Obsession (16 page)

Jessica hovered in the back. Never one to take the lead, she’d shifted last, not wanting anyone to see her slow transition to wolf. Oh, she loved running, but it had always been a more painful transformation for her than most Lupines.

Racing over pine needles and decaying leaves on the forest floor, she followed the pack. Then she noticed a large, muscled male wolf, with the proud markings of natural alpha, dropping behind to run at her side. Her wolf senses caught a familiar scent.

Raphael
.

Eventually she slowed. Another weakness of her Lupine self. She tired more easily than the rest of the pack. Jessica stopped, sniffed a tree, pretending to pick up a fascinating scent as Raphael kept running. Inside, she felt deep shame.

No wonder Dennis didn’t want her mating with any pack males. Jessica, the unknown element, the weak link in the Lupine chain.

Slowly, she shifted back to Skin form. A cold wind blew across her naked skin, bringing gooseflesh to her arms. Jessica shivered and sank to the base of the tree trunk. Waiting here seemed a good idea, until the pack returned.

No one would miss her. They were too absorbed in the thrill of the run.

But something scuffled along the forest floor. Jessica tensed. She lacked the magick to properly clothe herself, and she was too exhausted to shift back to wolf.

A beam of silver moonlight spilled upon the forest floor, and hit the wolf standing there in the quiet glen.

Raphael. He’d turned around to find her.

Jessica shivered anew. He shifted back to Skin and stood before her, equally nude. Moonlight glinted on his dark hair, shadowing his face, silhouetting his strong, athletic body. Such a prime example of a fierce male Lupine. Desire flushed her body, chasing away the cold. Then she remembered what he was.

Pureblood.

Unlike her.

Her arousal faded. She stared into the forest, her chest hollow.

“Why are you sitting here?” He joined her, sitting on the ground, lacing his hands around his knees.

He was still naked, too. Jessica hugged herself, more from the cold than modesty. “I felt like a break. Just wanted to absorb the beauty of the night in Skin form.”

What a lie. He could easily see through it, she knew he could. But Raphael only leaned his head back against the tree. Then he waved his hand, conjuring a large flannel shirt and handed it to her.

“You look chilled,” he murmured.

Grateful, she slipped it on and thanked him. He regarded her with his steady gaze. This Lupine didn’t ask why she failed to conjure clothing, or make her feel awkward.

Jessica looked at him. “I’ve always been different from other Lupines. In my pack, my alpha doesn’t like me socializing much with the single males because he doesn’t want me choosing a mate from them. He likes keeping the bloodlines…pure.”

“Your alpha is narrow-minded. He cannot appreciate your true beauty. Simply because you can’t run as fast as the pack, or have the same magick as most Lupines doesn’t make you weak. Just different.”

A wry smile touched her mouth. “Funny. I just said the same thing to Daniel.”

“I know.”

“You overheard that?”

Smiling, he picked up a lock of her hair, and rubbed it. “You have a very kind heart. It’s one of your many unique qualities, Jessica. Compassion for others. A naughty sense of humor. And a most exquisite mouth. Small and ripe, as sweet-looking as a fresh cherry.”

No man in college ever told her that. They just wanted her to lie down and spread her legs. Jessica had wanted more. Needed more.

His gaze dropped lower, to her legs.

“You’re quite tempting. And very clever. And naughty.”

Her jaw dropped as he pulled her into his arms, and turned her over on his knee. Raphael pulled up the shirt and caressed her bottom.

“So plump and lovely. Such a sweet ass.”

A moan tore from her throat as his hand moved lower. Raphael traced the curve of her buttocks, then slid a finger down to her core. “So very sweet.”

Shock pummeled her as he brought his hand down firmly on her bare ass.

“That’s for screwing up my phone.”

As she shrieked out a protest at the stinging slap, he pressed his mouth upon the spot he’d just spanked. His mouth felt warm caressing her naked flesh where the sting of his palm still resonated. Raphael’s gentle kiss soothed away the brief pain. “And that is for being kind to Daniel.”

