Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

31. Dante

Chapter thirty-one

Dante

T he sun was setting as I made my way back to Isabel’s castle. A starburst of colors rose and dazzled the sky in a display of oranges and pinks. I’d never taken the time to watch the sunset, but today felt monumental like I should note every little thing about it.

No vampires stood outside, not that I’d expected them to wait for me, but it hurt a little that Isabel wasn’t waiting for me. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way about me? I approached the castle expecting the door to open as it had while we’d been under the curse, but it remained closed. I clasped the doorknob and turned, surprised the door wasn’t locked, I walked into the castle.

The interior was quiet as it had been during the curse. I almost wondered if Silas had returned while I’d been in the forest but then I heard noises coming from the library. I smiled remembering how much Isabel had loved it when I’d carried the books outside and she’d read them once again. Her love of books was almost as great as mine.

I opened the door to the library. The three vampires looked at me and then returned to reading. Even Isabel.

“Why wasn’t the door locked? Anyone could walk in,” I said, stepping inside the library.

“Any fool who would walk into a vampire’s home uninvited deserves their death,” Lucian said, not even bothering to look at me while he spoke.

I hadn’t considered how deadly the vampires were. They appeared so refined and collected. I stared at Isabel, taking in her fresh clothes and damp hair. She’d showered the dried blood from her body. She looked beautiful but then she’d looked beautiful covered in blood too.

“You showered,” I said.

“Very observant of you,” she answered but still didn’t look at me. “Perhaps you should do the same.”

I glanced down at my filthy clothes, the ones I’d worn for days running through the forest to collect her head.

“Thank you for the offer. Can you show me the way?”

Isabel finally looked at me and narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t offer.”

Lucian clicked his fingers. “He smells. Take him to the shower. We can use him as a decoy when Silas comes. He’ll be livid the werewolf tied him up and he will distract him long enough for us to kill him.”

“If you remove his head it will kill him,” I said.

“We understand that,” Maximus mumbled .

Isabel rose from the chair with a long-suffering sigh. “Follow me.”

She breezed past me and out of the library. We walked along a hallway until Isabel stopped and opened a door. Inside sat a luxurious bed draped in dark fabrics. Isabel walked inside and opened another door.

“Bathroom in here. Clothes in the wardrobe. Come back to the library when you’re finished.”

“Isabel, wait,” I said, grabbing her arm. “Sorry. I’m sorry I left to talk to the pack.”

“I hope you found what you were looking for with them,” she said avoiding looking into my eyes.

“Isabel.” I sighed her name as I stroked my thumb over the soft flesh of her inner arm. “I found that with you.”

“I hardly think that’s true considering you gave me an orgasm and then left,” she said with venom in her voice.

“I messed up.”

She tugged her arm out of my grip. “You did.”

“I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Make all the promises you like. I don’t care what you do.” She stormed from the room and slammed the door behind her.

Shit. I’d messed things up between us. I should have bitten her earlier when we were in the infirmary bed, but that hadn’t felt like the right place to claim my mate. No, it needed to be somewhere special. A place that was ours.

I stripped out of my filthy and smelly clothes, turned on the taps to the shower, and stepped under the stream of hot water. When was the last time I’d showered? I should have thought about cleaning myself before claiming Isabel as my mate, anyway. She wouldn’t want me when I stunk, but I’d thought she wouldn’t want me when I was in my half-shifted form, yet she had. That was when we’d first connected. As I lathered up with soap, I concentrated on my form until I shifted under the spray of the water. It was easier this time thinking about how much Isabel seemed to like me in this beast shape. I scrubbed my fur clean, contemplating staying in this form but then I shifted back to human. She needed to get to know me in all my forms. Plus, she was annoyed with me. Maybe my more handsome shape would win her over.

Finished with the shower, I dried myself with the luxurious cotton towel that seemed made from the softest material I’d ever touched. Isabel loved the finer things in life, unlike me who’d had to scrape for every morsel of food and piece of clothing. Maybe I shouldn’t claim her as my mate. My inner beast snapped at me. No, that wasn’t an option. I’d never leave Isabel further than the forest. With the threat of Silas hanging over her head, I was a fool to even go that far. From now on I’d stick to her side. Day. Night. Every second.

I strode from the room determined to find her, but my lack of clothes might be a problem or a solution if I wanted to look at it that way. A wardrobe sat in the bedroom. What were the odds I’d find men’s clothes inside that fit me? I opened the wardrobe doors and found two women’s dresses, two men’s shirts, and two men’s pants. A strange collection to have in one place. I took down the black pants and tried them on. They fit even if they were a little loose around the waist. At least I had pants. That was something. I drew a shirt from the hanger next and shrugged it on. It was massive, but I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows and tucked the ends into the pants. This would have to do and at least I looked and smelled more presentable.

Following the sound of raised voices, I made my way back to the library. The vampires stopped their heated discussion and looked at me like I was a different person. I might look different but I was the same as I’d always been .

“Isabel, can I talk to you in private please?”

She folded her arms and looked less likely to speak to me by the minute.

Maximus rose from his chair. “You try talking to her. She’s impossible.”

“I am not,” Isabel said.

Lucian patted her shoulder. “You are. We’re not using you as bait to kill Silas and there is no more to discuss on that matter.”

Every drop of blood in my body cooled. Isabel wanted to use herself as bait. No way. Not while I was around. I held out my arm.

“Can we take a walk outside?”

She eyed my hand, then pushed herself to her feet without my help. “Fine. I need to get away from these overprotective vampires.” She huffed.

I followed her out of the library and through the castle to the back entrance. When she was cursed, she hadn’t been able to use it in her ghostly form. Now she marched outside with a regal air. As if she’d settle for a pauper like me. She had all the wealth she’d ever want and yet there was a lot I’d offer her. Love. Loyalty. To start with.

