The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(29)

Then his mouth took hers. Light at first, then harder. His tongue skimmed over her lips. His hand slid down her body, his fingers skirting around the curve of her breast.

A moan rose in her throat.

Make him stop? She’d rather make him strip.

A door slammed then. A car horn honked. Voices drifted toward them.

“Make me,” he said against her lips.

She could feel his cock swelling against her. Her body ached but…

Holly pulled her mouth from his. “S-step away from me.”

His whole body tightened.

Then his mouth found hers again as he kissed her harder.

Her heartbeat doubled. He wasn’t supposed to still be kissing her. This wasn’t the way it worked. She’d interviewed vamps at the facility. They’d all said…

Controlling prey is easy. Take the blood. Then just tell them what you want. They can’t resist. The blood is the link. The power.

They’d laughed about how easy it was to control humans.

Only…oh, crap, she wasn’t trying to control a human. She was dealing with a werewolf. Maybe she couldn’t control him through a compulsion.

He still had on his silver collar. Pate had given her another remote and had made sure it was tuned to be able to control both Saul and Duncan.

But she didn’t want to use the silver to control them.

His mouth lifted from hers. “Do you know…” Duncan growled against her lips, “that I want to bite you?”

Vampires weren’t the only ones who liked to bite.

“So what’s to stop me?” he murmured. His fingertips were suddenly at her throat. Trailing lightly over skin. No, not just his fingertips. She could feel the light scratch of his claws.

“There’s no one here. Just us. No other agents. No Pate.” The last was said with a touch of anger. “I can bite you. I can claim you. And you can’t stop me.”

What could have been a lick of fear shot through her. But, no, this was Duncan. He wouldn’t do anything to her.

Would he?

“S-stop,” she said.

“Make me,” he ordered her again.

His body seemed harder. Stronger. He wasn’t shifting—oh, he’d better not be shifting.

“Duncan?” Yes, okay, fear had the word trembling.

“When a werewolf bites his chosen mate,” and his fingers were on the side of her neck, “it’s a mark that tells all the other wolves to stay the hell away. A mark that says…mine.”

She knew how the wolf rules went. She’d done the paranormal classes that the agents took, too.

“I look at you,” his words were deeper, darker. “And think…mine.”

“You’re trying to s-scare me.” Trying. Succeeding.

“No. I’m telling you what is.” His head lowered to her neck. His teeth skimmed over her frantically racing pulse. “You won’t get away from me.”

She didn’t think it was the man who spoke the words, but the beast he’d become. The wolf inside that thought in primitive terms of possession and claiming.

Holly lifted her hands and tried to shove him back. “Stop.” He couldn’t claim her. A werewolf claiming was forever. Or rather, until death. Because werewolves had been known to kill their mates instead of letting them escape.

“Make me,”he snarled.

His hold was so much tighter. Harder. His hips were pressing against hers, and she could feel the light sting of his teeth on her neck.

The situation was out of control. He was out of control. They were supposed to be working together. Getting Saul.

“Duncan…”

His head lifted. His eyes stared down at hers. They were glowing—the gold and blue so bright. Far more beast than man. In that instant, she knew that he wasn’t stopping. Not unless she made him.

Her wild heartbeat shook her chest. She stared into his eyes. Felt fear and adrenaline heat her blood. “Let me go.” Her words didn’t shake. They just came from her, whispered softly.

His jaw clenched.

“Step away from me.” Her heart raced faster. Adrenaline had her fingers trembling as she pushed against his chest. “And get your hands off me.”

His teeth snapped together. And he backed away.

“Get control of your beast,” she said, flattening her hands against the wall behind her. “Get that control now.”

His shoulders rolled. His claws turned back into regular nails, and the wildness faded from his eyes.

They stared at each other, breath heaving.

I did it. But, just to be sure, she blurted, “Tell me you love me.”

“I love you,” he said instantly.

And her heart hurt. “Right.” Softer. She nodded. “I think that ends our little experiment, doesn’t it?”

He blinked. His eyes were still feverishly bright, shining in the night.

“I guess I just had to be scared enough.” Her head tipped back against the bricks as she stared up at the dark sky. “That was the purpose of that little scene, right? You were trying to scare me into losing control so I’d be able to use the vamp power?” Maybe that had been the key. He’d made her shake with fear for a moment there, but, it had worked. When she’d only had fear left, there had been no holding back. She’d felt as if something unlocked within her.