TOL2 Kiss of the Werewolf Read online

  “Wolf,” he finished for her. He bowed his head. “Yes, Megan. It happens to me just like in the movies. When the moon is full, I change, whether I want to or not.”

  When he looked back up at her, his eyes were glistening and she detected the slightest trembling in his lower lip. Her deepest instincts told her he was afraid she’d reject him. She returned his gaze, looking deep into those brown eyes, at the face of this man who’d given her so much love and comfort in only a few hours. She could never find it in her heart to reject him because of something that had happened beyond his control. He’d already suffered enough. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  His face fell and he looked down, away from her. “Sorry you were with me?”

  She put her fingertips under his chin, bidding him to look up again. “No.” Her answer was soft yet firm. “Absolutely not. I’m sorry you’ve suffered so much.”

  His eyes widened, lit by what appeared to be a spark of hope. “Do you mean you don’t hate me because of this?”

  “Hate you? How could I? You’re a wonderful man. Besides, I know a thing or two about intolerance. I’ve suffered a great deal from it as did my family. My father’s parents disowned him when he married my mother.” The darkness of resentment closed in on her, the way it always did when she thought of the cruel way her other grandparents had treated their own son. “I couldn’t possibly behave the same way, even if I didn’t love you.”

  Jie closed his hand over hers and brought it to his lips. The brown color of his eyes glowed with unshed tears. “Megan, thank you.”

  She looked at him a moment before speaking. His gratitude that she hadn’t rejected him only showed her even more how great his suffering had been. “I’m the one who should be thanking you, Jie,” she said softly. She reached out with her other hand and caressed his hair, loving the feel of its smoothness against her fingertips. “I had no idea that such creatures actually existed.” Her own ease with which she accepted the existence of werewolves surprised her.

  Jie nodded. “Nor did I. But they do.”

  “How many are there? Are they everywhere?” Her mind began to scan her memory of the many people she’d met over the years. Was it possible that any of these people had been a lang ren?

  His face fell and a sheepish look stole into his beautiful almond eyes. “To my shame, I don’t have any answers. When I realized the truth of what had happened to me, I ran into the shelter of Li’s home and hid there. I did not question or try to learn anything about lycanthropy.” He paused and heaved a deep sigh. “For quite a while, I was able to use tai chi practice to keep the change at bay. Increasing my chi gave me the energy necessary to stay in human form. However, this last moon, it didn’t work. The beast is stronger now, beyond my control. And I don’t understand why.”

  He took a deep breath and squeezed her hand. Something in the tiny gesture told her that there was even more he had to tell her.

  “I know only of one other lang ren, Megan,” he went on.

  Her heart squeezed in her chest. She’d been right.

  “Li found him on the same astrological chart that told him I had a mate. Li urged me to go and find you as soon as possible ... before the other one did.”

  The darkness that slid into his tone and over his handsome features made Megan’s stomach tighten.

  “Who is this other lang ren?” she asked, her voice falling to a whisper. “Do you know him?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ve never met him, but Li said he is searching for you, that he’s bad and that I must protect you.” His jaw tightened and his eyes blazed with sudden ferocity. “Which I will, Megan. To my last breath.”

  Meg’s vision blurred again and her heart pumped icy spurts of blood through her veins. The skin of her entire body felt as if it were being pricked by a shower of tiny pins. “Jie, is he here? Is he ... coming here?” The words spilled from her, sounding like nonsense to her own ears. But she wasn’t certain of the appropriate response upon learning that an evil werewolf was coming to steal her away.

  “I’m certain he will come looking for you. Thankfully, I got here first. I’ll fight him to the death if I have to.”

  The words fight to the death catapulted her from her frightened haze. She threw herself at Jie, squeezing him in her arms. “No!” She buried her face against his neck. “You mustn’t do that!”

  Jie’s hands closed around her arms, and he held her away from him, gently but firmly. “I must. Otherwise, he’ll find a way eventually to kill me and take you.” His gaze simmered into hers, conveying to her the fierce protectiveness he’d already expressed in words. “I swear to you I’ll protect you, Meg.”

