Present

Letting him kiss her was a mistake. A terrible, awful…sensuous, and dangerous mistake. The sweep of his tongue against hers demanded a response, and she vied for control, a battle of wills as much as of pleasure. A groan escaped her when his hand slid beneath her shirt. The heat of his palm scorched her flesh. Then her shirt vanished in a shred of cloth. When he tore through her bra, she snarled and his chest vibrated against her with a growl.

Claws slicing out, she returned the favor and cut through his shirt. Her nipples pressed against the wall of solid muscle caging his chest. His mouth left hers, trailing kisses along her jaw to her throat. His teeth grazed her flesh. Gripping his hair, she yanked him away from her throat.

The vivid blue of his gaze seemed to drill into hers. Her sex clenched at the rawness visible in those eyes.

“No biting,” she ordered. After everything that happened, she wouldn’t give in now. Never.

“I don’t want to bite you.” The dismissive snarl hurt. “I just want to fuck you.”

He cut through her jeans and took possession of her mouth. As much as she wanted to rail at him, to hate him for saying it so blatant and bold, she couldn’t. She longed for his touch too damn much.

“Stop talking.” She went for his belt. He flicked open the button on her jeans, then peeled them downward before she got his free. Her panties vanished with the denim. On one knee, he flattened a hand against her belly, then swept it down to her thigh. The angle left his face in harsh relief, pure, predatory wolf.

Her stomach tightened, the muscles in her sex clenching in anticipation. Easing her thighs open, he pressed a kiss to her folds. The gentleness of his touch left her wholly unprepared for the sensual assault as his tongue speared her, then he nuzzled a kiss along her labia until he reached her clit.

A gasp escaped her before she could stop it, and a wave rocked the boat because her balance abandoned her. Julian caught her as he continued to suck her clit. The tension winding within her, she hurtled toward orgasm. The man knew every nibble, suck, and stroke to take her right to the edge.

As suddenly as his passionate kiss began, it ended. He rose, then spun her and put her hands against the captain’s chair. Dazed, she gripped the chair briefly then released it to reach for him. Suddenly his hands shackled hers. He was against her back, the weight of his cock nestled against her ass, and she shuddered.

It had been too damn long.

“Don’t move,” he ordered. The command lacing his tone demanded a response from her, and her wolf bucked within her. They didn’t surrender control to anyone. Baring her teeth, she had to swallow her argument when he impaled her with two fingers. No longer bound by him, she had to hold on as he massaged her breast. Every touch ratcheted the pressure and drove her back to the edge.

No matter how close she got, he withheld her pleasure. Her bottom clenched and her thighs tensed. “If you’re trying to torture me—”

The hand against her breast went away, then his hand was on her nape. A gentle squeeze, enough to remind her of his presence and how he had all the control in this position. He could touch her, and she couldn’t return the favor. Keeping her claws from puncturing the leather was damn near impossible.

When he coaxed her to turn her head, he was there kissing her, long, slow and deep. A moan slipped out as she tasted herself on his tongue, their scents mingling against her lips, and it was like a drug on her system.

The fingers delving into her slipped away, and she cried out at their loss, then he released her lips. Opening her eyes, she met his gaze and then he stroked his cock against her damp folds. Fisting one hand she pounded it against the chair. The contact left her nerve endings hypersensitized. She didn’t want to play…

“I know what you want,” he said against her ear, his voice taut with need. “What you always wanted—to see me on my knees.” He pushed into her, a hard thrust that had her crying out even as he growled. Withdrawing, he tantalized her by pulling out to the tip, then he eased inside of her again.

Respiration increasing, she fought to keep from gasping, but what control she managed to gather shattered when he caught her clit between a thumb and forefinger. Absolute pressure detonated her, then he drove into her at a relentless pace. The orgasm stormed over her, and Dallas threw her head back and howled. She lost her grip on the chair, sliding forward onto her hands and knees.

Julian went with her, but he didn’t cease the thrusts powering into her. With his hands on her hips he rocked her with his rhythm. Pleasure flooded her, blooming with every stroke as though he held her captive to her orgasm. Julian snarled and liquid heat flooded her as he came.

The sound of his pleasure so silent as to be eerie, and then he ceased moving. The ragged notes of his breathing filling the bridge. Still quivering, she jerked when he pulled out, the rush of abandonment harsh after the need he’d filled in her. Quivering, she pushed to her knees, intending to crawl into his arms—but Julian had already stood and he’d pulled up his jeans.

He hadn’t even taken them all the way off.

Coldness crept in where fire licked her at the remoteness in his eyes.

