Wicked Cravings (The Phoenix Pack, #2)

by Suzanne Wright

He stalked predatorily toward her. Her wolf paused in her pacing, unsure whether to regard him as a threat.

“You tried to leave me.”

“So you thought you’d scuttle away without a word?” “You would have tried to stop me, just like you are now.” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “No, baby, I am going to stop you.

I’m not part of the pack now—you’re not responsible for me anymore.” He fisted a hand possessively in her hair. “You. Are. Mine. That’s it, that’s all there is to it.” His wolf fully agreed.

She struggled against his grip, but he only tightened it. Her wolf bucked at his dominance, both liking and disliking it. “Fucking me doesn’t mean I belong to you!” She gasped as suddenly his mouth came down hard on hers, giving her a punishing, possessive, demanding kiss that told her he meant every word, that she was going nowhere but with him.

His lips curved into a grin. “Is that jealousy I hear?” “Damn right. I have an ugly jealous streak. I have a lot of ugly streaks.

“If we take this further, I won’t let you go. If your true mate comes along, I won’t step aside. If he tries to take you, I’ll kill him. My wolf won’t see him as someone who has rights to you either. He’ll see him as a threat, and he’ll want nothing more than to rip his throat out. If you say yes now, that’s it. You have to tell me if you can deal with that.” His intense possessiveness shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but it was. Soon enough she’d work out what was wrong with her.

What he didn’t say was that if she told him that she didn’t want him, there wasn’t a chance that he would leave her alone. He’d hound her until she changed her mind.

“Don’t leave me again.” It was an order, but even he heard the slight plea in those words. “I won’t,” she promised. Not willingly anyway.

His hold made it clear that he considered her his, that he believed he had a claim on her.

Apparently, her gesture of leaving and her protectiveness of Dante had gone a long way with them.

“I want to do a lot of things to you. ‘Babying’ isn’t one of them.”

“But you’ll be off doing Beta stuff.” “I have Tao and four enforcers—I can delegate.” He noticed the surprise on the faces of those around him, but he paid them no attention.

The workaholic was actually prepared to take most of the day off? Nah, surely not.

Aw, how could she resist him when he said stuff like that? “Okay, big guy. You can come.”

She shook her head at him. “Dante—” He fisted a hand in her hair. “It’s important to me that you’re safe,

“If I accept this now, you’ll try to buy me other expensive stuff, too.” “No, baby, I won’t try to do that. I will do that. But I’ll do that even if you don’t accept it.”

He whispered into her ear, “You know you want it, Jaime. I know you want it. I heard you once before say you love the new-car smell. I can’t wait to christen it. You can ride me in the front seat. Up and down, up and down, up and down on my cock until—”

As Dante flicked through one of the portfolios placed on the coffee table in the corner of the reception area, he whispered into Jaime’s ear, “Do you think we could get my name tattooed on your ass?” Gaping, she slapped his upper arm. “I’d laugh if I thought you were joking.”

“It would be the biggest turn-on ever to take you from behind and see my name on your ass.” He was getting hard just thinking about it.

You don’t deserve her.” She ignored Dante’s gaze, now only interested in the jerk in front of her. “She deserves better.” “She told you,” he surmised in a quiet voice. “I didn’t realize you were so close.”

“Then stay away.” He didn’t say “I can’t,” but his expression said it for him.

“Stay away. You owe her that.” “You’re right, I do.” But he still wouldn’t stay clear of Shaya.

The Alpha snickered. “Who are you either of you to preach to me about claiming your mate? You’ve both forsaken yours. Forsaken them and shacked up with other wolves.”

If Dante’s mate appeared tomorrow, she would lose him. Even if he didn’t leave her, Jaime would still be hurt, knowing that he was with her and thinking about someone else.

I’d still want to rip your heart right out of your chest with my bare hands. And her heart, for that matter.” His expression turned fierce. “I’d do the exact same thing to any guy who tried to take you from me, even your mate. I told you that.”

“I want this. I’m keeping you. If you think you have a choice, that’s not my problem.”

“Are you mine, Jaime?” It wasn’t a question, Jaime knew. Flicking a look at his face again, she saw the warning in his eyes to give him the answer he wanted. Knowing he would lose all control if she didn’t even slightly object, she simply nodded.

God, not her. Not the woman he’d once loved enough to imprint with.

“Jaime, this is Laurie, Blane’s mate. Laurie, this is Jaime, my—” “Packmate,” Jaime finished. Dante winced. Oh yeah, he was in deep shit.

He’d always thought that if he saw her again, he’d at least feel a mixture of sadness and yearning, but there was nothing.

Despite recognizing Laurie as the female he had once been partially mated to, his wolf paid her no attention. He was more concerned about Jaime, fretting over how agitated she was.

Leif smiled a crooked smile that looked so much like Dante’s, and Jaime’s heart almost broke. The possible implications were just too much for her to take in right then.

Because of that, he didn’t feel like he was hers. If the delighted look on his face was anything to go by, he was still very much in love with Laurie anyway. He looked the happiest he had looked all night.

“I heard that you stopped dating after I left you.” And that had flattered her, he realized.

She didn’t sound too happy about it. As if she thought he should be still pining after her.

“You hate me, don’t you? Please don’t, Dante. I couldn’t bear it if you hated me.” Why did he get the feeling that this was all an act to get him to stay with her and comfort her?

It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her that her jealousy was making him hard.

You stay the fuck away from me! We’re done!” He was pretty sure his heart stopped for a second. “What do you mean, we’re done?”

“We’ll never be done, Jaime.

He heard the seriousness in her voice and found himself beginning to panic. She wasn’t just saying this in anger or because she was upset. She genuinely wanted to end this.

It was the first time in her life that she’d experienced a “flight” instinct. How ironic was it that the one person who was supposed to make her feel safe and secure was the one person who had made her want to run away?

“A locked door isn’t going to keep me away from you,” he said softly as he brushed his lips over to her nape and raked his teeth lightly over the skin. What he wanted to do was bite her hard, mark her again so that she understood who she belonged to, but he knew that throwing his dominance around wasn’t going to help here.

glad she’d worn the strapless dress. He needed access to as much of her skin as he could to keep himself calm.

If I was decent, I’d stand back and let you find a guy who’s better for you. But, see, the thing is…I wouldn’t let that guy live. So we need to work this out.”

“It’s true, Dante. That’s not a relationship. It makes me a booty call, and I deserve better than that.”

“But I won’t forgive you for hugging Bitch Face,” she added, snarling. As his mouth twitched into a smile, he was glad she couldn’t see his face.

Instead of giving him an ultimatum, she was offering to work alongside him.

“Mine. All mine,” he said against her lips. “Dante.” “Shh. I’ll take care of it, baby.” Very, very slowly he withdrew, and then he slammed into her. He’d hoped to go slow, but…“Fuck, I need this.” Then he was pounding into her with deep, branding thrusts. A territorial growl escaped him.

“Mine, Jaime. No one else will ever fuck this pussy again. It belongs to me—you belong to me. Admit it.” When she didn’t, he tugged harder on her hair. “Admit it or I’ll stop right now and come all over you.”