  The longer she stared back at him, the calmer she grew. She felt herself being enveloped in the liquid brown depths of his eyes, as if he’d put a spell on her. As long as she focused on him, she felt completely safe. Slowly, she nodded. “I know,” she whispered.

  Gently, he pulled her toward him again. “That’s right, my love.” He brushed his lips across hers, softly at first, then again, more firmly, parting the seam of her lips with his seeking tongue. His hands slid from her arms around her back, his palms splayed on her skin, cradling her in a possessive embrace.

  With their lips still locked in a kiss, Jie lay back, bringing Megan to lie on top of him, her breasts brushing his chest with erotic promise. His tongue stroked hers with moist warmth, and she could feel the deep possession he was taking of her, as if he could make their souls into one simply through a kiss.

  He pulled his mouth from hers and looked up at her from under heavy lids. “Take my yang fire, ai ren. I give it to you feely. It will infuse you with courage.” He laced the fingers of one hand into her hair and tenderly drew her face to his for another deep kiss. His other hand stroked her back and smoothed down her waist over her buttocks. He squeezed one cheek softly and then moved his touch around her thigh, running his fingertips along her slit.

  His feathery touch made her moan, and without thinking, she rose up on her hands and straddled him, her body hot, longing only to have him inside her, to forget the world outside, the danger awaiting them and the grief that had plagued her for so long. Just for a little while.

  “Yes, Meg,” he breathed, reaching down to hold his erection in place for her.

  In one swift motion, she impaled herself on his hard shaft. The friction of his cock inside her, spreading her open, filling her became her entire world. The sounds of his harsh breathing and his soft moan as their bodies joined filled her entire mind. In all the world, there was only Jie, her hands on his warm smooth skin, her fingertips pressing on his slim hips, anchoring her body across his.

  She started to ride up and down on his hardness, slowly at first, then with increasing fervor. Her movements formed a rhythm, sliding up almost to the head of his cock and falling back down.

  Jie’s hands closed around her hips. “Slower, my love,” he whispered. “Take your pleasure.”

  She obeyed, pressing her hands into the mattress on either side of him and sitting astride, bucking against him as if she were riding a horse. The friction against her clit was maddeningly delicious. Her eyes fluttered closed in response and she tilted her head back, feeling her hair falling around her breasts. “Jie,” she whispered, loving the sound of his name in her ears. “Jie.”

  His hands tightened on her buttocks, urging her forward. “Come up here, Meg,” he rasped. “I want to eat you again.”

  Obediently, she moved carefully up on the mattress until she straddled his face. With hands anchored on her hips, he pulled her open sex down onto his mouth.

  She let out a small gasp of pleasure as his tongue pressed on her already swollen clit and moved around the swollen bud in tiny quick circles, sending waves of erotic heat through her loins.

  She supported her weight by holding onto the headboard of the bed. Her breasts rubbed lightly against the wood, making her nipples tingle pleasantly, heightened by the delicious sensations from Jie’s mouth. His loving w
as unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and all her thoughts and fears melted away as he pleasured her.

  “Mm,” he murmured in his throat, his hands squeezing her tightly against his hungry mouth. He took her entire clit between his lips and tugged it gently but firmly.

  She gasped and moaned. Each tiny tug sent her body careening closer to release. On the fourth tug of her clit, she went over the edge. Gripping the headboard, she braced herself against the intense waves of orgasm, for fear she would lose all control and crush Jie’s face.

  As he’d done before, he milked her orgasm of every nuance of sensation it could give her and didn’t stop suckling her until her body went limp, barely supporting herself on her knees.

  Before she could do anything else, Jie’s strong hands were guiding her, laying her down onto her back. Then he rose up over her, settling between her parted legs. His lips and chin glistened from her juices, and his eyes were wild and dark with need. In one swift motion, he sheathed his cock deep inside her, taking her mouth at the same time, fusing his musk-dampened mouth with hers.