“There’s a shower in the staterooms below deck, if you want to clean up.” He moved to the seat, ignoring his shredded shirt and resumed his place in the captain’s chair. Dallas didn’t even make it to her feet before he began winding in the anchor. His attention was on the dials and not her.

What the hell just happened? She’d gone to her knees for him and he’d—fucked me. That’s what he said he wanted. Dallas wanted to curse aloud, but that would let him know he’d gotten to her.

Fury and insult did more to restore her composure than anything. Rising, she didn’t bother with her clothes. If her nudity didn’t bother him, then she wouldn’t let it bother her.

“I seem to recall you had more stamina,” she said, stretching and trying to ignore the sensitivity in her nipples or the clench of her inner muscles. The hell with missing his magic cock filling her. So what if he had a penis and knew how to use it? “Out of practice?”

“We’re going out to deeper water, then we can begin questioning the wolves downstairs. Before then, I want to be briefed on everything you know about the Volchitsa.” All business, not even a hint of emotion. Even his scent had gone blank. Too bad she wore his scent, and she would have to take a shower to get rid of it.

Folding her arms, she settled her bare ass next to his control panel and studied him. “What do you want to know?”

“What is their problem with you?” He wouldn’t leave that alone.

“I have no idea.” When he glared at her, she waited a beat. His gaze dipped to her breasts. Shifting her arms, she slid them below her curves, elevating them. It helped ease the heaviness remaining from her neglected nipples. Once upon a time, he use to lick and suck them with the same fervor as he’d shown her clit—and he used to spend so long nuzzling between her thighs she thought she might die of bliss.

“Insufficient answer, Dallas. What do they want with you?”

“I’m not lying…check my scent.” She invaded his space, uncaring that he handled the navigation. “Do you smell a lie on me?”

The corners of his mouth flattened, but his nostrils flared. Yeah, he might be pretending she didn’t affect him, but the response was still there.

“All I smell is the familiar odor of deception and selfishness.” Then he pressed forward on the throttle.

The boat accelerated, and she had to brace her feet to maintain her balance. Shaking her head, Dallas said, “I had very few dealings with the Volchitsa. They are vagabond wolves, homeless, roaming. They aren’t welcome in many places and their family groups are matriarchal.” Rubbing her forehead, she tried to sort through her knowledge. “They keep their numbers small, easier to live on the fringes. Parents with children never venture into the cities. If they come into contact with other wolves, there is every chance they won’t return.”

“What about the children?” Concern filtered through the ice in his tone.

“They are executed the moment they are identified. A lot of the Russian packs believe all Volchitsa should be neutered, their ability to procreate removed. Then they would die out, as the unwanted they are.” The cold, ugly reality was they didn’t look at the Volchitsa as anything more than an infestation to be exterminated.

“So why would they go to all this trouble to get to you?”

“I’ve made my share of enemies over the years,” she admitted, seeing no sense in pretending innocence where she had none. “None that involved the Volchitsa directly.”

“It must be something if they are willing to hunt your child for it.” The curl in his lip revealed his disgust, but he no longer looked at her. His attention was ahead. “If what you say about their children is true, then hunting your adult child would be natural for them.”

“I wouldn’t disagree, except I’ve done nothing to them. We should talk to the prisoners. If they want me so badly, I’ll get it out of them.”

“Of that, I have no doubt. You could piss off a priest.” The hostile edge returned to his tone.

If he wanted to play it that way, fine. She’d done very little she was ashamed of. “I’ll accept the compliment, and I’m going to find a beer.” She pushed away from the console and strode toward the hatchway. More than a drink, she needed a break.

Before she could step out, he said, “When you come back, you’ll tell me everything you’ve done the last few decades.”

“What the hell for?” Bracing her hand on the door, she glance at him.

“Because you did something. You may not know what it is, may not even recognize it.” Fair point, she supposed. Then he added, “Most monsters don’t see their actions as monstrous.”

“Fuck you, too, Julian.”

“Already did.” His bland tone chased her like a whip. “Still not impressed.”

Not responding took every ounce of her will. She made it all the way down to the kitchen before she let out her growl of rage and frustration. If it didn’t involve Chrystal, she’d take her chances on her own.

Glancing from the kitchen, she looked out at the decorated salon. Wide, luxurious and filled with expensive furniture—maybe if she shredded his pretty things it would cool her temper off long enough to put herself through the self-flagellation of this exercise.

She was halfway to the first sofa when she caught sight of the photo on the opposite wall. It was blown up, and the effect blurred it—but she knew that picture.

Julian had taken it of her on the beach while she walked down to the water’s edge.

Her hair hadn’t been that long in years.

