Beauty's Beast - By Jenna Kernan Page 0,25

something new, because until this minute he had never been afraid.

Samantha made him afraid.

Why should he care?

He didn’t understand it. But since the moment she had appeared from that storm, she had consumed him. He craved contact of her flesh to his and longed for that trembling emotion that he felt vibrate through her each time he pressed his body to hers. She knew what he was, but she could not know what he was capable of. If she did, she never would have stayed the night.

Somehow he had kept away. But each time he saw her, the urge to have her grew stronger. He wanted to devour her. Taste her skin on his tongue and feel his body joining with hers.

Samantha exposed his weakness and his corporal need.

Anticipation and worry beat in his chest. He would find her, ensure her safety and then...Alon’s speed quickened.

He found her a moment later hurrying along the footpath his Alphas used to run their territory. The trail ran parallel to the curving drive that led to the highway.

“What are you doing here?”

Samantha startled. The thick rope braid swung over her shoulder and settled between her breasts. Today she was dressed for the woods in a scooped-neck shirt and light fleece vest that hugged her bosom. His skin itched as he looked at the generous curve of her hips emphasized by her tight jeans.

“I...I...”

“Go back.”

She recovered quickly. Color still flooded her pretty face, but now she was scowling at him. It didn’t help. He still wanted her. His attention fixed on her raspberry-colored lips. What would it feel like to brush his mouth to hers, press her soft curves to his hard ones and meld together like hot metal?

“You are not my keeper.” She managed the words with just the right amount of indignation.

“Obviously, or I would have locked you up.”

She gasped at that. He smiled, picturing her locked in the bedroom he once occupied, waiting for him there in that short little cotton nightie.

He moved closer. The lecture he had given himself, the knowledge that his very presence here endangered her, was not enough to stop him. Not enough to drown out the roar of need she roused in him.

He captured her easily, so easily that if he did not know better he would almost guess that she came here only for this.

Then he recalled that she had never seen his fighting form. He should show her now. No. He never would.

Samantha would know only the handsome, virile form that drew human females like nectar draws bees. She would know only the lie. He could take her if he wanted, and she’d let him unless she discovered what he was inside. Then she’d run screaming. He drew her closer.

Someday she’d realize what he was. Then he’d let her go. But for now he was just selfish enough to take what she offered—consequences be damned.

Chapter 7

Alon tilted his head. Samantha gazed up at him, her eyes half-closed as if she were caught on the edge of a dream. Her lips parted and she lifted her chin, as the appeal of his third form drew her to him, making her eager now for what he would give her.

He couldn’t. Taking a woman would cause the cycle to begin again. If his kind reproduced, the Living World would never be rid of them. Alon’s convictions collided hard with his desires.

She brought a hand to his cheek, and his craving for this woman drowned all his high-minded philosophy and notions of selfless sacrifice. His desire pounded and poured like floodwaters, sweeping away all objections.

She was his woman. He needed her and she was willing. That was enough.

Samantha made no objections. Was the attraction so all-consuming that she could not think at all?

She was on her toes now, and her arms encircled his neck as if she were capturing him.

Their mouths met, firm, eager, greedy.

Alon deepened the kiss, holding the little Skinwalker tight to his body. Did she know she played with fire?

Strong emotions brought the change. With the thinning of his control the demon inside took over. He feared that side and still he let her kiss him deep and hard, their tongues stroking and sparing.

He relished each small quavering sound of need that now emanated from her throat. She tightened her arms about his neck, trying to hold him. If she knew what was inside him she’d be fighting for escape.

Alon threaded his fingers in her thick dark hair, cradling her head, controlling her in a