A Long Howl Good Night
A Long Howl Good Night
Delilah Devlin
Part of the My Immortal Knight series.
Werewolf Aila Mack is ready to get her groove on during a full moon. She’s a part-time hooker because she prefers to keep her liaisons strictly about the sex. She’s had a taste of were-domination and prefers to be in charge of her own destiny.
Brothers Kynan and Jack Parker are on a mission. Their species is in need of breedable females. When the Dark Mountain clan finds a sex agency dealing in female werewolves, they aren’t happy women are selling their bodies in order to take care of their monthly itch. They take action when it’s discovered there’s a fertile female in the agency’s stable.
Kynan and Jack are given the job of bringing home their mate but discover quickly there’s more going on beneath the surface than simply a stubborn female who refuses to be collared. Aila’s tempted as never before, as the brothers, one gentle and one fiercely intense, peel away the hard shell surrounding her Wolfen heart.
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
A Long Howl Good Night
ISBN 9781419931130
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A Long Howl Good Night Copyright © 2010 Delilah Devlin
Edited by Mary Moran
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication October 2010
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
A Long Howl Good Night
Delilah Devlin
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Tarzan: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
Chapter One
With a shake of her head, Aila Mack tousled her curls then gave her mouth one last swipe of lipstick. Nothing spelled “hooker” quite like cherry-red lipstick and a skirt so short a sneeze would show off the half-moons of her ass.
And that’s exactly what she was—for this weekend anyway. As tawdry as that sounded, some things couldn’t be left to Mother Nature. Not if she wanted to maintain the life she’d fought so hard to live.
She stepped out of her car, tugged down the hem of her black skirt, and vamped to the door of the mountain cabin where she’d been directed by the agency.
Light glared around the edges of the curtains; smoke billowed from the chimney. The remoteness of this particular client didn’t worry her. If things got a little rough, they could easily take the action out of doors.
After shooting one last glance around the moonlit clearing, she took a deep breath and knocked.
The heavy tread of a man’s footsteps sounded on the other side, and the door swung open. Aila glanced up…and up…locking gazes with one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen—not handsome in a pretty-boy way, but his angular, hard-edged features appealed like no other’s she’d ever seen.
Coal-black hair was brushed back from his forehead. Chilly blue eyes gleamed as his gaze slowly raked her body. A broad, muscular chest above lean hips and powerful thighs made her hopeful that, this time, she’d find her own pleasure in the mating. She was almost envious of the soft chambray shirt and wash-softened blue jeans that hugged his large frame.
He shifted to the side and silently waved her into the room.
All that brawn. Mmm-mm.
She wished he wouldn’t speak and ruin it.
Aila walked inside, set her purse on a table next to the door, and studied the rugged log walls and heavy, masculine furnishings. They suited the man.
“Any trouble findin’ us?” he asked, his deep voice softened by the Southern drawl that rasped across her skin like a caress.
Then she realized what he’d just said. Her head swung toward him. “Us?” she asked, her voice rising.
His frosty eyes narrowed. “My brother and I contracted you for the weekend.”
“I wasn’t told there’d be more than one client. This’ll cost more.” Wear and tear from one lusty animal was bad enough.
His lips twisted, but he gave a sharp nod. “Come into the kitchen. Kynan’s makin’ dinner. Have you already eaten?”
“I’m not hungry.”
His mouth stretched into a predatory smile that bared his white teeth. “Now that’d be a waste, sugar.”
She snorted. How like a wolf…
Still, a job was a job, and she needed the hook-up for more than the money. The full moon crept slowly across the sky, pulling her libido along in its wake and making it hard to concentrate when a healthy, attractive male was within arm’s length. She drew in his spicy scent and let the unique smell of his lupine pheromones feed the arousal burgeoning between her thighs. A crude reminder of the one part of her life she hadn’t been able to replace in the human world.
What would happen tonight wasn’t any mystery, but she didn’t have to end the chase at first scent. She wouldn’t offer him that satisfaction.
Without giving him another glance, she rolled her hips side to side, followed the unmistakable sound of a knife thudding against a cutting board, and left the hungry male growling in her wake.
Jack Parker blew a silent whistle and followed the woman who looked like any wolf’s wet dream into the kitchen. The skirt hugged her bottom lovingly, rising and dipping with every step, teasing him with a shadowy hint of cheek.
Since he’d already seen the picture on the website, he’d known the blonde was pretty, but he hadn’t expected her body to rate a ten on the heart attack scale. Heavy breasts, a slender waist, and best of all, long, sleek legs shimmering with a light application of glimmer-lotion that teased him with the image of them clutching his waist while he fucked her.
