NocC 023 - The Ancients 05 - Bonnie Vanak - Incubus Wolf - Harlequin 2012-09 (6 page)

“Look up, Alexandra. Look at yourself, flushed with passion,
with desire. See how lovely you are.”

When her eyes remained closed, his voice became a whiplash of
command. “Look.”

Alex opened her eyes and stared into the ceiling mirror. A rosy
flush tinted her naked body, her mouth was parted on a gasp.

“So beautiful,” he murmured.

Frustration bit her with daggered teeth. On the edge of an
orgasm, she pushed against his hand.

“Tell me. Do you want to come?” he commanded.

“Yes,” she sobbed. “Please. Make me come.”

He watched, his gaze capturing hers as she bit back a cry.
“Don’t hold back. I want to see you come, hear you cry out. Look upward, at
yourself, Alexandra. Look at yourself as you come.”

Her body grew taut as a bowstring, she looked upward. He
pressed on her clit and the tension shattered her into shards.

Alex stared at herself in the throes of orgasm, hair spilling
over the satin pillow, head bent back, eyes filled with tears, mouth parted on a
scream of his name. She saw the dark-haired man kneeling between her legs, his
thick penis rising from a nest of dark hair. Rich with satisfaction, his gaze
caught hers in the mirror. He bent his head to hers.

“Give me your mouth,” he commanded.

Alex parted her lips, tasted her musky arousal on his mouth. He
cupped the back of her head, holding her steady for his possession as his tongue
thrust inside.

Then Dominic pressed soft kisses across her belly and breasts,
splaying his hands across her rib cage. Touching her, tasting her as if she were
indeed beautiful. Alex began regaining a sense of power as he worshipped her
with his mouth. Cupping her breasts, he kneaded them, flicking the hardened
nipples with his thumbs. He encased one taut nipple with his mouth and suckled
her, licking the peak.

He settled atop her, supporting his weight with his hands. His
chest hairs rubbed over her overly sensitive nipples like a brush of silk. The
rounded edge of his penis pushed into her. Swollen from her climaxes, she wasn’t
certain she could take him. He was too big.

“Yes,” he murmured, reading her mind. “You can take all of me.
Relax. Open to me.”

His thick erection slid into her slowly. His smoldering gaze
locked with hers.

When he withdrew, waiting, Alex pumped her hips.

“Don’t stop.” She barely recognized the sultry purr of her
voice.

Dominic smiled darkly and obliged her.

His thick length filled her as he penetrated to her womb.
Dominic rested his forehead against hers, a bead of sweat dropping onto her
cheek and splashing down like a tear.

He groaned and began thrusting in long, slow strokes. Blood
thundered in her ears and rushed to her loins. Her limbs quaked wildly beneath
the steady, hard thrusts.

Emotions flowed out of her. Alex closed her eyes, the words
spilling from her lips.

“Dominic, oh, love me, please. Love me.”

She felt him touch his mind to hers, the gentlest of
caresses.

Open to me, my sweet Alexandra. See how
beautiful you are. Nothing can ever mar your beauty, for you are lovely to
me. Time cannot erase your beauty, nor can man’s scars upon your heart take
your soul. Bond with me, my Alexandra. I have longed for this moment, have
waited since the first moment I saw you. Show me the deepest, darkest
desires of your heart and I promise I will always cherish and honor
you.

Her lips parted in wonder. She opened her eyes to see him
gazing fiercely at her as he surged into her.

“Yes,” she sobbed, writhing.

“You are beautiful Alexandra,” he whispered, brushing his mouth
against hers. “I see inside you.”

“I love you,” she cried out.

With a satisfied smile, he thrust harder. His hips hammered
into her, hard male flesh smacking against her soft yielding femaleness. Alex
arched, desperate to touch him. Her hips bucked as he rode her hard and fast. A
scream rose from her throat.

Pleasure so intense she couldn’t bear it built to a shattering
crescendo. A scream tore from her throat as her hips jerked convulsively,
Dominic rode her throughout without mercy, his shaft hammering into her as he
gripped her hips. Tossing back his head, he groaned, his big body shuddering as
he released his seed. Dominic collapsed atop her, his breath thundering into her
ear. Slowly, as if resenting leaving her, he pulled out of the tight clasp of
her body.

Trembling, she lay on the sweat-soaked sheets, feeling him
untie her bonds. Then he joined her on the bed and gathered her close. There in
the security of his strong arms, she surrendered to sleep.

Chapter 8

Alex awoke a short time later. Golden light from the
flickering candles touched the angles and planes of his face. His hair was
tousled, black silk as her fingers threaded through the strands. With avid
hunger, Alex’s gaze caressed her lover’s naked body, splayed out on the sheets.
A triangle of dark hair covered his chest, arrowing down his muscled abdomen to
the darker, thicker hair at his groin. She looked her fill, tracking each clean
line of hard muscle and bone, the knobby indents at his hips.