Jessica scrambled off his lap and sat on the ground, staring at him. “What do you want, Raphael? You’re an enigma, more than me.”

Moonlight revealed shadows in his dark eyes, tempered with a flicker of haunting loneliness. “The same thing you desire, little Red, though we both deny it. We both want a place to call home.”

Confused, she kept staring at him. “But you have a home here with J.J.’s pack.”

“I live here. But it is not home, and can never be a home. I’m a stranger here. So you see, Jessica, like you, I am also outcast and until I unite my former pack, it will always be so.”

Her heart turned over at his confession. She drew closer, slid a hand over his bearded chin. “I know what it’s like to be lonely among many.”

As she reached up to kiss him, he lowered his head. Jessica closed her eyes and sighed at the subtle pressure of his mouth. She parted her lips and he responded with a light touch, nibbling gently at her lower lip, his tongue slipping inside the moist cavern of her mouth. She slid her arms around his neck, inviting him closer.

Warmth spread through her, heating her blood, surging into her veins like fire. His kiss was sweet and gentle, his mouth moving softly over hers.

Still, he remained gentle, his tongue rimming her lips. His scent wrapped around her like a blanket, warm male musk, spices and citrus. Jessica felt the hardness of his arousal against her belly as she pressed closer. She wanted that hardness inside her, pushing so deep that they’d become one, his seed filling her, making her pregnant with his baby…

Realization hit her. Gasping, she drew back. Raphael panted, his eyes darkening with desire.

“You’re coming into your heat,” he said, his voice deep. “I can scent the change in you. You’re going to ovulate soon.”

Jessica drew in a deep breath. “It never happens this early. I’m always regular.”

“Sometimes being in the presence of a male who arouses you deeply can trigger early ovulation in female Lupines. Nature seizes the advantage to procreate.”

It sounded like a textbook sentence, but there was nothing scientific about the way he said it, his smoky voice a caress, as if he’d licked and nibbled his way down her naked body…

He cupped her chin, his gaze glittering. “We have already bonded sexually in our dreams. I want you, Jessica. Every instinct in my body urges me to take you, now, and impregnate you with my seed. I have spent the past seven years disciplining my lust and avoiding all sex to focus on ways to destroy my enemy. I vowed to never get involved with another woman. And despite the fact I know you are hiding something, I want you. You threaten to shatter every single iota of my control.”

His eyes glittered with intent. “You do not want to see me lose control.”

Power radiated from his big body, the muscles tense, his eyes locked onto her like a laser in a Space Wolf video game. Her body responded to the overwhelming masculinity, aching and yearning, the space between her legs throbbing.

Something inside her snapped, sexual frustration boiling over like a volcano. “I can handle you,” she taunted.

No chance to bite back the words. Raphael cupped the back of her head and crushed his mouth against hers. It was no gentle, teasing kiss, but one of pure possession, staking his claim. His tongue boldly thrust past her lips, tasting her, exploring the wet cavern of her mouth. Jessica moaned and clutched his shoulders. Her knees threatened to give out as she sagged against him.

He kept at it, exquisite sensual torture, tension simmering just below the surface of the kiss. As if his life, his next breath, depended on her.

A shiver skated down her spine. He nipped her bottom lip, then licked it in a lingering caress. Boldness overcame her as Jessica cupped his erection, squeezed.

She opened her eyes, startled at his hot, intent look. It warned her that she’d pushed him too far. Raphael flicked out his claws and tore the shirt off her back.

“Right now,” he spoke against her mouth.

* * *

Raphael felt crazed with the need to sexually dominate.

Jessica’s full mouth begged to be kissed. Retracting his claws, for he must not hurt her, he then ran his fingers down her back, stroking and soothing. Her soft breasts pressed against his hard torso. The intoxicating smell of her enveloped him; the apple shampoo she’d used mixing with her own delicious floral scent. He nuzzled her throat, the skin as soft as peach down. Peaches…juicy and slick. How he remembered her eating the peace when he’d first seen her two months ago, her mouth wet and red.

