Jocelynn Drake - Burn the Night

Danaus walked over and entwined his fingers through both of my hands before pinning them gently behind my back. I looked up at the hunter, arching one questioning brow at him.

A seductive smile lifted his lips as he leaned in closer, pressing his chest against my stomach and breasts, while my thighs brushed against his. “You do realize that the kids are all taken care of now,” he purred.

“The kids?”

“James and Nicolai.”

“You mean my responsibilities.”

Danaus leaned down and ran his parted lips along my exposed throat so the edge of his teeth dragged across my flesh. There was no hiding my shiver of delight with our bodies pressed so close. “You’re not completely free of your responsibilities.”

“Really?” My voice was rough and breathless as I pressed closer.

Danaus released one of my hands and cupped one butt cheek, holding me tightly against him so there was no missing the rock hard erection in his pants. I wrapped my free arm around his shoulder while he bit down on some exposed flesh in the hollow of my neck. He was teasing me, pushing my hold on what little self-control I possessed when it came to him. It kept things infinitely more interesting as we danced on the edge of whether I could keep from biting him.

“I’d say that you still have a responsibility to me,” he said in a voice so low I could feel it rumbling between us in his chest. “You’ve been neglectful.”

My head fell back with a laugh. “Neglectful? That’s hardly true if you consider the two times just the other night.”

His hand squeezed my rear end, massaging it. “Yes, but it’s been a couple nights. We’re overdue.”

He was right. It did feel like we were overdue for a little quality time, but I didn’t want to just fall too eagerly into his arms. I craved him more than blood most nights and was more than a little frustrated when his job at the Dark Room intruded on our time together, but I kept the frustration to myself, as I knew the job was important to him.

“So you want to just have at it right here in some woods filled with shifters?” I asked.

Danaus’s smile widened as his grip tightened and he pulled me into the cover of a line of trees. Pressing my back against a particularly large tree, he grabbed both of my thighs and lifted them so my legs were wrapped tightly around his narrow hips. One hand resumed his massage of my ass while the other busied itself unbuttoning my blouse.

“The shifters are far from here and won’t be back for hours,” he said in a low, husky voice that sent a thrill through my body. “We’re alone.”

“We could always just go back to my place and do it,” I said, throwing up only a token argument.

“I supposed we will do both, but I want you now.”

Danaus captured my lips in a rough kiss that silenced the last of my weak protests. I thrust my tongue into his mouth while tightening my legs around his waist so that my body was pressed even more tightly against his cock. I wanted him just as badly right now, werewolves be damned. A low moan escaped him as his hand slipped inside my bra and cupped my breast. His thumb rubbed against the nipple, teasing it, hardening it into a sensitive little nub. The scent of him danced around me, driving me even wilder as we kissed. I needed him but there were too many clothes in the way. I wanted to run my hands over his warm skin and drag my tongue over his stomach down to his penis. I wanted him wild as well, sweating with need.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I dropped my legs from around his waist so I was standing before him. I pushed him away from me just a little bit as I dropped down to my knees, my nimble fingers dancing over the button and zipper of his pants. A growl escaped Danaus as his fingers slipped through my hair and he tightened his grip on my head. As I opened his pants, his cock sprang forward, pressing against the fabric of his boxer shorts. I ran my lips against it through the fabric, sending a shiver through his body.

“God, Mira,” he groaned, his head thrown back, his entire body clenched and still as he waited for me to finally take him in my mouth.

Shotgun blasts echoed through the silence of the woods then, shattering the calm and startling us both. Danaus and I froze, our eyes searching the area for danger.

“Naturi?” I asked as I extended my powers to sweep over the area while quickly rebuttoning my shirt.

“None. Only the shifters and some humans.”

Another set of shots rang out, and this time there was a distinct yelp of pain. My temper surged, sending my hands down to grasp the knives perpetually at my sides as I jumped to my feet. “A hunting party,” I snarled. “Stay here! I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Like hell I’m staying here,” Danaus snapped back at me, already heading toward the edge of the clearing while closing his pants up. A pained expression crossed his face as he moved, but he said nothing about the sudden interruption.

I grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to a sharp halt. “These bastards aren’t going to discriminate between wolf and human at this point. They see you in the woods at this hour and they’re going to fire on you as well. Stay here. I can sneak through the woods unseen.”

“James is out there along with the rest of the wolves. I’m not going to stand by.”

“Bastard,” I growled before pressing a quick kiss to his lips, knowing there was no way that he would hold back. He was the hunter, and I couldn’t stop him. “Be careful! Don’t kill anyone if you can help it. We need information.”

We headed in different directions in an attempt to circle around the group of humans who were slowly making their way through the woods. Cloaking myself, I rushed toward a knot of four hunters west of me. The men were trekking in groups of three and four, a total of more than twenty. It made it more difficult for the wolves to strike back when four different guns were trained on them at once.

After a couple of minutes I found four hunters standing over a wounded, naked male who was clasping his side and moaning as blood poured from his body. The wound appeared small enough that he could heal from it, but two of the humans had their guns trained on his head, ready to blow more holes in him if it looked like he was recovering.

“I think you gentlemen are a little in over your head,” I announced, leaning against a tree. Startled, the men jerked their guns in my direction. “You should never have come out into the woods tonight starting trouble that you can’t finish.”

“What the hell—” was as far as one of them got before the wolves attacked at once. No one managed to get off a single shot, and in a matter of a couple minutes, all four men were torn apart and dead.

I stood back with my arms folded over my chest. The pack had only needed a distraction so they could strike at the ones who had hurt their fellow pack member. Despite what I had told Danaus, I knew that these particular men were dead upon discovery. It was the rule of the forest.

One of the larger wolves stepped away from the group and slowly changed back to human form, naked and streaked with blood. Barrett’s copper eyes glowed and his handsome face was distorted with rage and confusion. Never had the local pack been hunted by humans, particularly in these numbers. There were stories of wolves being shot by farmers when they ventured too close to human territory, but men never went into the woods looking for wolves at night. It meant one thing—someone was hunting for werewolves.

“How many are there?” he demanded when he finally got hold of his emotions enough to speak.

“Less than twenty now. They seem to be hunting in groups of at least three or more, making it harder for your people to strike back.”