NocC 027 - Michele Hauf - Wicked Games 07 - Claiming the Wolf - Harlequin 2012-11 Read Online Free

“It’s a deep, feral craving.
Right here.” A fist pounded his gut. That was about where the blood hunger
originated, though she tended to feel it a bit higher— “And here.” His palm
slapped over his heart. Okay. So the guy got it right. “And it’s...hell, I
thinks it’s sexual.”
    “Sounds about right. Blood and sex usually go together. Go find
yourself a mortal and sink in those fangs. You got ‘em, just like me. Yours are
probably thicker—”
    He grabbed her arms and squeezed so hard she couldn’t maintain
control of her grip, and she dropped the bowie knife at their feet. “I can’t
harm a mortal. I would never—this isn’t natural for me, Danni, don’t you
understand?”
    She nodded. For as little as she had learned about the various
paranormal breeds over the past few months, she was aware wolves depended on
humans the least of them all. And a wolf with a blood hunger was off-the-scale
wrong.
    “Like I said that night, sorry,” she said and shoved at him,
but he wouldn’t release her. His musky scent wasn’t entirely offensive, yet her
instinct to get free was stronger than her desire to lean closer to his smell.
“Let go of me!”
    He maintained hold. “You do owe me one.”
    “What?”
    “After I pulled you from the Seine you said you owed me one.”
He released her. “Well.” He spread out his arms, his eyes slinking
appreciatively down her skimpy attire. “I’m here for the one.”
    “You want to stave that craving on me?” She straightened,
hooking her hands akimbo. No one told her what to do. Okay, so they did if they
were vampires. But a wolf?
    Danni ran her tongue along her lower lip. On the other hand, a
bite always felt so damn good. She hated when a tribe member bit her because
that wasn’t her choice, even though it ended in bliss. But this man? A wolf.
Such a fierce and powerful creature. He needed her. How awesome was that?
    You hold the power over him now, Danni.
Might return the power and confidence the tribe robbed from you .
    And he wasn’t bad to look at. Handsome, in a bulky, tough guy
kind of way. She liked them brute and manly. Give her a soldier over a GQ model
any day.
    “Danni?” His accent was British and he spoke differently than
she expected.
    “For a guy who’s all muscles and punch,” she said, “you speak
softly.”
    “Yeah? Well maybe I should shout so you can hear what I’m
saying. I’m hurting here. And you have to know how it brings me down to stand
before you—a vampire—and ask for such a thing.”
    “Then why not go to one of your pack mates?”
    “And risk them discovering I’ve been marked by a vampire? I’d
rather die. I wish I had died instead of you biting me.”
    “Flattery.” It was an easy form of defense to go for the
snark.
    “I know you were in fight mode. I’d have done the same thing in
an attempt to save my arse. I blame you and I don’t. It’s been done. Now I need
to deal with it.”
    “And you need my neck to deal?”
    “I don’t know who else to go to.”
    He sat on the sofa arm, head bowing and shoulders rounding. No
man should be reduced to such a cower. Especially not this one, whom she
suspected had never bowed before a woman for a favor, ever.
    “It aches. I can’t think of anything but blood, of tasting it.
It’s tearing me apart fighting it, but I know I’ll go mad if I don’t fulfill
this craving.”
    Yes, he probably would pop a mental chord or two if he resisted
too long. Danni remembered when the blood hunger had overtaken her. She had
screamed and begged for blood, an appalling thing. The wolf’s insides must be
burning, his skin sensitive to the slightest touch, and his senses picking up
everything, her heartbeat, the gush of her blood, the heat of it and the vanilla
scent of her skin.
    Torture had never been her thing. But to suddenly hold the
cards over a werewolf? This was too rich. Maybe she could use his weakness to
get to the pack principal? Bargain with him. A bite for