Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)(27)

The fact that he wanted permission to bite me spoke volumes in terms of respect. I didn’t need to answer, though, as I played with his feather soft black hair. Enough had passed between us that words didn’t seem important.

After a moment, his fangs sunk deep into the fleshy underside of my breast. A sound escaped me that was both pain and pleasure.

“Do you treat all of your lovers this roughly?” I asked with a hint of teasing. My breath was stolen as his fingers sought out the warm, inviting place between my legs.

“Of course not. You’re a werewolf,” he replied as if that was explanation enough. His tongue lapped at the blood he’d spilled, and I strained against him, wanting more than he was giving.

“You’re high. High on power and werewolf blood.” My voice sounded terribly lazy. Arys looked up at me with a crimson smear on his lower lip. His eyes burned with a predator’s glow.

“Funny comment coming from a lady with such stunning wolf eyes. Howl for me, Alexa. I want to hear how much you love this.”

I did love it. His touch rocked me in ways I never thought possible. As much as I wanted him to scratch the itch inside me again, I wanted answers.

“Do you know what’s happened to us Arys? I need to know. I don’t know enough.” My words stopped, and I dug claws into the sheet beneath me as his mouth replaced his fingers, hot against my core.

“What do you need to know? Power wants to be used.” He spoke slowly, and his lips never left my flesh. “And enjoyed in the meantime.”

“Ok, no more talking,” I groaned. My questions temporarily forgotten, I urged him up so that he kneeled over me.

A sinful smile curved my lips as I gazed up at his hard body. He was more than ready for me again, and I growled my frustration when he didn’t immediately take me.

“Arys,” I murmured. “Don’t play with me, boy.”

“Still not satisfied, Alexa?” He rubbed his rock hard shaft against me playfully, and I made a noise that could have been a purr. I had been satisfied three or four times over now, but the hunger for him was far from fulfilled.

“Not yet. Why don’t you hurry up and satisfy me? Again.” The pleading note to my words made me grimace. The wolf would beg for it, under the right circumstance, but the woman in me never would.

If his snake-like grin was any indication, he loved hearing it. He wasn’t as aggressive as the first few rounds. This time, the softness frightened me. I associated soft, gentle sex with feelings and emotion. After everything we’d willingly and unwillingly shared, insecurity was beginning to creep in.

Arys’s room was heavily curtained to prevent even a sliver of sunlight through, so when the dawn broke, he paid it no mind. Around seven, I decided that I should be getting home.

“You know, Alexa,” Arys said thoughtfully from where he lay on the bed watching me shimmy into my skirt. “This could be huge for us. Imagine what we could do with that kind of power.” He grinned slyly.

“Like what? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know what you’re thinking.” I slipped my shirt over my head and tried uselessly to finger comb the tangles from my hair. “Arys, about the memory thing…”

“I think that was a little traumatizing for both of us. Let’s just agree to keep it confidential.”

I nodded, uncertain. “Speaking of keeping things quiet-,”

“You don’t want the wolf pup to find out.” Arys nodded knowingly, and I cringed. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

“Thank you.” I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I didn’t know why it meant so much to me to keep this quiet. In part, the sex had a lot tied into it that maybe shouldn’t be public knowledge. Also, there were certain people, like Raoul and Shaz, that, for very different reasons, I didn’t want to know my personal business.

“I’ll see you later, Arys,” I called from where I’d stopped in the washroom. Pulling the glass sliver from my foot proved more painful than when the damn thing had gone in. I cursed and swore until the little shard had successfully found its way into the garbage. The debris and glass was appalling in the light of day.

“You can count on it. Do you need me to call you a cab or anything?”

I walked through the house calling back that I was fine with walking. I wanted to walk home rather than call for a ride because I needed the time to think. I dreaded the car retrieval of shame I’d have to do later. The night had revealed so much but had created more confusion as well. As I closed the door on the mess, I felt guilty about not cleaning up, but he’d insisted it was no big deal.

The second I closed the front door behind me and turned to face the day, my eyes burned and watered madly. I fished around in my purse until I produced sunglasses, which didn’t do much to help other than hide my wolf eyes. I spent the first ten minutes of my walk furiously wiping my eyes. To passing motorists, it must have looked like I was crying.

I started feeling shaky and nauseous. I hungered, and it wasn’t a fat, bloody steak that I longed for but the taste of human blood. My stomach hurt, and I had to pause near some brush where I heaved but threw up nothing. What was going on?

My shaking hands were again becoming claws, and I felt my fangs fill my mouth. The wolf was fighting to break free, and I wasn’t sure why right now. I felt little control over myself suddenly, and I was scared. I began thinking that perhaps Arys and I truly had played with fire.