Doggy Tales Vol. 1 Read online

  Her dream lover rolled over and looked at her, lacing his fingers through hers, gently, tenderly kissing each digit and nuzzling her hand. “Ivan,” he whispered.

  She stared into his large, grey eyes and nodded. “That’s a good name.”

  He smiled and she wanted to lean over and kiss him. Wanted to lock her lips onto his and…

  Lindsey opened her eyes and looked at the dog, his grey eyes delving into hers.

  “Ivan,” she whispered.

  He nodded.

  “That’s a good name.”

  * * * *

  He lived with her three more days before making his move. Every night he made sure she dreamed about him, each dream going further than the rest. He pretended to like the kibble so he didn’t hurt her feelings.

  He did everything possible to make her feel at ease when she was home, to try to lessen her jumpiness he knew was left over from the attack. As soon as she left every day, he shifted back and scavenged through the kitchen for real food. Then he’d take a shower and shave because he couldn’t stand feeling grungy.

  On Saturday morning, he lay in bed and waited for her to wake up. Normally she would start the pot of coffee then they went jogging. He enjoyed running with her even if she wasn’t as fast as him. He always perfectly synced his steps to hers, never pulling on the leash, never falling behind. He enjoyed the looks they received, the men who watched her and warily eyed him.

  Mate. My Mate.

  This morning would be different. She had the day off from work, and he followed her to the kitchen, grabbing his leash in his teeth from where it hung over the doorknob.

  “You have to go out now?”

  He shook his head and nudged her hand. She slipped the collar over his head. It always stayed snapped on the leash. He sat.

  “What is it?”

  He looked at her, nuzzling her hand so it rested on top of his head.

  Please let this work.

  He shifted.

  He didn’t dare move, her sudden gasp not breaking into the anticipated scream.

  When she fell, he caught her and pulled her into his lap, her stunned eyes wide with shock.

  He didn’t speak, waiting for her to make the next move.

  She touched his face, ran her fingers through his hair, and finally gasped for breath.

  “Do it again,” she whispered.

  Ivan couldn’t contain the slight smile that curled his lips. He shifted back into his wolf form.

  Lindsey sobbed, wrapping her arms around his furry neck. “Again,” she whispered.

  He did, holding her.

  She sat there with him for an hour, not speaking, barely remembering to breathe.

  When she finally sat back, he stood, the collar and leash still around his neck. Ivan scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom.

  Lindsey’s gaze never left his, her hand stroking his cheek. He captured her fingers and kissed her hand, gently sucking each digit into his mouth, laving his tongue over them. She was taking this better than he ever dreamed. He’d expected at least a few minutes of screaming, followed by some orders to get the hell out—which he’d ignore, of course—followed by more screaming and hysterical crying.

  She looked…relieved.

  * * * *

  The man of her dreams. No, literally, the man she dreamed about every night since Ivan saved her in the park. If she’d lost her mind, it could stay permanently gone for all she cared. He wasn’t a figment of her imagination, and the collar didn’t magically appear around his neck.

  Her fingers trailed down his jaw to his throat where she unsnapped the leash and tossed it to the floor.

  He rolled on top of her, his huge erection poking her in the thigh. “You okay, Lindsey?”

  His voice sounded the same as from her dreams, deep and strong, soothing, sending tendrils of need from her heart to her heated pussy.

  She nodded. She felt way more than okay.

  When he kissed her, she closed her eyes and buried her fingers in his thick black hair. He tasted good, safe, strong. Moaning when he broke their kiss, she tried to pull him back, but he chuckled.

  “It’s okay.”

  His lips blistered a scorching path down her throat as his hands lifted her T-shirt, exposing her breasts. Ivan’s sharp intake of breath at the sight of her peaked nipples only served to increase her need. His lips captured one, and when his tongue flicked it, she moaned.

  As he gently cupped her other breast, his fingers tweaking her nipple into a similar state, she ground her hips against him.

  She wanted him. Now.

  Screw patience, screw caution—she wanted him to screw her! Thank God she was still on the Pill.

  “Fuck me,” she begged. “Please!”

  She received a deep and hungry growl in reply. He lifted his mouth from her breast. “I will, babe. Trust me. And I won’t stop once I start. You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to, ever since I met you.”

  Lindsey closed her eyes and squirmed against him. She’d deal with reality later. No way in hell she would let him stop the delicious things he did to her body.

  Ivan peeled her T-shirt off, and his hot flesh against hers felt perfectly right. She ran her hands over his firm body. He wanted her.

  When she pushed her shorts and panties down her hips, he pulled them off her legs. He bent his head to her belly, kissing, licking, tasting.

  That wasn’t exactly where she wanted him, but it was a damn good start.

  Trying to nudge him lower, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pushed. It was like moving a large boulder. He wasn’t budging.

  “I’m going to make love to you all day,” he whispered. “There’s no need to rush.”

  Lindsey threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut as he took an agonizingly long time exploring every centimeter of her flesh before lightly teasing her clit with his tongue.

  “Do it. Please.”

  “I want you, Lindsey.”

