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  Tegan sighed. “I don’t know, Lay. Partly, yes. But something else and I think it might have something to do with Pellini.”

  The table silenced for long moments until Nina said, “Then we’ll have to be ready. And then we’ll kill him and he’ll stop being a threat to the people I love.”

  “Amen,” the others echoed.

  Chapter Two

  Tegan Warden walked confidently through the club’s front doors. In the months since she’d moved back to her house she’d found solace in a few things and the Club De Sade held one of them. Tonight, her fiery red hair cascaded around her face and shoulders in fat curls, in contrast to the sleek black lace-up vest she wore, breasts nicely pouring over the top. A creamy expanse of her stomach showed just above the low waist of her leather pants. High-heeled boots completed the outfit.

  “Yo, Tegan! Honey, you look fine tonight!” Max, the nearly seven-foot-tall bartender, whistled low as she approached.

  A smile curved her lips. “Oh, Max, why can’t you play on my team?”

  “Because my team is better.” Max’s partner and the owner of the club, Ryan Post, hopped onto the stool next to where she stood. “It’s been a week. You promised to call me! How are you this evening, buttercup?” He kissed her cheek when she leaned down to hug him.

  “I’m looking for someone to play with. It’s been a very rough week. Pellini seems to be moving again. Big-time Pack politics and my brother, ugh! He’s all up in my business now. I love him, you know that, but Lex could drive a saint insane.”

  “Now, don’t get me wrong, I love male werewolves. They’re terrific in bed, but they are a bit...overbearing sometimes.” Ryan winked and grinned. The gleam of one of his incisors marked his otherness. The Club De Sade was run by vampires, which was fine with Tegan. It was private, membership only, and those who were allowed in were extensively screened. It was safe for paranormals to play there, that’s what she was always concerned with.

  “Human or Were? Vampire perhaps?” Ryan asked.

  “No wolves! The politics of dealing with a wolf who’s lower in Pack rank is too annoying. Other than that, I want someone who can wield a flogger with expertise, Ryan. The last time I came in, guy had the worst hand ever. No sense of timing or the severity of strikes. And honey, I do not want to educate a baby-Dom. I’m not a tutor for God’s sake.”

  Ryan laughed. “Hmm. Well, we’ve got a relatively new member. I’ve seen him in action a few times. Human. Quite yummy. He’s looking for a regular submissive though.”

  “Regular?” A shiver went through her and she flashed onto her dream. She knew she got her belief in that sort of stuff from her grandmother but she felt like Lucas was there, pushing her.

  “Get that note of terror out of your voice, Tegan. You admitted that you wanted to move on. He wouldn’t want you to be alone for so long. You were meant to be cherished.” Ryan and Lucas had been good friends. In fact, Tegan and Lucas had gotten involved in D/s through Ryan. Ryan had been a regular fixture in her life until Lucas’s death and then she didn’t see him very often, although he kept in regular contact. When she’d shown up at his and Max’s apartment three months before, he’d welcomed her back into the world with a big hug and a glass of wine.

  She could have made a flippant remark to hurt him but she knew he was right. Still, how could she replace what Lucas had been to her? He’d been her everything, her best friend, her partner, her mate. When he’d died, she knew she’d be alone as her Anchor had already found his mate. At least she stayed anchored and should she ever find anyone again, she’d be spared the necessity of the tri-bond.

  So all she did was shrug.

  “Why don’t you at least let me see if he’s available this evening? If it works, if you click, great. If not, what’s the harm?”

  Heartache. Devastation. Loneliness. Connection.

  “Okay. I’ll wait here.”

  He smiled, hopped off the barstool and headed toward the back where the playrooms were.

  “I think you’ll like Ben, he’s a nice guy. Tough but not the kind of Dom that talks in all caps and stalks around like he’s got lead balls.”

  Tegan nearly choked on her club soda as she laughed at Max’s comments. “You know me well.”

  He shrugged with a grin and turned to fill drink orders.

