She smiled gently. “If there is anything I can do to please you, you have but to ask, warrior Draven.”

He stifled a groan. She would, too. If he asked her right now to pull down that dress and feed him her breasts, she would. She might even like it.

“Thank you, Lucinda,” he said hoarsely. “Please call me Draven.” She bowed her head in acknowledgement.

“Take the bed. I’ll make a pallet on the floor.” Again, a frown tugged at her sweet lips.

“We may share the bed, warrior, I mean, Draven.” A hint of a blush colored her cheeks, brightening her green eyes.

Draven glanced at the bed if only to break her stare. That didn’t help either though as he pictured her riding him, breasts swaying before his eager mouth. A sweat broke out over his brow. Dammit.

“No. Thank you,” he added as an afterthought. “You take it.” Even feeling like he couldn’t possibly sleep a wink, he grabbed a pillow and spare cover from the bed and tossed it on the ground. He laid on top of it and closed his eyes. If he thought that would help, he was wrong.

Instead his ears got to listen to her soft steps as she moved around the room. He heard the sound of ties being unlaced and he nearly groaned. Rolling onto his stomach to hide the wood he was sporting, Draven couldn’t stop the mental picture that floated into his mind.

He could see her in his mind as sure as if he was watching her and not listening. Untying the cords at the back of her dress took forever, almost as if she was purposely going slow to torture him.

He heard the soft slide of cloth as she pulled her arms from the velvet sleeves. Smooth beautiful skin, that’s what would be there. He heard the dress pool to the floor then her light steps walking to the bed.

Painful thoughts floated through his mind. Was she naked underneath that gown? Was she lying right now in that bed with nothing but skin separating them? He tried to picture her in conventional underwear—the thought was laughable. This woman probably wore a white shift underneath with sexy little ties that he could unravel with his teeth.

Damn, his cock was about to dig a hole in the floor beneath him. He had to cool his thoughts or the sweats would never go away. The Bellum sisters, think about them. He could almost laugh.

After his investigation in Germany, he found serious evidence of another jaheera demon. Where it was now, he had no clue, but Henry was back at the castle sifting through human’s news footage to see if anything had been noticed. So far, no. Was that a good sign? His instincts told him no. That this demon was in the rift, building an army, collecting power, eating babies or whatever it does.

“Warrior?” said a soft, hesitant voice. Draven squeezed his eyes shut.

“Call me Draven.” He could practically feel her blush from the floor.

“Of course, my apologies. Do you wish to...feed tonight, Draven?”

She’d turned off the light as she gotten into bed. With the dark room, her sultry voice, and his hard cock, hearing the words feed and his name—damn the way she said it—sent his cock near to bursting. With a soft hiss, he reached down and gripped his cock through his pants. He squeezed tightly until some of the pain registered over everything else and deflated his erection, only a little.

“No, Lucinda. Go to sleep.” He thought he heard her sigh, but over his own hiss, he couldn’t be sure.

“Goodnight, Draven.”

Draven shut his eyes and tried to sleep and not think about the woman in the bed.

“Lyonis wants us to keep an eye on the vampire demon.”

Jackie didn’t turn around to face him. “I know.”

Thane shook his head and wished he could shake some sense into her. “Wait up, dammit. We need to talk.”

“I don’t think so,” she sang, stepping into the mat room they used for training and sparring.

The mat room was bigger than most training rooms. Nearly the size of a football field and under the pack’s town, the room was perfect for sparring while transforming. Every now and then they even put on a show for the kids with animal verse animal fights between members of the pack.

“Listen, whatever’s up your craw needs to be canned. We have work to do around here and we can’t do that if you’re ignoring me at every turn.” Something he said struck a chord because she stopped hard and spun around. The look in her eyes was hot with anger. His dick lengthened at it and he had to focus to tamper it down.

“What’s up my craw? Nothing’s up my craw. Why don’t you mind your damn business? We’re partners, nothing more.”

“Maybe you need something up your craw, might loosen you up a bit.” The close-fisted punch slammed into the corner of his lips before he saw her move. His eyes flashed at her in warning, a growl erupting from his throat. She didn’t back down but matched his. Dominant to dominant.

“You might like loose women—”

“Is that what this is about?” he said. She puffed out her chest and lifted her chin, fingers twitching with the need to fight; the need to shift. One that he was getting excited to give her.

“Oh, please. Not everything is about you and who you fucked this week.” His eyes narrowed hard on hers.

“You sound as if you care. Tell me Jackie is that what this is about? Are you jealous of the women I take, of the women who offer themselves to me?” Her jaw crunched side to side before she spoke.

“I don’t think your ego can stay contained in this room,” she said with tightly controlled anger. “Hear me this one time. I do not care who you fuck. It’s not my business. Take every free submissive in the entire pack, in all the packs in the country because I...don’t...care.”

Thane rolled his shoulders as the urge to fight stroked him. “Maybe you should try it sometime. Maybe that’s all you need—a cock to loosen up that tight ass of yours.”

Her war cry gave him only a second warning before his back slammed hard against the blue mat. His teeth clanged together hard, the breath whooshed out of him, and she didn’t wait for him to recover but let out a flurry of punches he barely managed to dodge and slap away.

With a growl of his own, he tackled her and slammed her back into the mat. She panted below him, teeth bared, eyes glowing with the urge to shift and really fight. Thane didn’t know what came over him. He caught her strong arms in his hands and planted them next to her face. His hips pressed against hers.

Her eyes widened, lips parting on a gasp. He didn’t hide his erection but rubbed it sensuously against her core. She let out a feral growl at him—a warning.

She didn’t scare him. He brought his face close to hers, lips inches apart as he watched her flashing eyes.

“Admit it,” he said, punctuating his words with a roll of his hips. “Tell me how wet you are for me. How bad you want my cock filling you up.”

Suddenly her thighs locked tight around his waist and he actually groaned. But then she launched him, using the hands holding her and pushing back against him. He went flying through the air. Wind rushed by him as he landed hard and rolled.

She stalked to him, a snarl on her face. “Never touch me again.” She turned and walked away.

Fuck that. He wasn’t done with her. Thane stood and stalked to her. She spun before he could touch her and flashed him a warning with her eyes. She was breathing hard. Perspiration dampened her hair and neck, molding her tight tank top even closer to her lithe body.

It was on the tip of his tongue to apologize but instead he said, “Fine, then tell me why you’ve been angry with me.”

Her jaw fell open. Then her arms shot wide to encompass the gym. “You insulted me you half-wit!” Thane let her own insult slide as he thought back throughout the day and to yesterday when this whole thing started.

“The comment about your hair?”

If possible, her jaw dropped even further and then she clamped it shut and started to applaud—slowly.