Why would a man who regarded her with such disgust keep such a memento?

Decades earlier…

Truth or dare with an Enforcer probably not wise. Yet playing with Julian had Dallas tingling. Maybe asking him about his life choices wasn’t sexy, but she wanted to know.

“Because I wanted to,” he answered, the reply lacking in any kind of texture or color.

“Nuh-uh, that’s not a real answer.” She would not let him off the hook. “I showed you mine; now you show me yours.”

“It was a long time ago,” he said, a sigh underscoring his response. Was he uncomfortable with his reasons or with telling her what those reasons were? “It’s not really important.”

“To you, maybe, but you’re all new to me, and I’m curious. If you don’t want to tell me the truth, then you have to do a dare.” When he didn’t respond immediately, she took a pull from her beer. Despite her levity over having to move out of the guesthouse, she was going to miss this place as well as Donna and Marie. The last few months had been wonderful.

“When I was sixteen, Pearl Harbor was bombed.”

Holy crap, he was way older than she expected. Not choking on her beer took effort. As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Julian spared her a long look.

“The act shocked everyone, not just the pack. I told my alpha I wanted to enlist. He didn’t try to talk me out of it, but had me spend two months training with the Hunters to hone my skills. When that was done, he gave me his blessing. Over twenty of us went to enlist together. Most were Hunters, but some were younger wolves, like me.”

Not daring to interrupt, she took another drink.

“After basic, I had a uniform, a unit, and they shipped me to North Africa. We fought several campaigns. Of the twenty wolves who enlisted with me, two were assigned to my unit.” Julian gazed into the distance, and he no longer seemed aware of her. “The first, George, died after his position suffered a strike from a mortar shelling. We can survive many wounds and injuries, our ability to heal remarkable in a world where the average human is so fragile. Along with Carl, the second, I was part of the force which took Sicily—that was in ‘43. I’d lost count of the battles we fought. Taking the island was bloody and difficult. Carl went missing during the battle. I tracked him to a beach after we’d secured out target. He was nowhere.”

The gruesome picture he painted made her sad. She’d grown up with Vietnam on the news, and the protests. More than one wolf had been called up to serve by the draft. Her grandfather evaluated every wolf whose number came up. One submissive had been replaced by a dominant, his deferment purchased at the alpha’s discretion. That Hunter never came home, and they didn’t have a body to bury. War was ugly.

“There were wolves in the Italian resistance. I spread the word, and they joined me in searching for Carl whenever we could. For another year, we continued our press through Italy. I encountered any number of foreign wolves while serving: Italian, French, Spanish, British, even a few Germans. Not every encounter went well.” He scratched his jaw, then took a long pull from the beer bottle. “As with all the packs here, they had different laws, different customs and different methods for dealing with all of them. Every European pack had suffered losses, all of them devastating. We found a way to work together. Still no sign of Carl.”

Sitting sideways, Dallas put a hand on his arm, the impulse to offer comfort one she couldn’t have ignored even if she wanted to.

“By the time we made it into Germany, I was chasing the enemy and rumors. I was exhausted. I might have been sixteen when Pearl Harbor happened, but when I walked in the gates of a concentration camp, I felt ancient. And I found Carl.” He tipped his bottle up and drained it. Finally, his gaze returned to hers. “They’d discovered he was something else and experimented on him. They’d used him to test some kind of drugs, cut into him to examine his organs, and more. I’d never seen a wolf so underweight or gray. He couldn’t sit up, much less stand.”

After setting aside his empty bottle and replacing it with her own, she curled against him. Her wolf paced within her. Julian was an Enforcer. He wasn’t pack. He was dangerous.

Dallas didn’t care and admonished her wolf to be silent.

“He’d been stranded in hell for two years. Everything in him was broken, even his wolf.” Emotion bled from is tone. “We were surrounded by the U.S. Army, medics, and British forces. I was no healer, but the records showed what had been done to Carl. If one human saw it…”

“They could discover his anomaly.”

“I had to make a decision. Carl was incoherent, his wolf broken…I tried to pull his wolf forward. If I could force him to shift, I wanted to send him into the northern woods till I could come for him. Nothing. It was like his wolf died. Then, in one moment of clarity, Carl asked me to kill him. Begged me to.”

She couldn’t imagine. Didn’t want to know what it would be like. Pack was everything. Even though she didn’t want to lead, didn’t want the responsibility, it didn’t change her love for them. If someone hurt one of Hudson River’s wolves, she wouldn’t stop until she extracted vengeance.

