He smiled and pressed against that special spot between her p.u.s.s.y and a.n.u.s, targeting the zone he knew would drive her wild. A low, s.e.xy noise rumbled in her throat, the sound vibrating over him.

He swiped upward slowly, tauntingly, over her p.u.s.s.y lips, her flavor bursting on his tongue, and circled her entrance. Then he continued higher, lingering over her c.l.i.t, polishing the little b.u.t.ton of flesh.

"Russ." Her body writhed on the cotton sheets, enticing him nearer, the smell of her wrapping around him.

"I'm here, Vanna. I'll give you what you need." He buried his face between her thighs, lapping at her soft folds and slurping up her flavorful cream. She thrust her hips toward him, riding his face, her juices smacking on his cheeks.

Russ reached deeper into her with his tongue, stroking her inner walls, searching for more wetness. He rubbed her c.l.i.t with his nose as he hunted.

She trembled around him, contracting around his flesh, her body primed for a release only he could give her. He nibbled on her, and she cried out his name, coaxing him to give her more, more, everything he had.

The pumping of her blood pounded in his ears. His fangs dropped, and one sharp tip poked her skin. She squeaked, the high-pitched sound escaping her clenched lips.

"You like that, don't you?" Russ grinned and gently dragged his fangs over her p.u.s.s.y. Vanna undulated and stretched out her arms. She clutched the bed sheets in her small fists, winding the cloth around her fingers.

He positioned his right fang over her c.l.i.t.

"No. No. No." She raised her head, watching him wide-eyed.

"Yes." He p.r.i.c.ked that sensitive flesh and she screamed, flying upward, fabric tearing. Russ rode her bucking body, sucking on her gushing juices, and prolonging her tremors.

"Russ." Vanna reached out to him.

"I'm coming, sweetheart." He undid his belt and unzipped, leaving his pants and underwear behind as he moved up her shaking torso. She raised her knees, cradling him between her healed thighs.

With a sigh of contentment, he slid into her, his c.o.c.k swallowed up by her heat. Nothing felt so right as him being inside her. "This is where I belong, where I've always belonged."

"And where you'll stay for all eternity." She caressed his shoulders with her slender, pale fingers, and centuries of loneliness vanished underneath her touch.

"Yes." Russ grinned at her, his joy making him lightheaded. "Though we might starve to death." He rocked her body, pumping into her with shallow, easy thrusts. "And I could fall asleep and squish you. I am a big vampire."

"Very big." Vanna swayed with him. "And chatty." She breathed heavily. "I never knew vampires talked so much."

"Wait until you turn, and we can share thoughts." He'd never be alone again. "I have things I want to tell you, love, about my past, how I met Marciano, stories about Oro, your boss." He thrust into her faster and harder. "There's so much you don't know about me."

"I know I love you." She arched, brushing her silk-covered b.r.e.a.s.t.s against him. "And I want that ever-moving mouth of yours against my skin."

"You have the best ideas." He nibbled over her jaw and down her neck, tasting her salt, her humanity. She threaded her fingers in his hair, her nails ma.s.saging his scalp as they f.u.c.ked, their bodies slapping together, his flesh heated by hers.

He raked his fangs over her neck, following the tantalizing trail of her jugular, the vein pumping the sweetest blood Russ had ever tasted. She moaned, pressing her skin into his mouth, as though begging him to taste her.

Did she want his bite? Did she long for that connection as he did?

Russ lifted his gaze and studied her expressive face. Ragged pants ripped from her parted lips. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were gla.s.sy. Never had she looked so beautiful, her body shaking with each hard thrust.

"Russ." Vanna pulled him to her, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, her body tightening around his c.o.c.k. "Bite me. Suck on me." She said the words he wanted to hear, her voice low and husky.

"Vanna." Russ groaned, his b.a.l.l.s aching for release, and his soul hungering for her blood, her heat, her love. "My beloved." He pumped once, twice, three more times, reared his head back, and with a triumphant roar, swooped down upon her, piercing her fragile flesh.

Her taste burst in his mouth, an explosion of flavors spiced with poignant memories and fervent promises of an eternal future. She screamed, her p.u.s.s.y clenching down on him, severing his control, and he came hard, spurting his hot c.u.m into her, the room spinning around him.

He fed from her, savoring every ounce of her blood, as first her body and then his stilled, their limbs entwined, her heart beating against his palm.

"I love you, Russ." She stroked his back, her form loose and lethargic.

He forced himself to withdraw. Now wasn't the time to take her human life, as she was exhausted. They'd been through so much today. He would turn her when they were both rested. He gently licked her wound closed.

He'd make her rebirth special, celebrating those first moments of eternity together. "I love you, Vanna." Russ brushed his lips against hers, smiling as she flicked his flesh with her tongue, tasting her own blood. His beloved was born to be a vampire. "I'm going to make all your dreams come true."