  Before long, Ryan came out and beckoned Tegan toward the back. Once in the hallway it was a lot quieter than out in the main bar area.

  When he raised his hand, she saw the blindfold he held. “He wants you to be blindfolded the first time. I’ll observe even though I’ve watched him before and you know I’d never let you play with anyone I didn’t trust. The safeword is rubber band. I’ve informed him you’re more high capacity than most other women and that you’re Were. I’ll be there on the other side of the glass.”

  A shiver of delight at the hint of danger slid through her system unbidden. She hadn’t allowed anyone to blindfold her since Lucas. “All right. If he gets out of line I’ll just rip his head off.” And she could. Even the strongest human couldn’t stand against a werewolf.

  Ryan rolled his eyes and walked behind her, sliding the blindfold over her eyes and adjusting the straps to make it totally light tight before securing the Velcro.

  The first hint of submission settled into her body. Calming and soothing her.

  Ryan took her by the elbow and led her into the playroom. She scented the man there. Smelled soap and clean skin, a hint of leather, his shampoo. Just clean, hard man. Nothing better.

  She felt Ryan move away and the other man touch her with surety. Not rough, not presumptuous. Sure.

  “You’ve got a beautiful body.” His voice was hoarse as his hands stroked over her bare shoulders and down her arms. “I want to see your back bare.”

  She knew Ryan had specified just play and not sex so she nodded, giving him permission to remove her vest.

  “I’m Ben.” His hands worked the lacing up the front of her vest and she felt the cool air of the room as he slid it from her body. He hummed in satisfaction. “I’m going to love how pink your nipples get from the flogger.”

  She shivered and a low sound broke from her lips. God how she craved this, craved being taken in hand. Craved having a man like this one, like Lucas, looking at her, finding her beautiful.

  “Tell me your name.” He circled her, she felt the heat of his body as he did.

  “Tegan.” Her voice sounded breathy, like a low purr.

  “Unusual and beautiful, like you are. I love redheads, Tegan.”

  She heard the slither of the tails of a flogger and she arched her back. He chuckled. “You like that? Good. I like it too. I like watching your nipples tighten as you anticipate where I may touch you first.”

  Lightning quick the very tip of the tails licked her nipples and she moaned at the bright, hot sensation that stole over her. Her knees nearly buckled and her pussy bloomed.

  Three more times in quick succession the tails bit into her breasts with expert precision. Not too light, not too hard. It was more the sound than the actual feel, the air as it rushed ahead of the leather of the flogger, the scent of the leather, the creak of the handle in his hand.

  He moved around and the flogger found her back as heat spread, narcotic and sensual, over her skin.

  After a time she was aware of nothing more than his presence and the slither and snap of the flogger, the heat of her body as the flogger warmed it and the heat of his body as he moved.

  She began to sway as the sensation hypnotized her.

  “Good God, you’re fucking amazing.” She heard him lay the flogger down and his hand was at the small of her back like a brand. “I’d like to do more. See what shade of pink your ass turns.” He waited for her response and she struggled upwards through the layers of serotonin to answer without a slur.
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  “Yes.”

  His hands moved to the front laces of her pants and he bent her forward, gently. A sturdy padded table sat in the middle of the room. She’d been in there before so she wasn’t surprised to feel the edge of it dig into her stomach as her breasts touched the cool of the leather. She felt him pull off her boots and then her pants followed. He left her thong on but she felt more naked than she’d been in a very long time.

  “Your skin is so pretty.” His whisper was like sandpaper dragged lightly over her skin as he trailed the flogger over her ass and thighs. “I think you might need a little restraint.”

  She wanted to say sure but all she could do was whimper and make it sound affirmative. How this man affected her so deeply she didn’t know, but he did. She might have been scared if she weren’t already on the edge of subspace, if it hadn’t been so long since any man had made her feel so alive.

  As he leaned over her body, she felt his cock at her hip while he used a wrist cuff to attach one hand and then the other to the table legs. Hard and thick. Her mouth watered and her pussy clutched.

