Full Moon Rising

Swallowing to ease the burning in my throat, I walked unsteadily around the desk. His golden body gleamed under the caress of the lights, and hunger slipped through me, mingling uneasily with reluctance. There was no emotion in his face, nothing in his eyes beyond lust, and his erection seemed positively huge. Huge and blurry. I blinked but it didn’t seem to ease the sudden fuzziness. He grabbed my hand and pushed me back against the desk. As my rump hit the cold metal, he nudged open my legs and thrust into me, deeper and harder than he ever had before. I groaned, trapped between pleasure and pain as he began to pound into me. The heat of him, smell of him, swirled around me, through me, and sweat broke out across my brow. The champagne sat uneasily in my stomach and I knew if he didn’t ease up, I’d throw up

“Talon, stop.”

He grabbed my hips, his fingers digging into my flesh as he held me still and kept grinding into me. Even the wolf in me was begi

He came, and that was the last thing I remember clearly

Chapter 5

Awareness drifted in and out, as if I were caught in a fragmented dream. Voices swam around me. Lights as bright as the sun burned into my eyes. Something cut my arm, and pain seared deep. Farther down, cold touched my stomach, sliding around like ice. The pain in my arm eased. Then, for a while, there was nothing but darkness

When the fragments gradually returned, they formed a picture of rising pleasure. I drifted on silk, writhing and moaning, my skin on fire and every muscle screaming with pleasure. Hands stroked me. Heat filled me. Every inch of me quivered under the relentless assault, until I couldn’t even breathe because the need for release was so strong

I woke, to discover it was no dream. Talon was on me, in me, and I had the oddest sensation that I’d just been betrayed in some basic way. But the thought quickly fled as the convulsions began, curling through me like a tidal wave and pushing me into rapture. He came with me, but still he pounded into me, as if determined to ensure that every last drop of his seed spilled into me

Eventually, he collapsed and rolled to one side. “You are amazing, little wolf.”

I didn’t feel amazing. I felt confused. Looking around revealed red walls instead of blue. Bedroom furniture rather than office. When had we moved there? I glanced at the clock on the bedside table, and saw it was close to eight-thirty. An hour and a half had passed and I couldn’t remember any of it

“We’re in your bedroom?”

He turned on his side and rested his hand on my belly. “We’ve also been in the living room, the games room, and even tried the kitchen, because you said you were hungry.”

There was an ache behind my eyes and a bitter taste in my mouth. I frowned and rubbed my forehead. “This is going to sound strange, but I can’t remember any of it.”

He gri

He was rubbing my stomach, his gesture possessive more than sexual, and for some reason, it disturbed me

I grabbed his hand and threw it off me, and even that small movement had an ache rippling through my muscles. He obviously wasn’t lying about the number of times we’d made love. But he was lying about something, I was sure of it

I flipped the silk sheet aside. “I need a shower, then I have to go.”

“En suite’s to the right.” He paused until I found the right door, then added, “Come back later tonight.”

I turned on the taps, then, once the water was steamy, stepped into the shower. “As I told you before, I promised to be with Misha tonight.”

“So come back afterward.”

There was no way I was coming back to this house. It might contain the warmth of many colors, but it was cold. And I had the uneasy feeling something beyond sex had happened here, something I should remember

“I promised Misha I’d stay with him.”

“Then I pray something distracts him, because I want you to be mine, and only mine, this phase.”

“Exclusive?” The thought made my body ache more than it already was. “I don’t think so.”

“Just one phase, not forever. I have a desire only you can fulfill.”

I snorted softly as I washed off the soap. “Me and your seven other lovers.”

He walked in as I turned off the taps. He tossed me a towel, then crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. “The others haven’t hair your magnificent color. Nor do they have your strength.”

“Which is why I imagine you have seven of them.”

He gri

I had the strangest feeling that at that moment, he wasn’t really with me, that he was lost somewhere in dreams that just might have dire consequences for my health. Which was daft. Talon was often ruthless, but I didn’t think he’d hurt me

“What I want, I get, little wolf.”

He wasn’t getting anything more from me. Not this evening, anyway. I tossed the damp towel into the hamper, then said, “Are my clothes still in the office?”

“Yes.”

“And that is?”

“Just down the hallway.”

There was amusement in his expression, cold calculation in his eyes. I liked neither, and wasn’t sure why. I’d seen both often enough in the last two years. Talon was an extremely successful businessman, and arrogance had always been a part of his makeup. Until very recently, it had never bothered me

He followed me up the hall, a heat I could feel but not hear. I found my clothes, and the folder was with them, but before I could get dressed, he slipped behind me, his hands snaking around my waist to pull me back against him. He was hard again. He might be a wolf, but his hunger and his rate of recovery were definitely abnormal

“Let me go, Talon.”

“Tell me why you won’t stay with me.” His breath caressed my neck, and a second later, his teeth grazed my earlobe. This time, it wasn’t pleasure that shuddered through me, but a

“Because I don’t want to.” I elbowed him hard enough to force a grunt. He backed away, and I got dressed. “And because occasionally it would be nice to have a bit of foreplay before sex.”

He crossed brawny arms, his expression an odd mix of amused tolerance and steel. “I thought you liked it hard and fast.”

“I do. Sometimes. But it would be just as nice to take some time.”

“Then meet me for breakfast. We’ll eat, flirt, fool around some, then do the hard, passionate sex.”

I hesitated, but the truth was, the moon had me in its grip, and when that happened, it was simply easier to be with partners I knew than starting afresh with strangers. And as much as I enjoyed Misha, Talon was right. Misha couldn’t do to me what Talon did to me. Couldn’t satisfy me in the same way. It was an addiction all right, but his type of danger was far different from the one Jack was trying to force on me

“I don’t know.”

“Then let’s agree to just breakfast, and we’ll see what happens from there.”

I hesitated again, but only briefly. Addiction or not, I couldn’t walk away from Talon. Not when the moon rode me like this. “Where?”

“The Kingfisher, in Collins Street.”

The Kingfisher was one of Melbourne’s boutique hotels, and from reports, spectacular. It also wasn’t that tall, scraping in at nineteen floors. “Okay. But I also have to go to work and I’m not sure how long I’ll be there. I can’t give you a definite time.” But not because of work, and not because of Rhoan. I needed time to recover from his demands