What a Wolf Wants Read online

  What a Wolf Wants

  Delilah Devlin

  Contents

  What a Wolf Wants

  About the Author

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  What a Wolf Wants

  THE RUSTLING OF LEAVES OUTSIDE HER WINDOW BROUGHT DANI slowly to awareness. At first soft and soothing, the wind intensified, gathering the dried leaves and sweeping them in sighing waves that skittered and scratched across the flagstone patio just outside her bedroom.

  Her eyes drifted open to find moonlight sifting through her gauzy curtains. Rolling her head on her pillow, she noted the red digital readout on her alarm clock. Midnight. Again.

  Dani sat up in bed, pressed the button on the base of her bedside lamp and swept aside the covers. Without hesitating, she approached the door leading onto the patio that wrapped around the back of her new house. She lowered the latch and slowly opened the door.

  At the edge of the flagstones stood the wolf, the bristling ends of his dark fur silvered by moonlight. It held her gaze for a moment, then turned and loped beyond the edge of the clearing and into the forest.

  Just as she had for the last three nights in a row, she followed. Only this time her heartbeat didn’t trip with fear. She knew exactly how this dream would end.

  A storm gathered overhead, whipping the treetops, making the trees creak and groan ominously as they pelted her with dried pine needles. Her bare feet trod through soft grass, which gave way to crisp forest carpet. The wind tugged at her thin camisole and pajama bottoms—she’d changed her usual oversized tee, just to see whether the dream would note the difference—and it had.

  Yet, everything else remained the same—the mottled moonlight piercing the blackness of the thick pine forest, the pungent scent of resin, and the increasing heaviness in her chest as her heart pounded faster the farther into the darkness she went.

  Ahead, the wolf’s paws slowed, and she knew it had reached the edge of the pond. She burst through the forest and stood on a grassy bank that sloped away to a glittering dark surface.

  The wolf bent its head as it drank, and it didn’t start at the sound of her approach. She reached out a hand and stroked along its back and flanks, then sat down beside it.

  Everything was the same. But she wasn’t. Her attire. Her fear. But did she really want to change the course of the dream? Despite the fact she’d woken each morning feeling depleted of strength, her dreams had been so vivid, so sensual, she was loath to give them up.

  So she waited beside the wolf, stroking its thick fur, staring ahead until the smooth surface of the pond broke and a man strode from the center, water sluicing down his naked skin.

  Her breath caught as she watched his approach. He was perfection, everything she imagined dark temptation would embody.

  He shook his head, letting the water fly from the ends of his dark hair. Droplets landed on her face and chest, but she didn’t mind. Her tongue swept from her mouth to capture the moisture that found her lips.

  The man stopped when the water lapped at his calves.

  Her greedy gaze swept him from head to toe, lingering over the curves and hollows of his muscled chest and abdomen—stalling when she reached his cock. As she stared, it filled, lengthening and rising between his legs.

  “Have you waited long?” he asked, his voice a deep, rusty whisper.

  “All my life,” Dani repeated hoarsely, as she had every night.

  Shadows filled the hollows of his eyes, lending him a sinister appearance. For a moment she forgot what she already knew about this dream and shivered, afraid again.

  She rose slowly, preparing to flee, her hand digging deeper into the wolf’s fur to steady her shaking legs.

  The man raised his hands and took a step closer. “I won’t hurt you. I’ve waited for you too.”

  Next, she should have gasped before she whirled and fled, but Dani quelled her nervousness and forced herself to stop. She wanted a different ending.

  So she changed the script. “Don’t come any closer,” she said, straightening.

  The wolf turned a baleful gaze over its shoulder.

  She let go of her tight grip on its fur. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pull.”

  “He doesn’t mind,” the man said, a slight smile curving his lips.

  She closed her eyes. “Okay, I’m talking to a wolf and a naked man.”

  “You’ve graduated. The last two nights you’ve run.”