  “I’m telling you to fuck me, Ivan.”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  His choked voice more than his actual words broke through her passion. She lifted her head to look at him. His grey eyes focused on her.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I love you.”

  Every last shred of sanity screamed at her to stop, to back up, to at the very least ask for a background check or ID or a current rabies shot certificate. Something.

  But his eyes. Those big, grey eyes melted her.

  He saved her. At any time he could have done…whatever he did…certainly big enough to force me. He didn’t.

  He protected her. And for the first time in a long time, she felt she was exactly where she should be. Safe.

  Loved.

  “I love you, too, Ivan.” She knew the words were true as soon as she whispered them.

  “Forever?”

  “That’s a long time.”

  He nodded. “You have no idea.”

  “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

  He nodded again.

  Lindsey swallowed, hard. “Do I start doing…this?”

  He smiled. If she’d had any reservations, that would have melted them away like a spring thaw on Mt. Rainier. “Long story, but no. I was born like this.” He sat up and held her hand. “Okay. No fleas or ticks, I promise I’m faithful, and I’ll rip the throat out of any guy who dares look at you wrong. But you can’t get me neutered.”

  She laughed, but his desperate, pleading look pulled at her. A guy like this should look confident he’d get the girl, but he looked scared.

  “Downside?”

  “It’s a fucking big secret to keep. I’ll introduce you to Jeremy.”

  “Who’s he?”

  “He’s my friend, boss, and Alpha.”

  “Alpha?”

  “Pack leader.”

  She sat up. “Pack? There’s more of you?”

  “More than you’d think.”

  Reality hung on by a rapidly
fraying thread. “Upside?” she whispered.

  His smile returned and he leaned in, nuzzling her just behind her ear, making her lower belly contract in a hot and pleasant way. “I get to do this to you every day for the rest of our lives.”

  “Promise?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She nervously swallowed as the abyss loomed beneath her. “Will you protect me and keep me safe?” It’d been so long since she’d felt safe. And the past few days, even with dog-Ivan, she’d felt safer than she had in…well, years.

  A fierce expression blasted across his face. “No one will ever again harm you. Ever. I’ll die before I let that happen.”

  Lindsey closed her eyes. “I’m yours.”

  His growl might have been scary except for the fact that his lips did incredibly addictive things to her neck. Ivan gently lowered her to the bed. He quickly returned to his earlier position between her legs and dropped his head.

  She hoped the neighbors weren’t home. His tongue firmly stroked her clit and sent a shockwave through her nervous system the likes of which she’d never experienced. When he slipped one, then two thick fingers inside her, she loudly moaned.

  “Fuck, yes!” she cried.

  Ivan chuckled but didn’t respond, his lips too busy massaging her swollen nub as his fingers skillfully stroked her to the most explosive climax she’d ever experienced. She screamed his name as he kept her coming for what felt like forever.

  Well, she could ditch the vibrator. And the dildo. What was the point? They were smaller than him.

  He eventually relented and moved up the bed to gather her against his firm chest, holding her, his face buried in her hair.

  “Every day?” she gasped.

  “As many times as you want.”

  She flattened her body against him, his cock rubbing along her belly. “You’ve still got to propose.”

  “Marry me. Please. If you want groveling, I can do that.”

  “Yes.”

  “To the groveling?”

  She nipped his throat. His cock jumped in response. “No, silly. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  Then he slipped his cock inside her, buried deeper than any man had ever gone. He rolled on top of her while she threw her legs around his waist, hanging on for the ride.

  His eyes locked onto hers. “I’ll never leave your side.”

  “That’s unrealistic.”

  He smiled. “You’re a ballbuster, aren’t you?”

  “That a problem?”

  “No. I’m always up for a little kink.” He playfully grinned.

  Lindsey laughed. “I think you’ll need a daily session on the leash to remind you who takes you home every day.” She reached up and flicked the choker collar, which still hung, albeit much more loosely, around his neck.

  He plunged a little deeper, drawing a gasp from her. “Leading me around by my cock isn’t good enough, huh?”

  She grabbed the collar and pulled his face to hers, thrusting her tongue between his lips.

  His hungry groan flipped her heart. Who was she kidding? If this hunk wanted her she’d take him even if he turned out to be a crazy psycho—or an ultraconservative Republican.

  He pulled away just long enough to flip her onto her knees and slide his thick cock inside her from behind, filling her, taking her breath away.

  Ivan wrapped his arms around her waist, one hand between her legs, skilled fingers rolling her clit and teasing her toward another climax.

  “I want you, Lindsey.” He growled, kissing her back, tasting the flesh over her spine. “I want you forever, for mine, for my mate.”

  She barely formed coherent words. “Take me, Ivan. Fuck me.”

  Then his lips, hot on her shoulder as they worked up and down her flesh, and his teeth grazing her as the slow explosion built in her clit, spreading out to the rest of her wonderfully full. Between his fingers and his cock and his mouth and the solid wall of flesh pressed against her body, she knew she wanted this forever.

  “My mate,” he whispered before sinking his teeth into the top of her shoulder. At the same time he pistoned his hips hard, burying his cock balls-deep inside her. He gently pinched her clit, setting off a thermonuclear reaction of her own.

