Nora and Jared #10
I can handle you.
Nora’s words echoed in Jared’s mind. They unbalanced him, and he did not know why. She spoke them quietly, but with a confidence that seemed woven into her essence.
I can handle you.Perhaps it was a warning, a notice that she was on guard, that she did not trust him and that she could handle any plot he was devising against her or her pack.
I can handle you.Could he handle her? She threatened to break open a part of him he had extinguished decades ago. He almost enjoyed being with her, almost looked forward to what she would say and do next. It had been a long time since he had anticipated anything. Existing was easier if he did not look to the future.
“Turn left here,” he instructed.
“Do you always mute your aura?” she asked.
“It is habit now.”
“Because you don’t want people suffocating you with attention?”
“Yes. Pull into the valet.” He gestured toward the circular drive in front of the city’s nicest hotel.
She scowled as she slowed to a stop. “I hope this is where you want me to dump you because I am not walking into this hotel with you.”
“Ah. Forgive me. Your aversion to beds temporarily slipped my mind.”
She threw him a look that said he was not funny. Usually, that was true.
“I have been here before,” he said. “The staff is discreet.”
“I don’t care how discreet they are. It’s a public building.”
“Swirl is as well yet you have no issue being seen with me there.”
“That’s different.” Her voice had chilled. Her shoulders stiffened, her chin lifted. She was Lehr’s daughter again, the ice princess who kept the world at bay.
“Then we are at an impasse,” he said. “I am not leading a werewolf to my home.”
Her mouth flattened for a moment, then she gave him a cold smile. “I’ve made a decision.” She unlocked the Porsche’s doors. “I’m stealing Deagan’s car. Get out.”
His brows rose. “Perhaps you would like to pick the location?”
“The location where I dump your ashes?”
The valet knocked on her window.
Jared watched. Waited.
Nora’s jaw locked tight. Her head shook slightly, as if she were asking herself what the hell she was doing, then she waved the valet away and sped out of the drive.
“You are arrogant,” she said.
“You are frigid,” he returned. Her nostrils flared at the accusation, one he was certain she had heard often. Perhaps it agitated her more than she let on.
He let her drive without further comment, curious about where she would go. If she stayed true to her reputation, she would pull over and attempt to eject him from the vehicle. But if she had stayed true to her reputation, she would never have found herself in a car with a vampire.
The lights of the city faded, leaving only the glow of the radio to highlight her profile. She really was beautiful. Strong and intelligent, too. The urge to add her to his clan resurfaced. Such an odd feeling.
“How far do you plan to drive?” he asked.
“Not far enough,” she said. Instinct told him those words had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her alpha father. She wanted freedom, but she was trapped by what she was. He could relate.
“Pull over here,” he ordered.
Her brows drew together. “There’s nothing out here.”
“Pull over,” he repeated.
She looked at him then, and he unmuted his aura—not completely but enough for her lips to part and for some of her tension to abate. He could drain more of that tension away. He wanted to, which was another foreign thought. He wanted her languid in his arms. Sated. And he wanted to be sated by her as well.
He waited for her to make a decision. It took nearly another mile, but finally, she pulled off the road.
She put the Porsche into park. Turned off the headlights.
That was all the assent he needed. He moved his seat back as far as it would go and pulled her into his lap. It was not enough room, but then, he did not intend to allow space between them.
She straddled him willingly and slanted her mouth over his.
God, she was aggressive. Demanding. Brutally sensuous. She tasted like the sweet edge of pain, the anticipation before the bite. A button went flying when she ripped open his shirt. He pulled hers over her head.
A car drove by. Its headlights flashed across her full breasts and lace bra. He moved the material out of the way and closed his mouth over a nipple, swirled his tongue, then sucked.
Her moan cracked his control. His aura completely unmuted. Nora’s fingers dug into his shoulders as she ground against him.
Something hard pressed against his leg. He reached down to her thigh then withdrew a small knife. A
sgian dubh. Yes.
He handed it to her, hilt first, and waited. He wanted her to take his blood, wanted to take hers even more, but it was her choice. Her move.
Her eyes were dilated. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She looked at him long enough for him to think she might acquiesce.
She licked her lips. He held his breath.
Another car drove by. The blade flashed in the headlights.
Nora tossed the
sgian dubhinto the backseat.
Damn. He pulled her head down kissed her hard. His disappointment vanished at the touch of her tongue, the scrape of her teeth. She shifted her weight, trying to get closer or to remove his pants or rip off her own undergarments. The car was too small for maneuvering. He felt her frustration. It echoed his own because he needed to be inside her.
Nora made the move first, snarling and shoving open the passenger door as if it offended her. Their exit was ungraceful and rushed. She landed on her back on the roadside. He had not intended to take her in the dirt but she pulled his head down to hers.
They hastily removed the rest of their clothes as they kissed, then he slipped a hand beneath her ass, propping her up just enough to drive all the way in.
She gasped and arched her back. Moonlight lit her skin, her beautiful face, her smooth bare neck.
“Nora.” He had never spoken a name with such need before, but that was what he felt, a deep unsated need to taste her lifeblood. She was a rarity, a treasure. No wonder Lehr wanted to keep her close. The alpha would use her for leverage against his rivals.
Nora met him thrust for thrust. Pleasure spiraled. He waited for her to break, waited for her unravel beneath him, and when she did reach that precipice, when she cried out and quivered beneath him, he drove in one final time and released inside her.
He kept his weight off her and fought the temptation to kiss her neck. Normally, he would rise immediately, methodically dress, then he would either send away the paranorm he laid with or erase the memory of the human. He did not want to part like that with Nora. Or rather, he could not part with her like that. He had a plan, a goal, and he would see it through.
“Get off me, vampire,” Nora said.
He stared down at her, concealing his annoyance at her composed demand.
“Return to Swirl next Thursday,” he said.
She snorted. “No.” She pushed him away.
He could have resisted, could have held her down until she agreed or fought him, but he stood and brushed dirt and gravel from his skin. “Is it too much work to keep my scent from your pack?”
She scowled. “Goodbye, Jared.”
“I will be there every Thursday.”
“I won’t.” She picked up her skirt and shirt then looked at the Porsche, probably realizing she still had to spend at least a few minutes with him.
Her mouth flattened. She gave him a cold look, tossed her clothes to the ground, then shifted.
It was quick, too quick for even him to see exactly how the transformation happened. It was like a black hole swallowing light, only this one swallowed a human and released a wolf. White as a snowflake, of course.
Nora gave a full bodied shake then looked at him. Usually werewolves, especially in their animal forms, triggered a violent instinct in vampires, him included. Instead, she made an amused smile touch his lips. The immediate annoyance in her green eyes pleased him.
“Thursday,” he said.
She snarled then sprang away, running for the woods. The moon’s glow made her look ethereal, and he found himself looking forward to the next time he would see her.
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