Her lips curled upward, her eyes soft. "I'm counting on it."

Big City Wolf.

Cynthia Sax.

He was a wolf without a pack, a stray living on the street. She was the pack princess, pampered and perfect. Half a century ago, their love was torn apart by a controlling alpha and a s.a.d.i.s.tic enforcer.

Unable to live without her wolf, Ember meets with North. He's angry, determined to find out answers she doesn't want him to hear. She has a secret she knows will destroy his love forever.

If the enforcer doesn't kill them first.

Chapter One.

G.o.d. Ember stared out of the limousine's tinted windows, not seeing the houses and shops lining the streets. Let me get through this.

"You're looking a little pale, Em." Hailey peered at her, her brow wrinkled with concern. "Are you feeling okay? You could skip this party. Perla and Frey would understand."

But North wouldn't. Ember flexed her fingers. He knows I'm on the guest list. "I'll be fine." I can't delay fate forever.

"I want to skip this." Oro, Ember's dragon-shifter boss and Hailey's mate, huffed, smoke curling around his nostrils. "A dragon tea party." He rolled his golden eyes. "Why didn't Frey nix this when he had the chance?"

"It was his idea." Hailey gazed up at her mate, her face softening. "And you're not skipping this." She patted his thigh. "It'll be fun."

It'll be h.e.l.l. Ember chewed on her bottom lip, her anxiety rising as the car slowed. Father's dead. He can't hurt North. And I can survive anything. I've proven that.

As though sensing her unrest, Killer, her tiny Chihuahua, poked his head out of his tote and licked Ember's fingers. She smiled, touching his nose with hers. "You're all the pack I have now, Killer. I'm counting on you."

The door swung open and a wave of potent, virile male scent hit her. Ember sucked in her breath, her nipples tightening and her body pulsing with desire, her wolf aroused for the first time in fifty-three years.

North, her mate and the love of her life, stood before her. She swung her stiletto-clad feet to the street, clasping Killer's tote protectively in her hand, and looked up and up and up.

Her gaze lingered on the revealing ridge in his dress pants before lifting over muscles barely contained by a black T-shirt to finally settle on the face she'd seen every night in her dreams. His chin was strong and defined, his nose flattened as though broken too many times to repair, and a scar sliced his right eyebrow rakishly into two, drawing attention to his smoldering, dark chocolate eyes.

"Miss," he rumbled, feigning detachment. He extended his big paw of a hand, and Ember's fingers trembled as she reached for him. They touched, his palm warm and rough, and a shimmer of awareness, of rightness, rushed through her.

"North." She swallowed, her mouth dry. Hailey scooted to her emptied seat, and Ember stepped to the side, reluctantly releasing his hand.

"You know each other." Hailey beamed at them as North helped her exit the limousine. "That's great because --"

"Hailey!" A black-haired woman launched into the air and clasped Ember's friend. The two women hugged as though they hadn't seen each other for years, their dragon mates looking on bemused.

Ember glanced up at North. He watched her, his expression guarded and unreadable. Once he allowed me to see his feelings. She took a deep breath, counted to five, and released it. "Why didn't you come after me?" She asked the question that had haunted her for years.

"Come after you, miss?" North's cool voice shredded her carefully manufactured composure, his indifference hurting her more than any silver chain ever could.

Except he isn't completely indifferent. "You can act like you don't know me all you want, but your body doesn't lie." Ember gazed pointedly at his groin.

Rage contorted his handsome face, raw and intense, and she stepped back, fear coursing through her. Then as suddenly as his anger had appeared, it was hidden from her, his expression clearing.

"You're a hot chick. I'm h.o.r.n.y." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Maybe after this d.a.m.n tea party is done, we'll f.u.c.k."

Ember winced at his cra.s.sness. In the past, he would have never talked to her like that.

In the past. She lifted her chin. When I was beautiful. But I'm not beautiful any longer, and I want him one last time. I'll take his anger over his pity.

The dragon shifters moved toward the door to the Lair, the Bronx dragon's club, and Hailey beckoned to her. Ember shook her head, unable to sit quietly at the same table as North and pretend nothing was wrong. "Why wait until after the party?" She met North's gaze squarely, challenging him as only a mate of an alpha could. "Unless you have to work?"

"Bruiser, you're in charge," North barked, and a man's head snapped up.

No, not a man. A wolf. They were surrounded by wolves. Strange. North must have built himself another pack. It is for the best. No reminders. Ember hugged the tote containing her little dog closer, feeling agonizingly alone.

"Come with me." North took her arm, pulling her into the empty club. "Unless you've changed your mind." His lips twisted. "Again."

"I never change my mind." Her stilettos clicked on the tile floor. Laughter echoed through the s.p.a.ce, originating from a spot too far away for her to embrace.

North snorted. "You said you'd love me forever." He held a door open.