She drifted around the fountain trailing her fingers through the water. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I shouldn’t have left you after we were intimate.”

She laughed hollowly with no genuine humor behind it.

I strode over to her and grabbed her wet hand. “Stop avoiding me. Us.”

“There is no us.”

“Stop avoiding the fact there is an ‘us.’ Neither of us planned this or even wanted it, but here we are. A vampire and a werewolf. I don’t care about those facts. I care about you. The woman who has my heart for all of time. ”

She stopped glaring at me with displeasure and her face softened. I tangled my fingers with her and led her toward the tree. Our tree. The one I’d tended to her wounds under. Where she’d first tasted my blood. This was our special place. A tree that held our first memories in the arms of its branches.

Once under the fall of its branches, I lifted my other hand and brushed a hand through her hair. The silky strands drifted through my fingers with ease. Her lips parted and her eyes widened as I lowered my head and kissed her with the love I held in my heart for her. A soft kiss. An emotional kiss. Every bit of love I possessed for her poured into this one moment. I wanted her to sense it too, but even if she didn’t, she’d still have my love and heart. What she did with them was up to her.

A soft sigh floated from her lips, and I captured it with my tongue. Her lips parted even further and encouraged me to kiss her more deeply. More passionately. Her hands refocused on the buttons on my shirt and flicked them open. A second later her cool palms met my eager flesh. Her touch drove me wild, so much so that I grabbed her hands and pinned them behind her back. Her lips spread into a grin against mine.

“The werewolf has finally accepted his animal,” she said.

“I have.”

I placed both her hands in one of mine and undid the buttons on the front of her dress with the other hand, brushing the fabric aside so her breasts spilled free under the moonlight filtering through the branches.

“So beautiful,” I said.

I lowered my head and kissed the top swell of her breasts, taking my time to learn every curve of the soft mounds with my mouth, finding the spots that made her gasp or wriggle with desire. Eventually, I closed my lips around the tight peaks of her nipples. Her hands flexed in my hold as though she wanted to break free. She probably could with her vampire strength, but she liked this dominant side of me. I did too.

My free hand drifted to the length of her skirt and drew the fabric up to her waist until I could slip my hand under and urge the heel of my palm against her mound. She rocked into the pressure. I applied more, shifting my fingers lower to the damp spot on her panties. She moaned loudly. I slid my fingers under the edge of the fabric and touched the silken folds coated in her arousal. All for me. I longed to taste her again, but more than that I wanted to bury myself inside her.

I spun her around and pinned her body to the tree with mine. She tilted her head back and looked at me over her shoulder with desire blazing in her eyes. I kissed her parted lips again while gathering her dress to her waist, then wrenched her underwear down her legs. Her skin was so soft beneath my hasty hands. I bent while I tugged her underwear free from her feet and kissed and licked my way up the back of her legs unable to stop myself from nibbling on the juicy globes of her butt cheeks. She wriggled back into me as though she loved my teeth on her flesh. I cupped her swollen flesh with my fingers and slid a digit inside her. Her hips rolled back into my touch.

I rose and placed my mouth at her ear. “Tell me you don’t sense our connection.”

She kept her mouth clamped shut, so I caressed her inner muscles until her g-spot became so engorged, it clamped on my finger.

“Tell me you don’t want me,” I whispered, placing a kiss on her neck. “I’ll stop if you do.”

“Don’t you dare stop,” she said.

Her body tightened around my finger to the point she was about to explode. I slid it out of her and unbuckled my pants, then coated my rock-hard cock with her wetness.

“Dante, don’t stop,” she whined.

Holding my cock, I rubbed it over her slick entrance. “Do you want me?”

“Yes. Yes.” She thrust back trying to force me inside her.

I grabbed her hips and held her still while I thrust the flared head of my cock into her tight entrance. Her body quivered as though the pleasure was too much for her to handle, but she was a vampire and she’d handle anything. This woman would handle me at my best and worst. In any form I shifted into.

“More,” she demanded.

Yes, she was the woman for me, for my beast, the animal lurking inside.

I thrust into her body and seated my cock deep inside. I held us still letting us both sense the connection deep in our souls for a moment. Our moment under our tree. When I couldn’t stand the pressure of being inside her and not giving her pleasure, I thrust my hips in long movements in and out of her slick wetness. Each slide transported me closer to my animal. Closer to wanting to mark her.

“You’re mine,” I said, my teeth lengthened, and I lowered my head to the back of her neck.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

I sunk my teeth into the tender flesh where her shoulder and neck met. A burst of her blood filled my mouth. Power coated my tongue. But it was my teeth in her neck that drove me wild. My hips picked up the pace as I drove into her flesh with a desperation of desire to claim my mate. Mark her inside and out.

Her inner muscles clamped harder around my cock. I swelled to epic proportions until each stroke of her flesh against mine sent bolts of lightning down the backs of my thighs and made my balls draw up tight. The pleasure was too good. I kept my mouth pinned to her neck as I sensed the first inner spasm of her impending orgasm. The first warning of the epic release. I growled, setting her off on an explosion that clenched my cock so hard I thought I might pass out, but I buried myself to the hilt and let her quivering muscles send me into the blissful oblivion of orgasm with her. My cock marked her inside with jets and jets of hot cum. I released my bite and licked her wound until no sign of my marks was discernable to the naked eye.

Except the alpha werewolf was right. Under the light of the moon, my teeth marks glowed a luminous quality that would tell everyone she was mine.

“Dante,” she sighed my name and glanced over her shoulder.

I claimed her lips in a tender kiss then said, “I love you, Isabel. Whether you want me, you are mine and I’ll be by your side forever.”

She stretched a hand back and cupped my cheek. “It’s not a matter of wanting you.”