  “Which I should—I mean, if this was real.”

  “But you’ve decided something tonight?” he asked slowly.

  “It’s my dream, right? I can shape this into any adventure I want.”

  “You didn’t like how it ended before?”

  Her cheeks filled with heat. It was as he said. She’d run the two previous nights, only to be caught by him at the edge of her property. He’d taken her down into the grass, rolled her beneath him and ravished her.

  “Maybe you don’t want to waste any time with the chase?” he asked, his voice silky. His hands settled on his hips. “How about you tell me how you want this to go?”

  His arrogant smirk had her scowling. “Look, this is my dream. I can wake up any time I want.”

  “Then do it. See if you can.”

  She was almost irritated enough to try, but then she wouldn’t have a chance to create the ending she’d thought about since she woke up that morning, her sheets twisted around her ankles, her fingers sliding into her slippery folds.

  She wanted to finish it. Reach her orgasm—if it was even possible—inside the dream with this man.

  “You see, your mistake,” he said, taking another step closer, “is thinking you control this.”

  “I guess so, because if I was dreaming of the perfect man, he wouldn’t be doing his best to piss me off.”

  “Why are you so angry, Dani?”

  She knew why—but she was damned if she’d tell him she was frustrated. Even if he was a figment of her imagination, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction—or worse, let him know the power he wielded here. “Look, I’m not going to run. I’m…extending an invitation.”

  One dark brow lifted, and his chest rose as he inhaled deeply. “Go on…”

  “I’d rather make love on a soft mattress than in the dirt. Twice now I’ve been awakened when the rain poured down on us.”

  “You don’t want any interruptions.”

  “I want to finish it.”

  “Are you inviting me into your bed?”

  “That’s what I just said.”

  “You’re asking me to come into your house?”

  She let loose a long sigh and glared. Maybe she should have dreamed of a smarter man.

  He shrugged and stepped onto the bank beside her. “I’m just making sure. Didn’t want to assume anything. After you?”

  She started to turn then glanced back at the wolf. “What about him?”

  “The wolf will be waiting.”

  As surreal as the turn the conversation had taken, she led a naked stranger through the forest to her bedroom door. When she stepped over the threshold, she didn’t look back, afraid he’d see that her anxiety had returned. Beside the pond, she’d been on familiar territory with him. Inside her bedroom, she felt as though she was welcoming something dangerous, something forbidden inside her haven. Anything could happen now that she’d changed the dream.

  “I like what you’ve done with the place,” he said softly as he entered behind her.

  So did she. Part of the reason she’d slept so heavily of late centered on her reclamation of the cottage. What had been a hunter’s retreat—age-darkened wallpaper, moth-eaten carpet, heads of wild animals mounted throughout—was now her retreat from the world. She’d painted th
e exterior of the clapboard house in a brilliant sunset orange, the trim in garnet. Inside, she’d used all the warm colors of the Mediterranean to make her cozy nest.

  The bedroom was her particular favorite. Thin, wine-colored curtains contrasted with the golden yellow walls. Her bed was a sumptuous feast of beaded silk and plump velvet pillows in colors a harem girl would approve. After years surrounded by a beige life, she’d let her color sense go wild.

  What better way to start over after the life she’d known ended with the “Storm.” Moving to northern Louisiana, leaving her gutted home for demolition, she’d soothed her soul with warm, living colors. She hadn’t considered what a man might think, because another relationship wasn’t something she planned.

  Did this man think a Gypsy lived here? Oh wait, this was just a dream—of course he’d love it, just as he was about to love her. She relaxed, strode toward the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress.

  “Gonna make me work?” he asked, eyeing her pajamas.

  “Just because I asked you here doesn’t mean I’m going to make this easier.”

  “Ah, you liked the part where I tore your clothes off.”