Would she taste like peaches when he put his mouth on her? Her own juices sweet and thick?

Kissing his way down her throat to her shoulder, he slid his hands down her hips to pull her forward then he cupped her sweet ass…

The scent of her arousal hit him like a sledgehammer. His body tightened painfully, his balls aching, his cock hardening. He tipped her backwards onto the forest floor, kissing her. Instinct roared, his body primed to claim and conquer. The wolf inside snarled for the right to mate. He climbed atop her, letting her feel his immense strength, his power and prowess, the proof he was worthy of breeding with her. Pinning her wrists to the ground, he dragged in a deep lungful of her arousal.

Wide gray eyes stared up at him. A quiver went through her body.

He’d never turned feral on a female before, especially not an innocent like Jessica. And he knew she was an innocent, judging from her sweet scent. No man had touched her.

With all his control, he leashed himself and released her wrists. He braced his hands on either side of her body. The kiss he gave her was gentle.

His hands explored, drifted over her curvy hips. Jessica had a tender heart, yet held enormous inner strength. She was a survivalist who’d faced her challenges with courage and strength. She was life and adventure and laughter.

“Lie back and let me pleasure you, as a Lupine should. There is nothing to be scared of,” he murmured.

“I’m not scared.” She arched beneath his touch as he traced a line down her breasts. “Is this a dream?”

“No. But I am making our shared dream come true.” He blew a breath against her soft skin. “I cannot help myself, Jessica. You are driving me wild.”

Raphael parted her slender legs with his hands.

He stared at her cleft, wet and glistening. His erection strained to the point of bursting.

“You’re beautiful,” he said softly, dragging in a lungful of her scent. Ah, so sweet, aroused and feminine.

He’d die if he couldn’t taste her.

Jessica tried to fight the flood of sensations coursing through her. Giving in

meant forging a physical link between them. And she had to remain focused on her plans to find her brother.

And then he lowered his head and put his mouth between her legs and she forgot everything but Raphael.

Licking her, lapping her in long, expert strokes between her cleft, feasting on her sweetness. Raphael’s tongue on the aching flesh between her legs did crazy, erotic things to her. Every stroke and whorl drew air from her body until she felt herself strained with the need to breathe, to burst out of her skin. He licked, swallowed, the rough bristle from his bearded cheeks abrading her thighs. Tension heightened, spiraling her upward and upward until she stiffened, and gave a keen wail, her body thrashing as she climaxed. The orgasm exploded out of her so fiercely, she almost blanked out. For a moment she lay still, breath heaving in and out of her lungs, her body boneless.

Jessica slowly pushed up on her elbows, needing to see him. As he lifted his head, possession blazed in his eyes.

Mine.

Raphael regarded her with the satisfaction of a wolf who’d finally captured his prey. Her body tingled again. He had devoured her most thoroughly.

“You taste exactly like my dream,” he said thickly. “Peaches. Sweet and slick.”

Tongue-tied, she stared back. Finally, she found her voice. “That…was some dream.”

Howls echoed through the forest. The pack was returning. Raphael scrambled to his feet and looked down at her, licking his mouth. He held out a hand and she took it, standing on wobbly legs that felt shaky.

“I will finish later what I’ve started, little Red. This does not end here.”

The sheer confidence in his deep voice rattled her. She couldn’t allow his sensual web to ensnare her, and make her babble all her secrets. Jessica sensed he wanted information on her family because there was a connection between her family and the Lupine he’d searched for all these years.

“You can’t control me through sex, Raphael.”

Then he gripped her chin and stared into her eyes, as if searching her soul. “I cannot deny this attraction between us. I want you, and I will have you. But I still do not trust you. It’s best you level with me now and tell me the full truth of why you are here at the ranch, because I will find out in the end.”