Hell, just the scent of her feminine musk alone, not masked by any perfume, was enough to keep him as hard as a tree trunk.
She halted at the kitchen door, and he cupped the notches of her hips to steady her as he plowed into her backside. “Whoa, there,” he murmured against her hair, giving her a nudge. “Didn’t want to run you down.”
Her head turned. Her sharp green gaze narrowed.
But he didn’t remove his hands. He’d paid good money to touch that hot little behind. His gaze lifted to Kynan, who stuck the knife into the butcher board then stood with a dishtowel over his bare shoulder and his jeans-clad hip cocked against the counter.
Kynan’s gaze ran slowly down then right back up the brick-house body of the woman. His brother seemed every bit as mesmerized as he’d been at first sight. That was, until he felt the chill of her frosty demeanor. Weren’t whores supposed to be friendly?
“Might
help break the ice,” Jack murmured into her ear, “if you told us your name.”
“You can call me Aila,” she said, still sounding huffy.
“That your real name?”
“It’s what I’ll answer to.”
One of Kynan’s brown brows arched. “I’ll answer to Kynan.”
“And you can call me Jack,” he said, squeezing her hips and rubbing his dick against her backside again.
Her spine stiffened like a poker, which only made him grin. He hadn’t realized it until that moment, but he didn’t mind that she wasn’t the friendliest bitch he’d ever met. He liked a woman with a bit of fire in her. Made the inevitable surrender all the sweeter.
He nuzzled her ear and followed when she bent her neck away.
“I just got here,” she bit out.
“Why waste a minute?” he drawled, giving her drumming pulse a lick. “Clock’s tickin’. Want my grand’s worth out of your hide.”
Kynan cleared his throat, no doubt wondering why he was acting like such an ass.
Jack couldn’t have put his reasons into words even if he’d wanted to. Everything about the woman sparked all his cylinders. His intense attraction complicated things. He didn’t want to think too much about what she felt, what she wanted. He wanted to lose himself inside her. She didn’t deserve more from him—and she shouldn’t expect it. Not selling herself as she was.
The thought of any she-wolf resorting to prostitution to hook up with a male during the full moon made him feel slightly sick. Aila could be his sister. He’d be furious if he ever caught Deirdre doing something as dangerous as this.
He pulled her in closer, smoothing his hands down her sides and up again while he ground his thickening cock against her soft backside. A growl rumbled at the back of his throat.
Kynan reached out and snapped the towel at his shoulder. “Give her room to breathe. We have all weekend to get to know each other.” The sly arch of his brother’s brow said they had the weekend to turn Aila inside out and make her wish for a pack to provide for her needs on a full-time basis.
Lone bitches fought the natural order of things but always succumbed to hormones in the end. Independence wasn’t all it was cracked up to be in the harsh reality of a sterile human world.
Jack bit her shoulder then pushed her from him.
She whirled and wobbled on her tall heels, a fierce scowl screwing up her features.
Kynan moved in to steady her with an arm around her waist. “Easy there,” he said, his voice soothing her. “We don’t want you hurt.”
“Afraid you won’t get your grand’s worth?” she snarled.
“No,” Kynan said slowly. “I don’t want you hurt.”
Her gaze locked with Kynan’s, and Jack felt satisfaction warm him. Kynan could be her friend and make love to her.
He’d be the one to challenge her and fuck her brains out.
They had the plan all worked out. They’d have her every way a man or a wolf could. They’d remind her of what was missing from her day-to-day existence. A life among humans, dating men who politely asked her to open her legs, couldn’t compare to existence among a pack where she would be protected, her every need fulfilled.
A wolf promised a bitch so much more than respect. He’d give her what she needed. What she craved. Make her love it. Beg for it.
Jack rubbed his dick through his jeans and followed the other two into the living room.
“Any problems findin’ us?” Kynan asked.
Jack grinned. He’d asked her that same exact question before, but she hadn’t answered. Did she know how close to Wolfen territory she’d strayed?
Aila aimed a glare his way then forced a smile for his brother. “No, the agency’s directions were clear.”
“Was it a long way to come?”
Suspicion darkened her expression and her gaze narrowed—this time on Kynan. “I didn’t tell you where I started, but it’s why you’re paying mileage too.”
Since he didn’t want Kynan being the bad wolf, Jack snorted, hoping to distract her. “Everything has a price?”
Her chin lifted, but her expression turned from hard to sultry in under a second, making his lust quicken. “Some things are all-inclusive,” she said, her voice husky. “I won’t make you choose an act from a menu.”
“We can do pretty much what we want?”
“So long as I can walk out of here on my own on Monday.”
