Page 13 of Triumph of the Wolf
I could feel the outline of his medallion against my back and knew it wanted this, just as the one I wore did. I could feel the outline ofhim,as well, big and hard, and a tremble of need went through me. He kissed the back of my neck, then trailed his lipsto my throat, nipping as he inhaled my scent, aroused by it, by me.
“I’ll have you,” he said, his grip tightening.
Molded to him, I opened my mouth to fervently agree. Then the door opened, daylight flooding in.
Lorenzo blinked as he encountered us scant inches away. Abruptly, as the cool winter air swept in around him, I grew aware of Jasmine and Emilio and a half dozen others outside.
Duncan growled, half lust, half irritation at the interruption. He didn’t release me, as if he would take me and not care in the least if my whole family watched.
Though I was aroused and ready for him, I caught his hands. For a moment, he resisted my attempt to move them away from my body. He was stronger than I and could take me if he wanted. Maybe that should have scared me. But he only resisted for a moment before drawing in a shaky breath, releasing me, and stepping back.
“Lorenzo,” came my mother’s voice from behind me, as if she were chastising him for interrupting.
Hell, maybe she was. This is what she wanted, after all. For Duncan to lead the pack and give me a child.
I was thankful that Lorenzo had opened the door. As badly as I wanted to be with Duncan, I didn’t want it to be because of magical coercion or my mother’s manipulation. Once his lust chilled, he would come to himself and wouldn’t want that either. The last thing I desired was for him to regret involving himself with me—and my pack.
“I heard noises and wanted to make sure you were all right, Umbra.” Lorenzo inclined his head toward her, then stepped back outside.
He closed the door, but not before I glimpsed numerous sets of curious eyes turned in our direction.
What kind ofnoiseshad we been making? I didn’t even know.
“Luna,” Mom said, gripping the doorway frame for support. “You two must wear the medallions and return to the magical cave in the gully. I had a dream, perhaps even a vision, that you would find answers there about how to protect our people.”
More likely, she thought the stronger magic there would make it so that Duncan and I couldn’t resist each other, and all that she wanted would come to pass. When I glanced at him, I found his heated gaze still on me. I looked away, trying not to think about how much I would like to slip away somewhere private and continue what we’d started.
Instead, I turned to Mom. “Radomir is dead. I don’t think our people are in that much danger now.”
She didn’t look surprised. She must have heard the story from Jasmine—my niece had become a confidante, and I’d told her all about that night.
“He is not—was not—the only threat to our people,” Mom said.
Did she mean Abrams? Or something more? The stuff with the real estate agents?
“Go to the cave.” She pointed through the back window of the cabin. “You’ll find answers there. I am certain.”
“Okay, Mom. We will.”
4
Jasmine interceptedme as Duncan and I headed to the van, and I let her draw me aside.
Walking stiffly, shoulders tense, Duncan looked like he needed a release, not to stay and chat with my family. Since I felt similarly, I couldn’t blame him, but Jasmine raised her phone, the text-message screen open, and I suspected she had more on her mind than commenting on the position that Duncan and I—and his hands—had been in when Lorenzo opened the door. With luck, nobody else had gotten a good view of that…
“The reception is so awful up here,” Jasmine said, “but a message made it through from home. Mom has had Dad researching what’s up with all the land stuff, and he thought to look up the buyer of a property that previously sold in the area. It was last summer.”
Duncan disappeared into the van, and I figured I’d better give him a few minutes.
“Did he find anything interesting?” I asked. “The buyer wasn’t Radomir or his company, was it?”
“I don’t think so, no.” Jasmine held up a name on the screen.
“Golden Wildlands Development?” I read.
The name wasn’t familiar.
“Yeah. Dad checked out the parcel in the county records, and it’s recently been rezoned to rural business.”