  Her own scent filled her nostrils, mingling with Jie’s masculine scent. She closed her eyes, returning his kiss with every bit of love and passion she had inside her, her body melted open giving all of herself to him. Her sex was wet and open, and she bucked her hips against his, squeezing her muscles around his shaft in her desire to give him pleasure.

  He pulled his mouth from hers and bent his head down to her breast, suckling fervently on her nipple while he moved inside her.

  She squeezed hard, tightening her sex around his cock.

  He groaned and lifted his face from her breast, his eyes closed. “Meg,” he rasped, moving faster and harder, increasing his rhythm until he let out a long soft groan, the warmth of his seed pulsing inside her.

  She caressed the damp muscles of his back while he rested in her arms, breathing heavily. “I love you, Jie,” she whispered. She hoped she wasn’t wrong to say it, but the statement felt like the most natural thing in the world to say.

  He lifted his face and gazed down at her. “I love you, too, Meg.” He kissed her softly. “Together, we’re strong enough to face anything, no matter how frightening, yes?”

  She looked up at him, watching the dark determination infusing his expression. Wordlessly, she nodded, knowing exactly what he’d meant.

  Chapter Eleven

  Yelin stopped on the corner of an intersection. He took out a handkerchief and mopped beads of sweat off his brow. They’d arrived in Chinatown early this morning, and Schenko had divided their group into pairs, sending him off with his henchman, Yuri. Together, they’d canvassed half of the neighborhood called Chinatown, but not all of the stores had opened yet.

  Yelin glanced sideways at his fellow bodark, wishing he could be free of him if even for five minutes. The giant goon trailed him, never letting him get more than a couple of feet away from him.

  Schenko obviously didn’t trust him. And with good reason. But not for the reasons Schenko believed. Yelin’s lip curled in a private grin, remembering Schenko’s restlessness during the flight and in the hotel room. Perhaps it was cruel of him to make the alpha suffer this way, but he couldn’t help himself. Lilya was dead because of that bastard. She’d loved him, and he used her and threw her away like a tea bag. The police had declared her death suicide. Technically, perhaps, it was.

  But to Yelin, it was as good as murder. Lilya had shot herself, but as far as Yelin was concerned, Schenko had pulled the trigger when he’d told her he didn’t want her around him anymore.

  Schenko had killed his beautiful sister. And he was going to pay.

  Across the street, one of the stores that had been previously closed was now getting ready to open. A Chinese man had propped open the front door and was pushing a produce cart out onto the sidewalk. As soon as the man emerged, a scent carried to Yelin’s nose through the humid summer air. The scent was familiar as his own, the musky, feral scent of a bodark.

  Yelin’s gut tightened. He glanced at the sign on the place. Chen’s Market. He looked at Yuri. The beta, too, was sniffing the air, turning toward him. When they were facing each other, Yuri looked down at him, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses. The goon nodded his head.

  Yelin watched the Chinese man a moment longer. His back was to Yelin as he pushed the cart up against the window. However, in the next moment he froze, as if aware of being watched. Slowly he turned, his gaze scanning the awakening activity on the street before him. He looked down in one direction, following the line of stores on the street opposite him. As soon as he reached the spot where Yelin stood next to Yuri, he stopped.

  He looked no further. The man stood staring at him, a muscle in his jaw tensing visibly. Another second later, he turned and went back inside.

  Yelin suppressed a gleeful grin. Perhaps this bodark wasn’t the one fated to kill Schenko, but the chances were still very good. His charts had told him that his opponent would come from a place in China on the plains by what was once Tibet. He’d double checked his information, his research revealing that although there weren’t wolves in Tibet, there were individual bodarks, loners who wandered the entire continent of Asia, so certainly this Chinese man could be one of them. In addition, the charts were very accurate, usually to the square foot. But Yuri didn’t have to know that. And neither did Schenko.

  He looked up at Yuri. “Let’s go.”

  Yuri nodded and stepped off the curb. Together, they waited for a bus to pass by and then started across the street toward Chen’s Market.

