked, her voice taking on a little more edge.

He stopped running the tip of his tongue along her sweet skin and pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. “Yes. The fact that I want you. And you want me. And it’s time for us to stop pretending otherwise.”

Her small whimper drove his wolf into a frenzy. He leaned forward to kiss her again but stopped just short of touching his lips to hers. “Kiss me, Zoe Wilding,” whispered against her lips, then waited for her to bridge the gap.

She hesitated.

He didn’t go anywhere, just held absolutely still.

Finally, she let out something like a gasp, a small exhale, but he felt it zing through his body—
submission.
It wasn’t the kind his wolf wanted, but it
was
her caving into the hot need that had to be pulsing through her body, just like it was through his.

When she leaned forward, just a bit, to cross the gap and kiss him… it unlocked something inside him. He answered her tentative kiss with an urgent one that pressed her against the door again. That small relenting from her, that tiny hint of what a submission from her would feel like, was making him insane.

His cock was rock-hard and insistent between them as he devoured her mouth and poured all his pent-up need into his kiss. Then his hands got busy, skimming down her luscious body, cupping her bottom then lifting her leg to hook over his hip, so he could drive the hardness of him into the sweet softness of her.
Jesus Christ,
they had all their clothes on still, and he was already mentally taking her against the door.

Her hands were pulling at his shirt, and the door was just too fucking constrictive. He pulled away, and breaking that kiss made it feel like he was instantly miles from her. He whipped off his shirt, then pulled her back to him, away from the door. The soft sounds of pleasure she was making, as her hands skimmed his chest, not to mention the freaking-soft touch of her fingers on his flesh… he needed her naked.
Now.

He took hold of her hips and turned her, literally lifting her feet from the floor and holding her against his bare chest, then quickly backed her toward the bed. Her eyes were hooded with lust, and her lips were slightly swollen from his urgent kissing. He wanted to stop and just
look
at her in that state for a while… but his need to have her clothes off and
touching
her was too strong. He yanked her t-shirt over her head. She had a front-opening bra, so he made quick work of releasing that. He couldn’t help the groan when her breasts fell free—he practically fell to one knee in front of her, lapping at her quickly hardening nipples as his hands attacked the buttons on her jeans.

Her hands clutched at his head as he took her nipple between his teeth. “Troy!” Her breathless pant was making his cock strain against his jeans.

He finally got the buttons free and quickly slid down her jeans and panties. He couldn’t wait to dive in there, but her small gasp of surprise had him looking up even as he slid her back to sitting on the bed, so he could work her pants down the rest of her shapely legs.

“Oh,” she breathed, looking at him, dazed, hands braced on either side on the bed. “Troy, I don’t know if—”

“Hey,” he interrupted whatever protest she wanted to throw up. Then he kissed her on the knee as he slid her pants off the rest of the way. He peered up at her, giving her his best
I promise you’re going to like this
smirk. “Just lay back and enjoy the ride,” he whispered as his hands slid up to cup those gorgeous breasts again… and also urge her to lay back. She was giving him a chance, and he was going to work it for all it was worth.

But she didn’t lean back; in fact, she sat up and grabbed onto his shoulder, stopping him. “I just… I don’t know what you’re…” She swallowed and looked legitimately nervous, which tightened a knot in his stomach.

Was he scaring her?

Jesus.
“Baby, it’s okay,” he said, rising up from the floor to sit next to her. His cock was about to stage a revolt for not going further with this, but the worried look on her face was tearing him up inside. He slid a hand under her legs and eased her up into his lap. Then, holding her securely there, he threaded his fingers into her hair and peered into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

She was staring at his chest, but not with that hooded lust-look from before… like she didn’t want to look him in the eyes.

“Hey,” he said softly, dropping a quick kiss on her cheek. “What is it?” When she didn’t answer, just pressed her lips tighter, he added, “I want to know
all
your secrets, Zoe Wilding.”

That made her look up. “I… I’ve never done this before.”

He frowned. “Haven’t done what… exactly?” Had the men in her life never gone down on her? He couldn’t imagine it, but maybe—

“Any of it.” Her eyes went a little wide, and her creamy skin ghosted a little more pale. She swallowed. “I’m a virgin.”

He had no response to that at all.

His brain was stuck somewhere between
Did she just say…
and
No fucking way.

She frowned and started to wriggle out of his lap.

Oh hell no
. He tightened his hold around her waist and stroked a thumb along her check. “Is this why you’ve held back?” he asked softly. “All this time… because you haven’t done this before?” His brain was still restarting from the blow-out.
Zoe was a virgin.
How the hell had that happened? It wasn’t possible that she had no takers, no one willing to rock her bed.
Obviously.
Was it because of this white wolf business? It had to be…