Scarlet Heat Read online

  “Thanks, boy,” I whispered, collapsing on my side. “Good boy. Such a good…boy.”

  My eyes were already closing but to my surprise, the wolf came around the bed and hopped up, taking the other side.

  “Hey now,” I protested, trying to sit up and failing. “You can’t…can’t do that. Fur on…the sheets. Victor will be…pissed.”

  But the wolf wasn’t budging. And at this point, neither was I. I barely had strength to roll over, let alone try to push him off the bed. With a sigh, I gave up. Let him stay—there was nothing I could do about it now.

  My eyes closed but I was cold. Marshalling my flagging strength, I tried for a minute to get under the covers but I couldn’t…they were tucked in too tightly. Whoever had taught Victor to make a bed must have been into hospital corners.

  With a little moan, I curled in on myself, trying to tuck my arms and legs into the white t-shirt I still wore and gather a little warmth. Cold…so cold. It was the story of my undead life. Ever since I had been turned, I could never seem to get warm enough, no matter what I did.

  To my sleepy surprise, the wolf seemed to understand my problem. He scooted closer to me, pushing his long furry back against my front until I found my face buried in his ruff. And oh, he was so warm.

  With a little sigh of contentment, I wound my arms around his furry neck and pressed closer, letting the delicious animal heat penetrate to my bones. His fur tickled my nose but I didn’t care. He smelled wild and yet, somehow familiar. Like fur and leather and sunlight in the woods.

  Speaking of sunlight, I could feel the sun rising to full glory overhead and I couldn’t stay awake any longer. Between my terrible weariness and the delicious feeling of finally being warm, I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore.

  I nestled closer to the wolf and let sleep claim me.

  * * * * *

  “Mmm, you’re so warm,”I murmured as I rolled over in Victor’s arms. He had a smooth chest after all—not hairy as I had imagined. I pressed my cheek to the hard, warm muscle and listened to the steady beat of his heart.

  “And you’re so soft,” he growled in my ear. One large hand slid down my bare back and cupped my bottom as he pulled me closer. I could feel him rubbing against me everywhere—my tight nipples pressing against his chest, my sensitive pussy mound rubbing against his thigh. The hard ridge of his cock branding my belly.

  Looking down, I realized we were naked, both of us completely bare and pressed together in the most intimate way possible. Some part of me knew this ought to bother me. That I should be frightened—Victor was so big. And I shouldn’t want to do this—hadn’t I sworn never, never again?

  But for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I should be frightened or upset. I only knew how good it felt to be in his arms. How right.

  “You feel so good in my arms, baby,” Victor murmured in my ear. “Want to touch you now.”

  He nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply as though he was memorizing my scent. At the same time, his big hands started exploring me, cupping my breasts and teasing my nipples…sliding lower to caress my ass and part my legs. I arched against him like a cat that wanted to be stroked and opened my legs willingly for the long fingers that invaded my pussy.

  “Yes,” I whispered in his ear. “So good…God, that feels so good.”

  “Feels good to me too, baby,” he growled softly, his fingers working gently, going deeper and deeper inside me. “God, you’re wet. Going to feel even better when I’m inside you…fucking you…breeding you.”

  “Please,” I whispered, wanting desperately to submit. “Please yes, I want you in me. Please, Victor, please…”

  With a low growl, he rolled me under him and replaced his fingers with his cock. As he filled me with himself, thrusting his thick length deeper and deeper into my pussy, I moaned his name and gave myself, submitting completely and without reservation. I was his, his completely and I had no wish to be anything else.

  I had the strangest urge to throw back my head and howl…

  Chapter Five—Victor

  I woke up with the feeling I wasn’t alone. There was someone in bed with me. A soft, warm weight was pressed against my bare back and a delicious feminine scent filled my nose. It made me instantly hard.