And then his face, the lower lip slightly fuller, inviting her
taste. Alex leaned over and kissed him. She bit the curve of his lip gently,
catching it playfully between her teeth.

Eyes of sharp blue opened, making her breath hitch.

Alex drew back on her haunches, watching in anticipation. A
crooked smile tugged at his mouth as he stretched and gave a very wolfish
growl.

Dominic crooked a finger at her.

“Come here, Alexandra. That was very naughty of you to awake me
like that. I shall have to punish you.”

She shook her head.

“Alexandra…”

With a graceful leap, he tackled her, pinning her to the bed
with his heavy weight. She writhed underneath him as his smoldering gaze
penetrated hers.

“What are you going to do with me?” she whispered.

A smile, honed as the edge of a razor, gave her the answer.
Dominic fisted a hand in her hair and gave a deep, drugging kiss, stroking his
tongue deep. He kissed her as if he couldn’t wait to mount her again.

Two could play at this. Alex stroked his tongue with hers, her
fingers sliding down to cup his buttocks. She teased along the crevice, dipped
her fingers inside and felt him laugh in delight against her mouth.

He left the bed, opened a drawer and returned with a small
phallus, white, round and smooth. In his other hand he clutched a tube of
lubricant. Alexandra gulped.

“Turn over,” he said in a dark velvet voice.

Trembling, she did, peeking over her shoulder as he uncapped
the lubricant and smeared gel over the phallus.

Two warm hands parted her buttocks. Alex tensed.

“Relax,” he said softly. “You’ll enjoy this.”

Coated with the lubricant, his fingers stroked her bottom, then
slid between the twin halves. Dominic applied the gel to her opening. It was
carnal and wicked, and moisture trickled between her legs at the hot
sensation.

He murmured reassurances as he slid the dildo across her soaked
cleft, teasing her like the demon he was. Alex clenched tight as he stroked her
clit.

When she felt herself opening up, her legs spilling open wide
in a silent please, he parted her cheeks and pushed the phallus inside her.

It did not hurt, but the fullness felt odd. She rocked her hips
against his stroking palm, squirming at the sensation.

Then he flipped her over and opened her legs wide, settling
between them.

Pleasure began anew as he thrust hard into her, his thick cock
penetrating to the hilt.

The pressure built in her loins once more and she arched,
crying out. The motion of his hips shifted as he rubbed against her clit. The
combination was too much. Tension coiled inside her, sharp and sweet,
exquisitely tuned to this man punishing her with such pleasure.

“Give it to me,” she cried out.

Panting, he pounded into her, his thick cock sliding deep
inside her. Alex met his rhythm with fierce need of her own, her hips rising and
falling with the frenetic pace. Snarling, she reached up and bit the hard muscle
of his shoulder. He grunted.

The next thrust sent her spiraling over the edge as she
clenched hard around his thick cock. Alex dug her nails into his shoulders,
climaxing so hard that the edges of her vision clouded. With a hoarse shout of
her name, he shook, his warm seed flooding her.

Collapsing onto the bed, she panted, all inhibitions shed.
Dominic’s hot breath bellowed into her ear as he rested his head on the pillow.
Gently he removed the phallus, tossed it aside. She curled her hands around him,
this demon wolf who’d captured her heart and her body. Yet when he lifted his
head to regard her, it was not the smile of conqueror who’d captured his
prize.

But the tender smile of a lover who’d captured her heart.

Dominic licked the dampness from her skin, his tongue
wonderfully warm and soothing. Then he studied her face with a solemn look.

Euphoria faded as Dominic traced a line over her cheek.
Suddenly she felt chilled to the bone at his gaze. Something had changed.

The delicious warmth fled, leaving her shivering and cold. No,
it couldn’t be. She still had one day left of beauty, one day to cover her real
face.

She cried out and fled the bed.

*

Dominic’s heart twisted painfully as he silently watched
his lover.

Alexandra stood before the wall, staring at the mirrors.

Blood drained from her face. Standing out in sharp blue relief
were the Fae runes. They flared angry red, a sharp contrast to her gold curls
and pale skin.

The runes had been there from the moment he’d seen her, lying
in the hollow of the tree. But she had not seen them. Until now.

Grief shattered her like glass as she splayed a palm against
the mirror. “Oh no… He lied, he lied, he must have meant I’d look beautiful five
days from the time he captured me, not five full days.”

Tears brimmed in her beautiful green eyes. “Ugly, ugly, so
ugly,” she whispered. “Why did you come back. Go away.”

Pain twisted his heart.
Oh, Alexandra, why
can’t you see yourself as I truly see you?

Joining her at the mirror, he reached out to trace a flaring
rune, but she flinched.

Gone was the confident, assertive warrior, replaced by the
ghost of old hurts. His temper flared. “Who put these marks on you?” He knew who
it was, but wanted to hear the answer from her.