  She opened her mouth to deny it, but he’d know she was lying. Although she’d put up a pretense of fighting him off, her moans had risen to a crescendo as he peeled away her tee and panties. “What’s your name? I can’t keep thinking of you as ‘the man.’”

  His head canted and he trailed a finger along the scrolled carvings of one post of her bed. “Don’t you already know?”

  That gave Dani pause. This dream was getting more complicated by the moment. Shouldn’t she already have a name to assign to her dream lover? Then again, if she’d paid attention in the first place, she would have created him blond, more in the mode of Brad Pitt, whom she considered the most attractive man on the planet. Too late to revise now—she already had a “relationship” with this one. “Surprise me. Give me a name.”

  “I’m Aaron.” Something in “Aaron’s” gaze seemed expectant, as if he believed she should be aware of his name.

  She’d half expected something sexier, but Aaron suited his broad-shouldered, muscular frame in an oddly comforting way. “You’re not going to ask me mine?”

  A small enigmatic smile curved the corners of his mouth and he held up his hand. “Enough talk, don’t you think?”

  Without letting herself rethink the scenario, she laid her hand inside his. She’d let her subconscious dictate what happened next.

  Aaron raised her hand and kissed it with surprising tenderness.

  She bit her lower lip. “Does this mean you’re going to be a gentleman?”

  His hand closed tightly around her wrist and he jerked her off the bed against his body. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you what you need.”

  Once she recovered her breath, she sighed and tilted her head back.

  Aaron bent toward her and his soft lips opened. He tugged her bottom lip while his thick thigh nudged between hers. His arms closed around her, one hand thrusting under her hair to cup her head, the other gliding south to pull her hips harder against his. His cock pressed into her stomach and he began to slowly rut against her.

  Dani groaned into his mouth and clutched at his back, digging her nails into his smooth skin, holding onto him as she drowned in the passion igniting between them. Heat pooled everywhere their bodies touched.

  When he dragged his mouth from hers and drew away, she whimpered. The hand at the back of her head released her and gripped the front of her silky camisole. Again, one challenging brow rose. “Pretty,” he said, then ripped it apart with a single jerk.

  “Yes,” she whispered, her nipples sprouting in the cool air-conditioned air.

  Her bottoms didn’t fare any better, but she didn’t protest the destruction of her clothing, because his hand slipped immediately between her legs and cupped her mound, the heel of his palm grinding into her clit while his fingers slipped between her folds.

  His cheek rubbed against hers. “God, you’re wet.”

  Rain began to patter on the roof, and Dani felt a smile tug at her lips. “I’m not waking up this time.”

  “If you stay with me, I’ll finish it,” he promised, then drew on the lobe of her ear.

  “Maybe we should hurry,” she said, gripping the curves of his shoulders as though holding tightly to the dream.

  “You’re right. We’re trying something new here. Never know what might interrupt us. Damned if I want to let you go before I’ve heard you howl.”

  Before she could gasp, he thrust her away.

  She landed in a sprawl across the mattress and quickly rolled to her knees, pleased they’d play the game again.

  The act of capturing her the previous two nights had incited a dangerous, primal excitement she wanted to recreate. If he wanted her, he’d have to be the conqueror.

  A wicked smile stretched his lips, and he crawled onto the bed, his hands balled, his shoulders flexing. “Think I’ll let you escape me now?”

  Dani backed away from him, her eyes widening at the feral intensity of his dark gaze. Yet deep inside, this was exactly what she’d wanted. The beast coming out to play.

  Aaron lunged left. Dani skittered to the right in a circle on her not-so-wide queen mattress. Her body tightened, just as his appeared to be doing. His muscles bulged; his cock tapped his belly. Every part of him was honed for her delight.

  When he feinted right, Dani squealed and rolled to escape his sudden lunge left. He captured her before she could regain her knees.

  With one cheek pressed against the coverlet, her body trapped beneath his spread thighs, she trembled, waiting for him to do something wonderfully wicked.