  Who…what…? As always, I was a little disoriented after coming out of my wolf form. I had vague memories of the night before—running in the moonlight, howling and returning the howls of the other wolves, and then putting my paw into something that bit and bit and wouldn’t let go…

  The memory made me realize my left wrist was aching. In fact, that might have been what woke me up in the first place. I was lying on my right side so I brought my left wrist up in front of me and squinted in the dim room, trying to see the problem. Nothing seemed to be broken but it throbbed painfully. Great—so I wasn’t going to be getting much work done today—good thing it was the weekend. But something told me that my injury might have been much worse. If it wasn’t for her…

  Her, whispered a voice in my brain, the voice of the wolf. Pale girl.

  A picture formed in my head. A girl with long, dark hair and deep blue eyes. She was beautiful and very kind, the wolf informed me, through more picture messages. She took away the pain. She gave delicious food. She smelled right—like a wolf, not a dead one. She was pack.

  I shook my head in disbelief. Was I seriously understanding the other side of my nature correctly? I had been certain that the wolf inside me would hate Taylor—she was a fucking vampire, for God’s sake—the ancient enemy of our kind. I had been afraid to change around her—afraid the wolf would hurt her. Instead, it seemed my furry self wanted to adopt her, to claim her as part of the family.

  She is pack, the wolf affirmed in my head.

  What the hell? How had Taylor won over my inner wolf so completely and quickly? A flood of images was my answer—Taylor leading the wolf inside the house, taking away the silver pain thing that had been biting his/my paw/arm. Then feeding him-me bacon (delicious man-food! the Wolf sent excitedly) and curling up close to him/me in bed, sharing rest and comfort the way pack members do.

  Hmm…curling up in bed. Behind me, the warm, soft weight shifted and someone gave a contented sigh. A soft arm crept around my side and settled on my chest. Then someone slung a long, slender leg over my hip.

  “Mmm,” Taylor murmured, sounding as if she was talking in her sleep. “So…warm.”

  She was pretty warm herself, for a vamp. Not that I made a practice of sleeping with them. I inhaled deeply. God, she smelled good, even better than the night before. The Wolf was right—she did smell more like a wolf than a vampire. And there was another layer under her scent—a thin, scarlet ribbon of heat that seemed to be growing.

  My hard-on got even harder but I frowned, lying perfectly still and concentrating on what my nose was telling me. That hot scent just under Taylor’s natural smell was familiar somehow. I knew it instinctively, although I hadn’t smelled it in a long time, not since I had been cast out by my home pack years ago. And I had never thought I would smell it on a vamp—or on any female other than a were or a shape shifter for that matter.

  It can’t be right, I told myself uneasily. She’s a vamp. There’s no fucking way she’s going into—

  “Mmm…” Behind me Taylor stretched and hummed in her sleep, sounding like she was just about to wake up. Her soft body pressed even closer to mine and it didn’t feel like she had many clothes on. My cock suddenly felt like it was going to burst. I had the urge to roll over in bed and take her in my arms but I couldn’t do that—couldn’t scare her or take advantage that way.

  “Uh, Taylor?” I ventured, turning my head to see her. It was pretty dark in the room but the clock on the table said it was around three in the afternoon. Wasn’t that kind of early for a new vamp to be up? I had thought that only the really old ones could be awake during the day. Was it possible that Taylor was just stirring in her sleep and wasn’t about to wake up after all?

  Gently,
I pushed her leg off my hip and pulled her arm off my side. Then I turned over to face her. She was wearing one of my white t-shirts, which was so big on her it fell to her thighs. Lying on her side with her hands curled under her chin, she looked like an innocent little girl. Her long dark hair fell over her shoulders and her eyelashes were like thick black fans on her pale cheeks.

  So fucking gorgeous…

  Her beauty made me catch my breath, just as it had on the night we had been blood-bonded. I had been so certain I was never going to marry a vamp and had been right in the act of telling Corbin so and then she had showed up in the doorway of his office. I could still remember the way her white silk gown had clung to her lush curves and the crown of white rosebuds in her long, dark hair. Her eyes had been so huge and uncertain as she looked up at me—the expression on her face made my heart twist in my chest.