“Half the building he was in had suffered shelling and it was burning.” Absent any feeling, his words came out monotone. “I had to make a call. It’s not one I am proud of or like to spend time recalling.”

“Oh, Julian, I’m so sorry.” No pithy remarks or teasing would do. Not now. She hated herself for even asking the question.

“It needed to be done. He wanted to be free.” Blowing out a breath, Julian finally looked at her. “The experience stayed with me. When the war ended, and I returned to the pack. I didn’t belong there anymore. I left a home I loved and returned to strangers…only, they hadn’t changed. I had.”

Instinct had her straddling his lap. Hands on his shoulders, she rested her forehead against his. At first, Julian didn’t move. Then he gripped her hips. The wolf might be a lot older than her, but he was still a wolf and they needed touch.

“I lasted six months before I elected to leave. My alpha—like yours—wasn’t keen on the idea. He would have preferred I stayed, particularly after the time I’d already been gone. It wasn’t in me anymore. Pack bonds have to be renewed. Wolves need that contact. The longer you are gone from a pack, the more those bonds weaken. Sometimes, they fade completely away.”

A sobering thought. “Is that why you keep asking me about whether I’m returning to my pack?”

“It’s not your turn for truth,” he said, and the corner of his mouth kicked into a half smile. The glide of his fingers along her back to her nape sent a shiver over her flesh. “Truth or dare?”

Rubbing her nose to his gently, she didn’t look away from his powerful blue eyes. “Truth.”

“Damn, I was hoping you’d say dare.” The admission jolted her whole system. Awareness of the intimacy of her position and how comfortable she was had her settling her weight against him. He rubbed a gentle circle against her neck with his thumb. The nearness to her throat wasn’t lost on her. Instead of wariness, however, the tension in her muscles began to loosen. “What do you want?”

The question invaded her, racing like a predator through her system until it locked onto her as prey. Her wolf rose, and when she blinked, her vision changed. This close, she couldn’t miss a single nuance of Julian’s expression. He seemed relaxed, curiosity warming the cold distance he’d adopted during his tale.

“It’s not a what,” she said, taking the risk as her wolf backed her play. “It’s a who.”

When he raised his eyebrows, she nuzzled a kiss to the corner of his mouth. A butterflying touch. Then a second. Julian tightened his grip on her nape, locking her to him as his mouth opened then he kissed her and the world began to spin. Electricity sparked through her. Teasing darts forward with her tongue gained her access, and he groaned.

Soaking in the touch, she deepened the kiss. His erection thickened beneath her, and she rolled her hips, grinding against him. When he broke the kiss, she wanted to snarl. His gaze arrested her. “Your turn.”

Breathless, she couldn’t see past the brilliance of his eyes or the wolf gazing at her. The power he possessed seemed to crackle in the air around them. His presence should overwhelm her, yet all she experienced was buoyancy and the wildness of the challenge. Her wolf practically quivered in anticipation.

“Truth or dare?” The verbal gauntlet had been tossed.

“Dare,” she answered, without an ounce of trepidation.

“Make love with me.” The gentle phrase in his gruff tone had her nipples tightening, and no way he could miss the rising scent of her arousal. Everywhere their bodies touched seemed to scald her with fresh need. Make love. Not have sex.

“Yes,” she met his lunge halfway. Craving the nearness, she didn’t know who shredded whose clothes, but they were naked and Julian pinned her to the bed. The dominant in him demanded he take lead, and she marveled at her wolf’s acceptance. They didn’t have to fight him.

When his lips closed over her nipple, she stopped thinking altogether. Every touch seemed to amp her desire. The glide of his hands over her body drew responsiveness from her she didn’t know she possessed. Loving pets and caresses interspersed with the graze of his teeth. He didn’t resist when she ran her fingers over his taut body, discovering what brought pleasure to him. He gave a little jerk when she wrapped her hand around his cock.

His mouth sought hers, and his cock eased into her. The sensation of stretching until she was full took her breath away. They fell into a rhythm, the slap of his flesh to hers as exciting as the feeling of him driving into her. When the first orgasm shattered over her, he held her, teasing her with kisses, then he started over again. Every twist of his hips seemed to drive him deeper and the change of angle sent her spiraling over the edge. This time, he followed her as she dug her claws into his back.

A howl escaped her, and not even the force of his face buried against her throat could dislodge the delight swamping her. When he would have pushed away, she tightened her grip on him.

“Stay with me,” she invited.

When he relaxed and settled once more, she sighed.

“You are a dangerous woman, Dallas,” he whispered against her ear before catching her earlobe in his teeth.

Laughing at the tickle, she whispered, “From such a dangerous man, I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Good, that’s how I meant it.”