  Before she could be ashamed at the wantonness of her response the blows began to rain on her ass and thighs. At one point he used the toe of his boot to spread her legs wider and she moaned and then hissed at the sharp pleasure that radiated when he flogged her pussy like a fucking expert.

  She wanted to writhe and beg but the top half of her body was fairly immobile and she didn’t want to move her legs lest he stop. The heat spread up into her cunt. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth until she tasted blood.

  Until orgasm hit her so hard and by surprise her head shot back and she cried out. Dimly she heard his intake of breath and the tails of the flogger continued to tease the wet seam of the thong between her thighs.

  “God damn, so fucking beautiful,” she heard his astonished whisper.

  She wanted him to ask for sex. She would have agreed in a heartbeat. Wanted to feel his cock slide into her, wanted to please him.

  But he didn’t. Instead, he murmured to her softly as he undid her wrist restraints and helped her to stand.

  Gently, he led her to the bed in the corner of the room and lay down beside her, letting her lie on her stomach as he rubbed scented oil into her skin, soothing the burn.

  Tears pricked her lashes and she stayed facedown, trying to hold it together. How long had it been since anyone had made her feel this way? Beautiful and desired? The times before when she’d sought out the hands of other men to satisfy her need to be dominated it hadn’t felt deep or intense. Sometimes she’d felt really good, most of the time it felt like eating fast food, she was satisfied but an hour later, empty again.

  She felt the movement as he undid the blindfold. Swallowing her tears, she turned to look up at him. His eyes were a startling blue, almost a steely gray. His features were intensely masculine, nearly feral. Sharp nose, beautiful lips, chiseled chin and sharp cheekbones. A scar marked the skin just above his left eyebrow. Salt-and-pepper hair that was just a bit too long came to his collar with a natural wave.

  Licking her lips she searched for something to say.

  He smiled. “You okay, sweetheart? You were amazing.”

  Her insides warmed and she nodded. “I feel amazing.”

  “Can I take you to dinner? Tomorrow or Saturday? I have a meeting to go to in two hours and I don’t want to have to rush with you. I—” he shrugged “—I’d like to get to know you a bit better.”

  The moment stretched long and at last she nodded. “All right.” Relief filled her. She’d taken a huge step and the world hadn’t ended.

  “Can I buy you a drink now?”

  “It’s awfully loud out there and I have to be at work in a few hours myself. But you can buy me a cup of coffee if you like.”

  She felt her nudity acutely contrasted with his being fully clothed. As if he sensed it, he got up and handed her her clothes.

  “I will miss knowing that those welts would be on you when you woke up. But on the other hand, knowing you’re Were makes me feel a bit better that I won’t hurt you.”

  She got dressed while watching him put his gear into his toy bag. She gasped when she caught sight of the rope. He turned to look at her, concern on his face changing to understanding. Ryan tapped on the door.

  “Everything all right, cupcake?” He kissed her cheek.

  “Yes, thank you. Ben and I are going to grab a coffee.”

  “Well, my goodness, those baristas are going to thank their lucky stars when you walk in wearing that.” He winked and Ben laughed.

  “Are you ready?” Hefting the bag in one hand, Ben held his other out for her to take.

  Nodding, she reached out and held on.

  He dropped the bag into the trunk of his car and they walked three blocks to Café Diva. They took a seat near the front windows and he went and got their drinks. He put a plate of six-layer chocolate death between them. Two forks.

  “You like chocolate?”

  “Ever met a woman or a werewolf who didn’t?” She laughed.

  “I didn’t really know any werewolves until two years ago.”

  “And?” She watched him as he sipped, wiping away the foam in his mustache with a quick swipe of his tongue. A delicious shiver worked up her spine.

  He shrugged. “It wasn’t the most auspicious of occasions but now I work with you all on a regular basis.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I’m a cop.”

  Her fork fell to the plate with a clatter. “Oh shit.”

