Zena Wynn: Reclaiming Angelica

Raul smiled grimly. Uh-uh, baby! You’re mine, and you have some explaining to do.

OH GOD! RAUL! He’d seen her feed. What is he doing here? How did he find me?

The only thought in Angelica’s mind was escape. She’d wanted to tell him what she was, but not like this. Dear God, never like this.

She glanced around, her gaze bouncing wildly from corner to corner, looking for an avenue of flight. Her gaze flicked past an EMERGENCY EXIT sign and ricocheted back, focusing in on it like a laser. Angelica turned to run and just that quick, Raul was in front of her.

“Going somewhere, sweetheart?”

She blinked in astonishment. She knew wolves were fast, almost as fast as vamps, but how the hell had he gotten behind her that quickly?

“Uh,” she stuttered in response, her mind blank.

“Good idea. It’s a little too crowded in here for what I have in mind,” he said smoothly. His voice was calm, but his eyes glowed an eerie gold, telling her the true state of his emotions. Not that she needed it. She could feel his rage hammering at her.

Angelica had never been afraid of Raul or his beast, confident he’d never hurt her under any circumstance. However, fear, the unpredictable bastard, had a stranglehold on her throat. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her breath came in pants. This was her worst nightmare come to life.

“Raul, I—” She gasped as he bent down and tossed her over his shoulder. As Raul turned to head down the stairs, Angelica caught sight of her cousin, Sophie, who grinned at her and waggled her fingers in a good-bye wave. Obviously there’d be no help from that quarter, and none of the other vampires seemed to notice, being too intent on feeding.

Mercer—where the hell had he come from?—was by his side in an instant, clearing the way out of the club. Between the two massive bruisers, no one dared stop them. When they reached the front entrance, one of the bouncers shouted, “Hey, she ain’t no bitch,” and tried to block the path.

There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh as Mercer—she assumed it was him—moved the vamp out the way. Angelica smelled that Stephen was nearby, glanced up, and noticed him approaching from behind. Alarmed at being the possible cause of an interspecies war, she quickly called out, “It’s okay! He’s my mate! Ask Sophie. She’ll explain,” she told Stephen, not liking the look in his eye.

Stephen paused, his expression uncertain.

“Move!” Raul growled, and it sounded so vicious the hairs on Angelica’s nape came to attention.

He never paused or slowed his pace. People scrambled out of the way, including the vamps. Angelica heard murmurs and twitters of quickly muffled laughter from the crowd waiting to get inside and grasped hold of Raul’s belt, burying her flushed face in the small of his back. She would never live this down.

The local vamp community was a small one. Once Sophie explained to Stephen who Angelica was and that she really was mated to a wolf shifter, it would be all over town in a matter of hours and wouldn’t stop there. She could expect a call from her father, who sat on the vampire council, in the next few days. Angelica could hear the conversation now. By the way, Dad, did I tell you I mated a wolf? No? Well, I meant to. So…how’s Mom? Oh yeah, that would go over well.

In seconds they’d crossed the huge parking lot and were by Raul’s SUV. He flipped her down into his arms and tossed her into the truck. The door closed with a quiet, ominous snick . Before she could get her seat belt fastened, he was in the vehicle starting the engine.

“I was going to tell—” she began.

“Not one word until we get home,” he snarled.

“My house is closer.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Angelica winced. Way to go! Nice time to remind the man that you left him . “Shutting up now,” she quickly added.

She prayed as Raul zoomed through the sparse traffic on the road that some poor unsuspecting cop wouldn’t pull him over and attempt to give Raul a ticket. In less time than should have been possible, they were parking in front of the pack’s apartment complex and until two weeks ago, her home.

Mercer wasted no time exiting his vehicle. He tossed a casual, “Good night,” over his shoulder as he went inside.

Raul sat for a long, tense moment as the silence drew out between them. Finally he reached for the door handle. As Angelica made to do the same, he tersely commanded, “Don’t move.”

No fool, she sat still and waited for him.

He came around and opened her door. Before she could swing her legs out and stand, he once more had her tossed over his shoulder like a sack of grain. She grabbed for purchase as he bounded up the stairs and into the apartment, down the hall to their bedroom where he flipped her onto the bed. Angelica bounced twice before coming to a halt in a sprawl.

She rose warily to her elbows, waiting to see what he’d do next. Raul’s wolf was in his eyes, and she had a feeling if she’d made even the slightest attempt to get off the bed, he’d pounce. She didn’t mind playing tag with this wolf when she was the one in control, but not when he was being so utterly unpredictable.

Hands on his hips, his stance aggressive, he snarled, “You’re a vamp .” He emphasized the word vamp like it was a curse.

“Yeah, and you’re a wolf. You don’t see me getting all pissy about it,” she retorted. Okay, so maybe she simply wasn’t the cautious sort.

Raul went still in the way she’d seen really old vampires do. He didn’t even appear to be breathing. Then several emotions crossed his face too fast for her to read. She’d lowered her shields but couldn’t get a sense of them. They were strong but too fleeting for her to get a lock on.

He cocked his head to the side, and if he’d been in his four-legged furry form, she knew his ears would be tilted forward. “You know what I am.”

She swallowed, not sure where this was leading. “Yes.”

“For how long?”

Once again, the need to be cautious kicked her in the teeth. She cleared her throat before saying, “Since the first day we met in person?” Despite her intention to sound confident, her voice rose at the end, turning her statement into a question.

Angelica really didn’t like the way Raul was looking at her. She also didn’t like feeling like prey. The predator in him was out and in full effect.

Still watching her with those narrowed, wolfish eyes, he whipped his T-shirt over his head and dropped it onto the floor. Next he toed off his shoes, shoved down his jeans, and stepped out of them. He wasn’t wearing underwear.

“Strip!”

Angelica jerked her gaze from his fully engorged cock to his determined face, hers heating in embarrassment at being caught staring. “Um, don’t you think we need to talk?”

“After.” Raul’s hands hung loose but ready by his sides.

“After what?” she absently parroted, her gaze once more straying to his massive erection. Raul slowly stroked it from base to head. It wasn’t that she’d never seen him nude before. She had. She’d simply never noticed him being so…large. Raul wasn’t a small man, not one bit of him. But this was different, as if his cock had partially shifted and was now the size it would be in his half form.

“After I fuck you the way I’ve wanted to since the moment I first saw you.”

Her gaze snapped back to his. As far as intentions went, it didn’t get any clearer. Angelica felt her pussy cream, and she licked her lips in anticipation.

Raul was a wonderful, considerate lover. The best any woman could ask for. Any human woman, that is. But Angelica was also vampire, and there was a level of…roughness, she craved that he hadn’t provided—until now.