  That was the reason I had said yes to Corbin’s crazy proposal—not the fifty thousand I owed him. But just because she looked at me like that. God…

  Forgetting that I was supposed to keep my distance, I reached out to stroke a silky strand of hair out of her face. I tucked it behind her ear and Taylor murmured something in her sleep and suddenly cuddled closer to me.

  The motion caused the white t-shirt she was wearing to ride up, showing the slope of her hip and the softly rounded curve of her bare ass.

  Whoa… Okay, this wasn’t good. I was naked myself and having her so close was really affecting me. I tried pushing her gently away but Taylor only cuddled closer, pressing her body to mine and nuzzling her face against my chest like a kitten that wanted to be stroked. I could feel the soft globes of her breasts pressing against me through the thin cotton of the t-shirt and the warmth of her soft little pussy mound lower down, almost against my cock. Her feminine scent with that delicious thread of scarlet heat running through it teased my nose, making me nearly crazy with desire.

  Damn, I wanted her! I had to get away.

  “Taylor,” I said aloud, still trying to extricate myself from her embrace. “Wake up, sweetheart. I, uh, need to get up now.”

  Actually, I needed to go to the bathroom and jerk off but I wasn’t about to advertise that. Who could have guessed that I would be so damn attracted to a vampire?

  “Taylor,” I said again, more urgently. I tried to push her away again but she pressed closer and rubbed her cheek against my chest.

  “Yes,” she murmured, her eyes still firmly closed. “So good…feels so good.”

  “Won’t be good for long if you keep this up,” I growled, pulling away from her. “Come on, baby—you need to let go. Need to—”

  Suddenly, Taylor’s eyes flew open and she sat straight up in bed.

  “What…where am I?” She looked at me uncertainly and then recognition flooded her eyes. “What are you doing here? Where’s the wolf?”

  “He’s here.” I thumped my chest. “I changed back.”

  Her eyes flicked over my naked body, no doubt taking in my cock, which was standing at attention for her.

  “Uh, sorry,” I muttered, shifting to try and hide it. I wanted to pull the covers over my hip but we were sleeping on top of the spread for some reason.

  A look of fear crossed her face and she scooted suddenly away from me, putting distance between us.

  “What have you been doing to me since you changed back?”

  “Nothing.” I held up my hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “I swear.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she snapped. “I thought…I thought I felt your hands. We were both naked and you…you were touching me.”

  “Look at yourself, sweetheart,” I said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice. “You’re still dressed—well, sort of. And I’m only naked because I just changed back. You must have had a dream.”

  “But…but why would I dream about that?” Her voice quivered. “I don’t even like that. I never want to ever again. I don’t—”

  “Taylor—” I started but she shook her head.

  “No, leave me alone. I just…I can’t.” Swiftly she jumped off the bed and ran out of the bedroom.

  “Watch out for the sun,” I shouted after her. “It’s three in the afternoon and this is the only light-tight room in the house.”

  The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard a scream from the kitchen. Damn it, now what? Grabbing a pair of sweat pants from the closet, I ran after her.

  Taylor was standing in the center of the kitchen, surrounded by a brilliant flood of late afternoon sunlight. She must have been running blind and ended up there by accident but it was the absolute worst spot in the house for her to be. Because of the L-shape of the room and the large windows I had installed, the entire place was flooded with light—all but one small spot in the center directly opposite the wall where the large oven range and overhead-mounted microwave were located.

  That was where she was standing but it was clear she’d been through the sunlight to get there—there were angry red blisters on one of her arms and red marks on her legs. Now she huddled in the tiny area of shadow, trembling with fear, a trapped look on her face.

  I could see how it must have happened—Taylor running blindly to get away from me, sliding into the kitchen too fast to stop. Being burned by the light and skidding to a halt in the tiny oasis of shadow. Now she was stuck there with the blinding, deadly light all around her like an animal caught in a trap.

  An animal caught in a trap. That was me last night.