  He leaned over her, so close his breath stirred the hair beside her ear and his erection pressed between her buttocks. “Tell me how you want this, Dani.”

  “Rough,” she panted. “I want it rough.”

  He thrust a thick brawny arm beneath her belly and raised her to her knees, pulling her back so his cock now slid between her wet labia.

  She gasped and wriggled against him, pretending distress but pressing backward to rub along the length of him.

  His knees shoved her legs apart, opening her, and he rocked against her, sliding forward and back to grind against her parted lips. He rutted twice, and she braced herself to take him…

  But he drew away.

  His hand cupped her, two fingers sliding inside and sweeping in a circle, then pulling out. “Turn around. You’re not nearly there.”

  What the hell? Her pussy was swimming in cream, moisture seeping to trickle down her thighs. “I need you inside me.”

  “When you’re ready. Or do you want me to leave?”

  Dani moaned. Heat filled her cunt, plumping her lips, engorging her clitoris. Just a touch and she’d be squirming, mewling. She waited in an agony of anticipation for him to relent, pushing her arms up, to glance over her shoulder. “What if this is how I want you?”

  Aaron’s eyes narrowed, but he leaned over her back. His mouth slid across her shoulder, then landed on her mouth. Their tongues mated for a moment, then he swept inside and tugged her lip with his teeth. When he straightened, he clamped a hand, hard, on the notch of one of her hips as he used the other hand to guide the broad head of his cock into her opening. He pushed inside then backed out, then pressed a little deeper before letting go of his cock.

  With both his hands now holding her in a bruising grip, he moved her forward and back to meet his thrusts, increasing the sharpness, the depth, until he was sliding full hilt in and out.

  Dani looked away and groaned, widening her legs to take more of him, dipping her waist and curving it, trying to find just the right angle to take him deeper.

  Behind her, Aaron’s breaths grew harsh, chopped. His hands slid down to her buttocks and he squeezed them apart and together. Then he delivered a stinging slap to one cheek then the other each time he thrust inside. The slaps grew sharper, the sounds alternating with the moist thr
usts as he drove inside her.

  Just when the curling heat began to wind itself around and around, so tightly she knew she would explode at any moment, he unexpectedly withdrew.

  Before Dani could gather the breath to protest, he turned her and dragged her hands up to the headboard, to wrap her fingers beneath it. “Don’t let go,” he rasped.

  Her breasts stretched until only the nipples protruded, and she held her breath as he gave her one last glance that contained a world of wicked promise. Then he bent over one spiked nipple, fluttering his tongue against it, again and again, until the teasing touch was too much. “Please, Aaron, suck it.”

  His lips latched around it, suckling so hard her toes curled and her thighs tightened around his midriff. But he drew off, and she relaxed—too soon—because he repeated the action, tugging it harder, then releasing it, doing it over and over again until her nipple bloomed impossibly long, excited by the sweet torture. He brought his hand to her other breast and twisted the nipple while he continued to suck the one he tormented.

  She let go of the headboard with one hand and reached down to push him to the other breast.

  He jerked back his head and gave her a look that promised retribution, and Dani shakily let go and reached again for the headboard. But he stayed over the breast he’d neglected, swirled his tongue over the quivering tip and then opened his mouth wide to gather all the breast he could into his mouth, sucking so hard she felt it all the way to her pussy as though he tugged a line tethered between her breast and cunt.

  When he came off her breast, his lips curved in a smile as he stared at one nipple then the other. Then he shocked her with a slap against one nipple.

  When he slapped the wet tip of the other, she groaned and bucked her hips beneath him. “Please, Aaron…oh, please…”

  His mouth worked southward, gliding over her ribs, sucking on the soft center of her belly, his tongue dipping into her navel. When his shoulders were level with her hips, she relaxed, widening her splayed thighs. She lifted her bottom from the bed, pressing her pussy against his chest, trying to tempt him lower still, to the part of her that throbbed.