Zena Wynn: Reclaiming Angelica

“I do.” Angelica endued her voice with confidence she didn’t feel. She swiped the touch screen to end the call and tossed the phone on the couch. Agitated, she gathered her long, curly hair and plaited it, then twisted it into a knot at her nape. Raul would be here soon. It wouldn’t take him long to find her since she’d made no effort to hide her whereabouts.

Angelica walked to the window and stared out over the backyard at the yellow-tinged moon. Not a full one, but a three-quarter. Raul’s wolf would still be strong in him but not in complete control.

“Oh God, what have I done?” She wiped sweaty palms on her skirt as she continued pacing. When she began panting on the verge of hyperventilating, Angelica stopped and closed her eyes, counted to ten, then twenty, then thirty while taking deep, slow breaths.

Please, God let this work. I don’t want to live without him.

It had to work. They were running out of time. If they didn’t settle this now, there wouldn’t be a later. Her blood ran cold as she considered the consequences if her plan failed.

As she stood there, eyes closed, praying and bargaining with her maker, Angelica felt a change in the atmosphere. Raul. He was here. A sudden calm descended over her. Raul—her lover, her life, her very soul —was here. Now everything would be okay. She would make it be okay. There was no other option.

Her locked door slowly swung open with an ominous creak worthy of any horror movie. Then Raul’s shadowed form stood framed in the doorway. Her lover was tall—a few inches over six feet. A big man with broad shoulders, a huge chest, meaty arms and legs. Right now his angular, ruggedly handsome face wore a forbidding scowl.

“You. Left. Me.” His voice was a deep, rumbling growl.

His rage blasted across her senses, muddied with the underlining tang of pain and…confusion? Angelica nodded her agreement and then voiced it. “I left you.”

“YOU. LEFT. ME.” His voice was louder, the tone sharper. Raul stepped inside, tucked his lock-picking tools into his back pocket, then slammed the door so hard it closed with a bang that had Angelica jumping.

Watching him warily, she took a single step backward. One should always be cautious with a wounded animal, especially one that was part human.

His golden-eyed gaze dropped to the offending foot before returning to her face. “ Don’t. Run .”

Of course she was going to run, silly man. If she didn’t run, he wouldn’t chase her. Tonight was all about making Raul lose that ironclad control of his. Angelica eased her left foot back behind the right and shifted her weight onto it.

Raul went predator still.

She placed her right foot behind her.

His eyes narrowed, and a small snarl filled the air. “Don’t.” A plea. A command.

Because she loved him, Angelica did the only thing she could—turned and ran. Angelica was quick, but in her current form she was no match for a shifter. Unfortunately Raul was still pretending to be human.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Raul vaulted smoothly over the couch and lunged out to grab her by the waist. He missed her by inches. She’d already dropped into the skid of a professional major league baseball player, bounced up before he realized she’d eluded him, and sprinted toward the dining room.

He was on her heels in moments, still using human speed, human moves.

Angelica opened her senses, all of them, and the game was on. Except she was the only one who knew the rules. For every move Raul made, she was seconds ahead of him. She could feel his frustration at being outmaneuvered growing. More, she could feel that primal part of him straining at the leash.

Come on, big boy. Show me what you’re made of. Show me what you’ve been hiding for the last eighteen months. Show me the real you, so I can finally let down my guard and show you me.

Time to up the ante.

Angelica sprinted for the stairs, shoving chairs, lamps, and any kind of obstacle she could put in his path to slow him down. There was a thud and a curse. Raul let out a bellow. She paused and chanced a quick glance over her shoulder. He’d tangled with the legs of a chair and gone down hard. A chair he’d have easily avoided had he let out the wolf.

On the floor, propped up by both hands, he slowly raised his head. The eyes that stared back at her were no longer human. She smiled and knew it was taunting.

Oh yeah, now we’re playing.

Raul put up a ferocious fight, but strong emotion fueled the beast. His wolf found it ridiculously easy to blast through the rigid barriers Raul maintained to keep Angel from sensing its presence. Even his fear-tinged desperation was no match for the animal’s strength, the man being sabotaged as it was by his own anger.

Raul retained just enough control not to shift, but it was the animal that was clearly in charge. The wolf—its senses sharper, keener—knew something the man didn’t. Their mate wanted him , the animal. She was daring him to hunt her, mate her, claim her. The honeyed scent of her arousal lingered in the air—a siren call he was impatient to answer. For far too long he’d allowed the man to hold him away from their mate, and make no mistake, she was theirs.

He dropped to all fours—still in his man form—and bounded up the stairs in leaps, catching his prey as she cleared the landing. One pounce and he was on her, brought her down like a wounded antelope. As they fell, Raul wrestled control from his beast, twisted so he landed on bottom, taking the brunt of the impact.

Angel lashed out with her feet, struggling to gain leverage and get away.

“Baby, don’t fight me,” he desperately gritted out of a throat gone wolf.

This close to a full moon, his beast was strong, leaving him fighting on two fronts. All of Angel’s wriggling and squirming was bringing out the wolf in him whose sole purpose at that moment was to subdue and fuck. His human mate couldn’t handle its savage need of her, so Raul fought to control his animal and his mate—a battle he was rapidly losing.

Back off , he ordered his wolf.

Mate wants me , it argued, still trying to surge to the forefront.

She can’t handle you. You’ll hurt her , Raul said.

“Let go!” she demanded, slamming down an elbow. Only his heightened reflexes kept it from nailing him in the face.

Mate, no hurt , his wolf denied savagely.

“Quit. Fighting. Me.” A growl commanded, aimed at the wolf and his mate. Neither party listened.

Angel continued to twist and turn, worming in his embrace as he struggled not to hurt her by gripping her too tight. It was like wrestling an octopus. She was suddenly all arms, legs, and lush, womanly curves. His cock went from semihard to rock-hard so fast he saw spots.

“Omph!” Her knee found ground in his stomach, and taking advantage of his slack grip, she pushed off, launching herself forward so that her crotch landed in his face. Raul got a lungful of her enticing arousal before she vaulted forward another foot, scrambling on her hands and knees to flee.

His brain shifted into gear, coming out of the fog it had been in since he’d discovered her gone. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but Angel wanted him as much as she always had. Now that he was thinking straight, he realized that though she struggled, she hadn’t really put up that much of a fight. His woman knew some lethal moves and had she really wanted free of him, he’d be bloody and bruised right now.

Weeks of abstinence reared up to kick him in the balls. It had been too long since he’d had his mate beneath him. The moment of mental clarity allowed him to gain control of his emotions. As the desire of man and wolf combined, the wolf faltered in its struggle, allowing Raul to temporarily subdue it and focus entirely on his mate.