  Agony and ecstasy vied for the win, with pleasure leading the pack by a mile. She was vaguely aware of his climax, his growling moan and the feel of his hot seed inside her, marking her.

  Mate.

  His mate.

  Gasping for breath and shuddering from the aftermath of her orgasm, she collapsed under him.

  He rolled to his side, his arms around her, holding her tightly, still joined.

  With sanity returning, she suspected she’d hurt like hell where he bit her, but his lips and tongue carefully caressed her flesh and it felt like the best feeling in the world.

  It took her a while to regain her senses. When she did, she rolled over to face him.

  “Do it again,” she whispered, her fingers now around his collar.

  “I’m good, but even I need a few minutes to recover, babe.”

  She shook her head.

  That half smile would be deadly to her reserve. She’d have to learn to build immunity to it somehow. Her fingers weren’t touching his hot flesh, but dense, black fur.

  “Okay. Come back.”

  The two-legged hunk laughed. “I swear, Jeremy is not going to believe you didn’t run away screaming.”

  “I’m still in shock. But if you can fuck me like that and keep the bad guys away, I can deal with anything else. I think.” She hesitated. “It’s probably too late to ask this, but you don’t kill people, do you?”

  He grinned. “Only if they tried to hurt you or kill me, babe. It’s not like in the movies.”

  “Okay.” She traced the firm lines of his abs. “What do you do for a living?’

  Ivan cocked an eyebrow. “A guy shape-shifts from a large dog into a man who fucks you silly, tells you he loves you, asks you to marry him and be his mate, and the second thing you want to know is what he does for a living?”

  “You have a problem with that?”

  Ivan threw his head back and laughed, long and hard, the bed shaking from his rumbling amusement. “Lindsey, damn, girl. You are too fucking much.” He reached up and rested his palm along her cheek. “I work for Bruin and Associates. We’re a consulting firm.”

  “That tells me shit.”

  He rolled onto his side, propped on his elbow. “Legal, I promise. We deal with a lot of industrial secrets, things like that. Studies, coordinating product trials, compiling research information.”

  “Good money?”

  He grinned and rolled out of bed, pulling her to him. “Let’s take a shower.”

  She was surprised to find he’d stashed his things under the mattress, another paradox that amused the crap out of him. Maybe she was still in shock over the revelation, but he didn’t think so.

  He opened the truck door for her. “After you.” He stole a kiss as she passed, which earned him a gentle goose in his crotch.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  He slipped his sunglasses on before backing out of the parking space. “Home.”

  * * * *

  Lindsey’s composure faltered when they drove into the private, gated community in New Tampa. “You live here?”

  “We,” he corrected, smiling. “Don’t tell me you’re freaking out now?”

  “Wow.” In the grand scheme of things, Ivan was slumming it with his new Honda Ridgeline, while the neighbors on either side of him drove Jags. He pulled into the garage and led her inside.

  She stopped in the foyer, and he let her take it in while he continued on to the kitchen. Jeremy had brought in his mail and newspapers, stacking them neatly on the counter. He dropped his keys next to the pile and sorted through mail while she regained her voice.

  “This…this is amazing.”

  “It’s home.”

  Five bedrooms, six-and-a-half bath with high-end Italian tile
all the way through, the house had cost him over eight hundred grand. All the room was necessary when packmates came to visit from out of town.

  Lindsey drifted over to the backsliders. The private screened lanai, with a large pool and heated Jacuzzi, was tastefully accented by professionally designed container gardens. “Wow.”

  She drove a ten-year-old Camry. He knew from snooping through her mail and personal papers that she wasn’t broke, but she was far from rich.

  He’d enjoy the hell out of spoiling her.

  Eventually, she turned, not speaking, studying him.

  Unable to take the silence, he asked, “Well? What do you want to see next?”

  “Our bedroom.”

  * * * *

  Lindsey knew he had to walk over to her, pick her up in his arms, and carry her to the bedroom, but it seemed to take place within one breath and maybe two blinks. She found herself flat on her back in the large bed, his lips on hers, and then…

  Aw, who cares? She wanted his cock inside her again.

  He took his time, slowly thrusting. “Please, Ivan,” she begged. “Make me come.”

  His tongue drew deliciously warm circles around each nipple, back and forth. “Not yet, baby. I want to play with you for a while. I can’t show you all my secrets the first day. You’ll get bored.”

  “I have a feeling boredom isn’t a word I’ll ever use to describe being with you.”

  “I hope not.” He alternated deep, powerful thrusts with short, shallow ones that managed to bring her to the brink time and again. She’d never climaxed just from intercourse before, but she suspected she was about to experience that for the first time in her life.

  He slowed his thrusts and lifted her legs to his shoulders. His cock drove deep into her, stretching her, possessing her.

  Lie here flat on my back and get fucked by this guy for the rest of my life? Sure, no problemo! Happy to do it!

  “Look at me, Lindsey,” he whispered.

  She did, unable to resist.

  He kissed her leg and drove a little deeper, making her moan. “You think you can come for me like this?”

  “I want to.”