  I suddenly flashed on the way she had talked so soothingly to me right in this very room the night before. I had warned her specifically that my wolf form might be dangerous to her and yet she had let me in and treated my wound, risking grave injury to herself to help me. These weren’t images pushed forward by the wolf—they were primal memories, stored in my subconscious and just now coming out. With them came a powerful sense of protectiveness. I had to help her—had to save her. She was mine.

  Taylor looked up at me, her blue eyes wide with fear and panic.

  “Victor,” she whispered. “I can’t…I’m afraid to move. The sun is too strong. I don’t…don’t know if I can go through it again.”

  “Stay right where you are,” I told her, fumbling the sweatpants on as fast as I could. “It’s going to be okay, baby—it’s going to be all right.”

  “It’s so bright.” Her voice sounded choked and tense. “I’ve never been up this early since I was turned. I forgot…forgot how hot it could be.”

  “Everything is going to be okay.” I came to her, walking through the sunlight that was deadly poison to her pale skin. I held out a hand but Taylor shrank back from me.

  “What…what are you going to do?” she whispered, eyeing me fearfully.

  “Just shield you,” I assured her. “Look, I’m going to come up behind you and keep my back to the windows. You’re small—I should be able to cover you completely.”

  “You will?” She didn’t look too happy about the idea.

  “I won’t hurt you,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle and low, although every instinct I had was screaming for me to get her out of that room. It was like I had walked in on her holding a ticking bomb in her hand—I had to get her out now. “I’ll never hurt you, Taylor,” I said again.

  She looked at me, as though trying to read my face. Then, slowly, she nodded.

  “All right,” she whispered. “But please—let’s hurry.”

  “As fast as we can,” I promised. “You stay right with me and I’ll keep the sun off you until we get out of this room.”

  Carefully, I edged up right behind her until her back was to my front. I could feel her shaking as I wrapped my arms around her, trying not to hurt her burned skin. I looked down, making sure that she was completely protected, completely hidden by my body. Feeling her lush ass pressed back against my shaft was distracting but I pushed my desire for her out of my mind and made sure her legs were perfectly lined up with mine.

  “Okay,” I murmured in her ear. �
��We’re going to move. Left foot first, then right, keep going until we’re out of the kitchen and into the living room. There aren’t as many windows in there and they all have drapes on them.”

  “Okay,” she whispered back and we began to move.

  As we made our way out of the kitchen, I could feel how tense she was against me. It was the exact opposite of how she’d been in bed, when she was still asleep and thought I was the wolf. I wondered if she hated this, being so close to me. Or if she was just afraid of the sunlight. I really hoped it was the latter.

  Finally, we were clear of the kitchen and into the dim hallway leading to the living room. I kicked the kitchen door closed with my foot, shutting out the brilliant flood of sunlight to my intense relief.

  As soon as we were free of the sunlight, Taylor jumped away from me—or tried to, anyway. She started out well but fell to her knees on the second step with a little moan of pain.

  Instantly, I felt a surge of protective concern. Was she all right? Had the sunlight just weakened her or was she hurt worse than I had thought?

  “Taylor?” I bent down to look at her but she had curled herself into a little ball and wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  Not knowing what else to do, I scooped her gently into my arms and lifted her off the floor. God, she was light—too light. It worried me. She made a small sound of protest but didn’t try to fight me as I carried her into the living room and laid her gently on the couch. Her lack of struggle made me even more concerned—what if she was even more injured than I had thought? What if she was dying? I didn’t know how much sun a young vamp like her could take and still survive—what if she was checking out on me right now?

  “Hey,” I said, trying to control the intense worry I was feeling. “Hey, baby—you okay?”

  Taylor took a ragged breath, her eyelashes fluttering on her pale cheeks as though she was about to pass out.

  “I’m fine,” she said at last, in a voice so faint I could barely hear her. “Really…fine.”

  I frowned. “No, you’re not. You just sustained fucking third degree sunburns and collapsed. You’re not fine. So tell me the truth—are you injured? Do you need a doctor? Medicine?”