Jack’s chest lifted around a deep inhalation. He dragged in her sweet scent deeper, letting it curl inside his chest. “That leaves us a lot of room.”
Her lush mouth pouted. “Let’s not pretend I‘m fragile.”
He barely suppressed a deep, rough growl. He wished he could dip down and smother those lips, but he held back, knowing the trap was already set. Instead, he would savor watching her fall under their complete control. “What’s the matter? Human boyfriends not rough enough?”
Her lips tightened into a thin, stubborn line. Apparently, her life outside this cabin wasn’t up for discussion.
Kynan raked a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “How about a drink before we get to know each other?”
“Sure,” Aila said, turning her body toward Kynan in a gesture meant to tell Jack she was ignoring him for the moment.
Fine with him. Meant he could look his fill without having to do it politely from the corners of his eyes as Kynan was.
Kynan might be playing nice, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t just as ready to jump her bones.
The moon was rising high, and Jack felt the elemental pull. Testosterone spiked, hardening his body. Blood surged, filling his cock, readying him for a rut.
By the sharp edges of Kynan’s cheeks, he had to be feeling it too. Kynan’s brown eyes darkened and swept down the woman’s body again. This time, not such a subtle glance.
Yeah, Kynan had to be every bit as hungry as Jack was to take Aila to the floor and ruffle her spiky fur.
Kynan crossed to the bar and opened the fridge, returning with a glass of red wine for Aila and a beer for Jack. Then he snagged another beer between two fingers and a napkin before taking a seat on the couch beside the woman.
Jack sat in a deep leather armchair, content for the moment to watch. His gaze slid from her shoulders to her ass, noting how her skirt had ridden up beneath her. He couldn’t help a smirk that lifted one side of his mouth. Her bare bottom had to be warming the leather couch. He’d felt the narrow bands of a thong at her hips when he’d felt her up.
He wondered how strong the moon tugged at her arousal and whether she was wet. Some women, barren women, could resist the monthly curse. A wolf was lucky when he found one ready for the howling. Just how different would it be for her?
Kynan handed Aila the napkin with a slight smile, and her eyelids dipped for just a second before she blotted away her red lipstick. How did his brother do that? Get her to follow his instructions without even saying a word?
Jack drew on his beer, trying to catch the train of the conversation. She was relaxing at last, sitting back against the couch instead of looking ready to bolt for the door. What had Kynan just said to her?
“How did you find the agency? It’s not like they advertise,” he asked her.
“A friend of a friend. She told me there was another way to live.”
“So you hire out to strange men?”
Her expression remained neutral. “Once a month, yeah.”
“Do you take repeats?”
She shook her head. “Never. I don’t want a relationship. I’m not looking for a pack. This is less…messy.”
“But it’s dangerous.”
“Howl at the Moon is pretty exclusive, and as Jack there probably found out,” she said, darting a hard glance his way, “membership isn’t an easy thing to land. They do background and credit checks—and they keep track of the girls. Expect a call sometime during the weekend. They’ll want to talk to me to make sure everything’s fine.”
Kynan glanced at
Jack, giving a subtle blink of his eyes.
Jack didn’t know whether to believe her or not, but it didn’t really matter. By the time the agency dispatched someone to find them they’d be long gone.
Sliding his arms along the cool leather arms, he propped his feet on the coffee table and crossed them, pretending to relax while he studied the woman whose life he was about to change forever.
Kynan suppressed a grin at Jack’s lazy posture. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although his brother stayed silent, the lack of movement, the deepening of his breaths betrayed his intense reaction to the woman.
Their buddy Jaime hadn’t been kidding when he’d described the woman he’d hired the previous month. Not on the prowl for a mate of his own, he’d still been in need of a fuck-fix far from home. However, he’d followed due diligence afterward, sending the bed sheets to Dark Mountain’s best noser for confirmation.
The woman was a breeder—her fate sealed by the fact her womb was fertile. She should know better than to think her life was her own when clans were desperate for cubs.
The Dark Mountain clan leaders had met in secret to discuss what should be done with Aila Mack. Not her real name, they were sure, because no lupine “Macks” existed anywhere in North America.
Her origins were a mystery, and she’d been careful to cover her tracks. They’d followed the money trail through Howl at the Moon, but after bouncing between international accounts, they hadn’t been able to pick up the trail to find her.
This had been the best solution. Send out a team to bring her in. Send the men who would be her mates to ensure she was handled with care and sensitivity.
A cautionary warning Jack seemed unable to remember. He’d acted like a dog ever since she’d walked through the door. He’d sniffed and pawed. Kynan was surprised, because Jack prided himself on control and that no one got to him, but this woman really pissed him off.