One hand slid slowly upward along her ribs to caress the rounded mound of her breast. His fingers kneaded it gently while his thumb flicked over the already hardened nipple. Sara moaned and arched against him.
His tongue thrust deep into her mouth, his lips ravaging hers as their bodies pressed together. And then he growled.
Sara suddenly found herself on her back, but Lucas had moved away from her. He was hunched over several feet away. “Leave!” he rasped. “The beast wants you. I don’t know that I can control it so soon. Move away!”
Even as he spoke, his eyes turned predatory. She scrambled to her feet and stared at him. “What’s—”
He bared his teeth and she could see fangs. She thought only vampires had those. Not that vampires existed. She felt a bubble of hysteria rising in her throat. But what did she know? Lucas made a noise that sounded suspiciously like the beginnings of a howl.
She stepped back quickly as Lucas turned and ran for the door. She went to the window and watched his towel-clad body disappear into the brush.
Dear Goddess, she was in love with an alpha-wolf.
****
Lucas took a deep breath as he slowed to a walk, willing the wolf back down. To his surprise, it whined. He couldn’t ever remember it doing that before.
He should have known not to take the risk of kissing her when he was in a weakened state from the transformation. To say nothing of healing the wound.
He reached his car, parked well off the road and quickly put on the clothes he’d left there when he called the wolf. The familiar lethargy had not hit him yet, probably because the tasteof Sara still lingered in his mouth and kept his testosterone running wild.
Bel’s fires! He’d nearly bitten her. And for a wolf, that was a big mistake. He didn’t know if he could actually Change someone, like Gavin could, but he didn’t want to wish his way of life on anyone.
He paused. She really had taken the discovery better than he thought. And she still wanted him. The pure scent of female arousal had nearly saturated his still sharply canine senses. He wondered what she’d do if he told her he was immortal, too. Lucas gave a short bark of a laugh. What in blazes was he thinking? The only two living who knew were Gavin and Balor.
Balor. He had nearly killed him today. Hadwantedto rip his throat out as much as the wolf did, even knowing that ending Balor’s life would also put his and Gavin’s into the totally human span of years and they would die too.
He wondered if that would really be so bad. Arriving in Britain along with Julius Caesar had been a beginning to some very long lifetimes. Ridding the world of the devil’s own spawn was a worthwhile endeavor, but Lucas couldn’t be responsible for ending Gavin’s immortality, too. Not unless the vampire wished it. But Balor deserved to die for nearly burning Sara at the stake.
It brought back, way too vividly, the image of Gwenhwyfar nearly suffering the same fate. And then, after her rescue, the story got twisted around to making Arthur’s knights believe she was having an affair with Lancelot. He’d never seen a woman more loyal to her husband. He should know. He’d been there.
Lucas sighed as he drove back to the ranch house. Michael would be returning soon, and he’d need to put in an appearance. He just hoped he hadn’t scared Sara witless.
She let him in with a small nod. He tried to give her a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. I won’t hurt you.”
Her blue eyes searched his face. “I may not be as afraid of your wolf as you think I am.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That may not be wise, lass.”
She shrugged. “It didn’t hurt me the first time, did it?”
Before he could answer, he heard tires crunching on the gravel, and Michael and a woman with strawberry-blonde hair approached.
“This is Dr. Sophie Cameron,” Michael said as introduction and looked around. “Where’s the wolf?”
Sara shrugged. “When it woke up, it growled and I opened the door. It left.”
Pretty close to the truth, Lucas thought and almost grinned.
The vet frowned. “How badly was it hurt? I hate to think of it being vulnerable prey to the coyotes.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Lucas said. “I got here just about the time it woke up. The wound wasn’t too deep.”
Michael gave him a slanted look as he lifted the pendant over his head and handed it back to Lucas. “Good thing the wolf showed up, since neither of us could do anything to help Sara.”
“Good thing,” he said as he slipped the gold cross back on and met McCain’s skeptical look.
He wondered, again, just how much the warlock really knew. And if, quite possibly, there was yet another Immortal in this world.