She brushed against him as she pa.s.sed, needing to touch him, and he jerked away, proving he wasn't immune to her. "I never changed my mind."

Ember set down Killer's tote, her small dog yipping his discontent, and she gazed around her with dismay. Restraints dangled from a black padded wall. A punishment bench dominated the room. Displayed on a table was a collection of whips and floggers. No chains. No silver. She relaxed. I can do this. "Is there anywhere else we can --"

"No." North crossed his arms, standing in front of the closed door. "Don't worry, beautiful. I should whip you, but I won't... not this time." He tugged his shirt over his head, revealing a chest covered with muscles and a mat of brown hair.

There won't be a next time. She stared at the five deep scars crossing his tanned skin from his right shoulder to his left hip. "Where did you get those?"

"From your father." North spat the words. "Fool that I was, I didn't believe him when he said you had left."

Oh, G.o.d. He fought that s.a.d.i.s.tic alpha wolf for me. "Did you hurt him?"

"Mauled him from eye to chin before they tore me off him." He unbuckled his belt.

"Good." That's something, at least. Ember bent over the punishment bench and hiked her bubblegum pink skirt upward, the air cool on her heated skin. "Is that why you didn't come after me?" She shimmied out of her matching panties.

"That wouldn't have stopped me." North punctuated his point with the rasp of his zipper. "They locked me up for three months. For three months, I was chained to the wall like an animal. And when I got out, you had been mated to the alpha from another pack... or so they told me."

Lying b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. "Did he scar?"

"Yeah." North placed his rough hands on her hips and prodded against her wetness with his broad tip, finding her entrance. "Enough with the reminiscing. It's time to f.u.c.k."

It's been so long. She curled her fingers around the leather seat of the bench.

He thrust, burying himself up to his base, and she screamed, filled to the point of pain. "Have you only been f.u.c.king humans, beautiful? You're so d.a.m.n tight." He pulled out and pushed back in, his movements shallow.

"Only you," she confessed. Her wolf would not allow her to touch another male, human or wolf.

North chuckled. "I haven't seen you in fifty-three years, seven months, and eighteen days. Save your lies for your other suckers." He rocked deeper, harder.

Fifty-three years, seven months, and eighteen days. He's been keeping track. Ember smiled into the leather and swayed back into him, needing more of him, needing to feel this for the next fifty-three years, possibly forever. She squelched the ache in her heart, concentrating on his musky scent, his calloused hands, his big c.o.c.k sliding in and out of her.

"f.u.c.k, wolf," he rumbled. "You feel so good." He rammed into her harder and harder, his hips slapping against her a.s.s, warming, burning her skin.

"North." She bucked into his thrusts, her wolf struggling to free herself. Can't happen. Ember gritted her teeth. Can't shift. Not in front of him. Never again in front of him.

"This is what you've missed, Ember." He lowered his chest to her rounded spine, caging her between his muscular arms, her clothes preventing skin-on-skin contact. "This is what you left." He licked along her nape, her hair ruthlessly contained in a neat chignon. "What you threw away." He bit down on her earlobe, sending a sharp jab of sweet pain along her neck.

"Missed." She panted, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Missed... you... so badly."

"Yes." He reached around her body, threaded his fingers through her hair, and rubbed her c.l.i.t in slow circles, spiraling her need even higher. "No one can f.u.c.k you like this. Only me." His voice deepened, hair covered his arms, and his c.o.c.k grew larger inside her, stretching her unbearably, as he partially shifted.

"Only you." Her voice rose to a high-pitched whine. "North, please," she pleaded.

"Come for your big bad wolf, beautiful." He grazed his sharp teeth over her neck, and he smacked her c.l.i.t hard with his clawed finger, the dual pain breaking her.

Ember threw back her head and howled, an intense wave of ecstasy rolling over her. He thrust deep and added his low voice to her song, his release setting off another wave. For that moment, they were in synch, two wild creatures finding temporary shelter from their solitude.

Ember collapsed on the bench, her body limp and her heart full. I love him so much. If only...

"Why the hatred toward your father, Ember?" North pulled away from her, and the loneliness returned. "I have cause to loathe him, but not you. He loved you, protected you, and you didn't even return for his funeral. He was your father! Our alpha!"

"Your alpha." She straightened and pulled down her skirt. "He was no longer my anything."

"You had everything, Ember." North tucked himself in and zipped up. "Everything any wolf could possibly want. A family, a pack. I don't understand how you could walk away from all that." He yanked his T-shirt over his head, covering up his gorgeous chest.

"I didn't." I was carried away and dumped in a ditch, left to die. Ember crouched before Killer's tote, focusing all of her love, the love she couldn't give North, on the small dog.

"What do you mean, you didn't?" North crossed his arms defensively.

This was a dumb idea. Ember didn't feel closure. All she felt was more pain. "It was good seeing you, North." She gave him a small smile, ignoring his question. "Be happy."