Moisture shimmered in her eyes. She wiped it away with an angry
gesture. “Doesn’t matter.”

Dominic cupped her cheek, turning her toward him. “Fae runes,”
he mused. “One says, Beware…”

Alex jerked away and turned. “Get away from me.”

He followed her up the stairs, curbing his fury at whoever at
hurt her. “Alexandra…”

On the landing she whirled, her gaze empty. Dominic’s heart
lurched.

“You’re still lovely, Alexandra. You always will be to me.
Scars or no scars.”

“They’re not scars. They’re a warning to stay the hell away.
Works well, too. The men I’ve been with since insisted on sex in the dark.”

Leaning close, he cupped her cheek with a warm palm and spoke
softly. “The runes are your barbed wire. You’re as caged as those wolves we
freed, sweetness, and you long to be free.”

He touched one, a rune flaring red on her left breast. Each
kiss on the mark caused a warm glow. As it did, he kissed it again, licking it
as if a rare treat. To his surprise, it tasted honey sweet. Delicious. He
swirled his tongue over it, satisfied to hear her moan with pleasure.

Dominic lapped her skin over a rune on her belly, tracing each
mark. At the dark blue swirls of her tattoos, the marks of shame. The runes
began to glow red with the vibrant flush of passion. As if her entire body were
a furnace and burning hot.

He stood and gripped her marked shoulders. “Alexandra, they’re
nothing to be ashamed of,” he said gently. “Who put these on you?”

“It was my stepfather. He did it to punish me after I lost my
virginity. My prized purity wanted by his rival, who was promised lands and
riches in exchange for my hand. And after I was no longer pure, he no longer
wanted me.”

“The bastard,” he said through gritted teeth. “I should have
killed him.”

“He wanted to mark me,” she whispered, pained remembrance in
her dull, blank gaze.

“As what?”

“A whore. I can hide the marks with glamour, but every time I
become intensely aroused, they appear all over my body. To make me hideous to
any lover.” Alex looked as if the pain were fresh and new and searing—as if it
happened all over again.

Fury spiraled inside him, warring with the grief he felt. Alex
refused to meet his gaze as he cupped her tattooed chin.

“You’re not a whore. You’re a beautiful woman, Alexandra. I
knew it from the moment I first saw you.”

“Beautiful because you saw me as that golden-haired imbecile
who believed men could be good.” Alex gave a bitter laugh. Now she did look at
him and the cold emptiness in her gaze chilled him to the bone.

“It was you, Dominic. You were my first lover. Only you didn’t
remember because I was beautiful. I’m not anymore. I’m…” She spread out her
hands and jerked away. “This. And now you see me as I am.”

“I already did see,” he told her quietly. “From the first
moment you stepped into the bar. I knew who you were, Alexandra.”

But she seemed too caught in her own pain to listen.

“I can be beautiful again.” She stared into the mirrored
hallway. “The wizard promised more of the beauty potion if I brought you to him.
I can be myself again, the way I was, long ago.”

Now he understood her desperation. Belaramos had convinced her
beauty could be restored. But wizards lied and deceived with false promises.

“It’s an illusion, sweetheart. The bastard lied to you.”

Two single tears tracked down her tattooed cheeks as she
violently shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I was beautiful. But I can’t bring you
to Belaramos. You did something to me inside, Dominic. Cast a spell of your own,
maybe. I won’t betray you.”

Hope flared inside him, fierce and bright. He reached out for
her, but she sidestepped.

“I’m going home,” she told him dully. “I’ll tell the Society I
failed to find you. Serve them another ten years. It will be harder to disguise
myself with this face, but…”

She refused to meet his gaze. Ashamed. He’d seen it so many
times in his pack members when they first arrived, before they regained their
confidence and realized their self-worth.

Anguish twisted his heart. He could not bear to see her like
this, broken and shattered. The woman burning with purpose, whose passion
equaled his own, was gone. Empty and dead.

It hurt beyond words. Dominic rubbed at the tightness in his
chest as she closed the door behind her. He knew what he must do.

Even if it meant sacrificing himself. At least she would live
again. He could not bear the deadness in her lovely green eyes.

Never could he erase the mistake he’d made the first time when
he’d left her. But he could make up for that failure by fulfilling her secret
wish.

Dominic’s shoulders tensed. Belaramos would not be merciful.
But if it meant freeing Alexandra from the curse, so be it.

Halfway down the stairs, he saw Carla and issued an order. As
she wept, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

“Be kind to Michael,” he told her, his chest tight. “He will
need you.”

As he headed for the front door, he saw Michael. “Stay here.
That’s an order. You’re in charge for as long as I’m gone.”

But I will not be back
. In his
heart, he knew it.

“Where are you going?” his second demanded.

“Going to get a potion. I’m off to see the wizard, the
wonderful wizard of Odd,” Dominic murmured as he opened the door to the cold,
dark night.