  “What? Hey, if I can set aside my prejudices about werewolves, you can get past my being a cop can’t you?” He leaned toward her. “Especially because I saw the way you looked at the rope.”

  She had to close her eyes a moment at the thought of the rope.

  “It’s not that.” Waving that away, she picked up her fork and took a fortifying bite of chocolate cake. “You’re Ben Stoner, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, how did you know my last name?”

  “I’m Tegan Warden.”

  “Shit, you’re Lex and Cade’s sister? Cousin?”

  “Sister. And why is that bad?”

  He chuckled. “Hey, you’re the one who was all shocked. And well, Lex is a big-ass dude, I’m having very, very untoward thoughts about his sister. I better stock up on silver bullets.”

  It was Tegan’s turn to laugh and the richness of the sound flowed over them both. “I can’t believe I’ve never met you. In two years, you’ve been doing all this work over Pellini and the Packs, how did I miss you? Because trust me, I would have known if I’d seen you before.”

  Ben sat and watched the statuesque redhead across from him talk. Goddamn she was the sexiest woman—werewolf—he’d ever met. Beautiful, sensual, breasts that made every straight man on the planet give thanks for women. Her ass had turned the most beguiling shade of pink when he’d flogged her and she came prettier than he’d thought possible.

  And it was clear she was a submissive in the bedroom but a strong woman outside. He liked the contrast. A lot. Those feline green eyes and the fiery red hair completed the package. Tegan Warden was as close to perfect as he’d ever imagined a woman could be. Except she was a werewolf and her brothers were the Alpha and the Enforcer of the local werewolf Pack. Boy could he pick women or what? He might as well hang out in alleys with dollar bills pinned to his clothing and get his ass kicked that way.

  Still, he’d bet Tegan Warden was worth it. He greedily soaked in the sight of her bringing the forkful of cake to her lips and eating it. His cock ached when she licked the tines before putting the fork back down. Holy shit, the woman was walking sex.

  “I, uh, what was the question? Oh, why we hadn’t met before. I don’t know. I’ve gone out to the house a few times but we usually meet down at
my office so we can conference in the representatives of the other Packs and the feds.”

  “I’m not usually patrolling in the house when I’m on duty. I prefer to be outside. That may be where I was if you came to the house. Or I was off or something.”

  “You still want to go out with me?”

  “Yes. You still want to go out with me? Knowing who my brothers are? Because I’ll tell you up front, they’re both nosy old women about this kind of thing and it’s been a while since I’ve dated and so they’re both liable to be a bit, um, forceful about it.”

  “Because I’m human?”

  She waved that off. “Nina was human. No, because like I said, I haven’t dated in a while and they’re both just very protective. And you know yourself that right now things are very hinky with Pellini out there.”

  He nodded. “There’s a story there, isn’t there? About the not dating?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay. Dinner. Tomorrow night. Perhaps a movie? And if things go well... Well, there are other things we could try.” He loved the way her eyes widened and then her pupils enlarged and her breathing quickened. “And you can tell me then. I want to know you.”

  He walked her back to her car and she gave him her address and phone number.

  As she moved to get inside, he stepped close, his body caging hers against the door. One hand slid up her waist and over the side of her neck, essentially collaring half of her with his palm and fingers.

  She fought the limpness that her body wanted to give him. Not in public. She didn’t want to give in to him all the way just yet. But she sure as hell wasn’t going to turn away when his lips met hers.

  Her arms slid around his neck as the soft, gentle kiss became more intense. The edge of his mustache tickled her top lip, his scent, the scent of an alpha human male, strong and spicy, filled her nose, rode her senses.

  His tongue stroked over the seam of her lips and she opened her mouth to him, letting him inside. His taste, chocolate and coffee and man, nearly knocked her off her feet.

  Oh how she wanted more but he broke the kiss and took a step back, slowly letting go of her neck. “I could do that all night. But you deserve better than a parking lot. I’ll see you tomorrow night then. Seven.”