  The place where Yelin hoped to find smooth ivory, deep jade and golden silk.

  His shot at taking over Schenko’s pack and ridding the world of the bodark he hated depended on it.

  Jie watched them through the window. The two lang ren were almost across the street. Their gazes were trained right on the store, and in another few moments, they’d be inside. One of them was huge, with a broad chest and stone-like expression. He towered over his companion, who was short and wiry, with shoulder-length stringy hair and several days’ growth of beard. The mere thought that either of these men would touch Meg made his bile rise. He’d kill both of them before letting them near her.

  Meg stood beside him. He sensed her tension worsen as they reached the sidewalk in front of the store. She pressed closer to him, slipping her hand into his.

  His question of how he’d know another lang ren when he encountered one had been answered within moments of wheeling the cart out onto the sidewalk. The animal scent, a distinct glandular odor unlike any other he’d ever smelled, had assaulted his nostrils. Then he’d felt their presence, sensed their gazes almost boring literally into his back. When he’d turned and seen them, he knew beyond any doubt what they were.

  “Don’t worry,” he murmured, his tone belying the vicious tightening in his gut. “They won’t do anything out in the open like this.” He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but his deepest instincts told him so.

  The shorter one pushed open the front door, letting in a gust of animal smell. Detectable only to Jie, the odor of lang ren permeated the air, mingling with the other smells already in the small market. He moved his stance so that he more than half covered Meg from their direct view. The large, hulky lang ren followed close on the heels of the short one, giving Jie the sense that he was either guarding him or policing his movements in some way.

  Jie squared his shoulders, wondering if his heartbeat was audible to them, the way it was crashing around in his chest. “May I help you?” he asked, keeping his tone flat and distinctly less than hospitable.

  The taller lang ren remained silent, standing like a tower of rock behind the other one. The short greasy lang ren smiled, baring a set of yellowed broken teeth. “I certainly hope so.” He spoke with a thick accent that Jie recognized. Russia. He remembered the lilts and tones of this accent from the time he’d spent in Moscow. He had also managed to learn enough of the language to get around quite well. He chose, however, not
to reveal this knowledge.

  “I am seeking something ... someone, rather, who possesses, perhaps sells jade, ivory and silk. Gold silk to be precise.”

  Jie heard the tiniest catch in Meg’s breath and prayed the other two hadn’t caught it. Unfortunately, the dark eyes of the lang ren who’d spoken slid past Jie and regarded Meg.

  “Do you have any of these things I seek?”

  Jie narrowed his eyes. “No. We sell mostly perishables here. You will have to look in a different place. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

  Suddenly, the bell on the door tinkled again. Jie looked up and saw two men coming in. Immediately, he recognized Meg’s friend Danny Wong, the young man in the photographs upstairs. Even though Danny had since filled out and lost his gawkiness, there was no mistaking him. The man following close behind Danny Jie recognized as Danny’s lover, David.

  Danny’s gaze flickered over the group standing there and the smile he wore at seeing Meg faded. He came to a stop and David, at his side, seemed to take the cue. Both men appeared sensitive to the tension radiating in the air.

  The short lang ren also turned and watched Danny and David come to a standstill. He turned back to Jie with the same falsely charming smile as before. “Excuse our intrusion. We will go elsewhere.” He passed another look over Meg and then turned. The tall lang ren followed him without a word.

  When they reached the door, Jie caught bits and pieces of their verbal exchange in Russian. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck. From what little he could gather, they were planning to return later and were interested in having another look at the dyevooshka, the girl.

  Meg barely registered Danny and Dave’s arrival. Her heart was galloping at least sixty miles an hour, and her body trembled so badly she was certain she’d have fallen down if it weren’t for Jie’s strong form supporting her.

  As soon as the two Russians left, she sagged against Jie, gripping his shoulder. “Jie,” she whispered, her throat constricted from her terror. The way that skinny, greasy-looking lang ren had perused her ... Could it be humanly possible he was the one coming to claim her? Oh, God ...