JUDE (Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (A Wood Haven Novella Book 1) Read online

  “Yes!” she shouted.

  My dick jumped as her body tensed and shuttered moments later. I continued making love to her pulsing sex with my mouth, hoping to milk the pleasure she was feeling until there was nothing left.

  “Jude, oh God,” she breathed.

  I lifted my gaze so I could see her face as she came across my tongue. Her head tipped back, her teeth nibbling along her bottom lip. Moans of ecstasy escaped her.

  “Jude,” she gasped.

  I’d never seen a woman more beautiful. My heart swelled just looking at her.

  Her hands flew to her face the second her orgasm finished, and a drunken grin twisted into place there. “Oh my God, that was…”

  “Amazing,” I finished for her.

  She removed her hands, allowing me to gaze into her gorgeous brown eyes. Her cheeks and chest were flushed, and a happy glow emanated from her. This was an image I would always remember. I stared at her, hoping to burn even the finest details into my memory.

  “Yeah, amazing.” She lifted up onto her elbows and moved into a sitting position. Her hand snaked out and she wrapped her fingers around my shaft. Her touch had my stomach muscles quivering.

  I wouldn’t last long. There was no possible way. Her touch felt too good.

  “Now, why don’t you sit back and let me have my way with you?” The drunken grin slipped off her face to be replaced with one of pure wickedness.

  Could this woman be any greater?

  I did as I was told, having no objections. If her hand felt this good, I could only imagine what her lips would feel like. Sophia pumped the length of me twice before licking along my tip. Her tongue swirled in slow circles next and ecstasy burst through me. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, releasing a long sigh of pleasure toward the ceiling. My hand gently gripped the back of her head as my fingers entwined within her soft hair. She continued to pump and suck in a slow, steady pace. When her other hand came around to knead my balls, I knew I was about to lose all control.

  I’d gotten head before, many times, but never from a woman as skilled as Sophia. Her lips were magic and so was her tongue. And her touch, it was fucking divine.

  A low growl rumbled through my chest as my own climax continued to build. My wolf wasn’t satisfied. While my man wanted this, my wolf didn’t. He craved something else, something more intimate.

  There was one thing about my wolf—he always got what he wanted.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SOPHIA

  Jude’s fingers tugging at my hair was enough to let me know he enjoyed the way I worked my mouth over him. I’d never been one for giving a guy head, but there was something about this man I couldn’t resist. All I wanted to do was make him feel as much pleasure as physically possible.

  I lifted my gaze to take in his expression. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Rigid muscles, tanned skin, a chiseled jaw, and a set of dark lashes that any woman would kill for. A low groan swept past his lips and his teeth clamped together. Was he holding back? Or was I doing something wrong?

  I slowed my motions and swept my tongue around his tip like I had before. Another groan rumbled from deep within his chest. God, it was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard. I continued to make love to him with my mouth, taking pleasure in the way his body responded to the strokes of my tongue.

  My nipples grew hard as an ache built between my thighs. I wanted to feel him inside me. Jude reached for the hem of my dress as though he’d somehow been privy to my thoughts. He slipped it off my body and over my head with ease, before tossing it to the floor. I gripped his solid member again, eager to go back to what I’d been doing seconds before, but he stopped me.

  His mouth slanted across mine. This kiss was less in control, and ten times more passionate than any other we’d shared. His fingers eased down my bare back, trailing along my spine until they reached the waistline of my panties. He pulled them down to my ankles before slipping them off, and flipped us around so that he was hovering above me once again. I giggled at his swift movement, but the giddy sensation died to nothing when he lined his thick shaft with my center. His eyes were on me. Conflicting emotions swirled within them. Was he having doubts? Shouldn’t I?

  The spell that had somehow been woven over me was beginning to fade as doubts crept from the shadows of my mind. His tip rubbed against my swollen clit and they disappeared into hiding again. I was too far gone in my desire for this man to truly think of doubts and consequences. A tiny part of me knew this was a bad idea. Heck, I was sure there was a part of Jude that knew as well, but I didn’t think either of us cared.

  Something strong was at play here, something magical, and neither of us were ready for it to disappear.

  “You okay?” Jude asked. His brows furrowed.

  I didn’t speak. Fear of shattering the moment completely kept my vocal chords frozen. Instead, I nodded yes and pressed my lips to his.

  Jude took control of the kiss quickly. His lips swept across mine in a sweet and soft way before he inched himself inside of me. My breath caught in my throat at the feel of him stretching me. A heady combination of adrenaline and sexual desire simmered through my veins as I gave in to what I was feeling. I spread my thighs wider and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to me and digging my fingernails into the taut muscles of his back. Inch by inch he slipped inside me until I was completely filled by him. Nothing had ever felt this good.

  The way Jude kissed me, his warm body heat seeping into me, his masculine scent and powerful presence, his slow, careful way with me, it was blissful. So blissful it stole my breath away.

  Jude’s pace increased as his mouth continued to work over mine. My hips lifted to meet with each thrust, sending him deeper inside me than before. The pleasure rocked my body and I felt the first tingle of an orgasm roll through me. His lips trailed across my jawline and down my neck. Once he reached my collarbone my climax exploded.

  Soft pants and moans filled the air as he came at the same time I did. His teeth nibbled my shoulder, sending flickers of pain radiating from the area. A shiver slipped along my spine as heat simmered through my veins. This was amazing. Deep, physical satisfaction and incredible confusion washed over me as a dizzying sensation tingled through my body. I’d never felt anything quite like it before.

  Jude pulled out of me and released his mouth from my shoulder. He rolled onto his back beside me, breathing as heavily as I was. My hand flew to my heart in an effort to keep it inside my chest as I stared at the ceiling, struggling to catch my breath. My body throbbed as the memory of his touch vanished, but the warmth in my veins intensified. Dull pain pulsed from my shoulder, causing my breath to still.

  Jude had bit me.

  I was equal parts terrified and delighted. There was something about him having bit me that felt so right, but yet so wrong. I wasn’t supposed to fall for a shifter. Not this shifter. This was the shifter I was supposed to kill in order to save my brother’s life.

  Jude’s fingers interlaced with mine and he lifted my hand to his lips. He kissed my knuckles and released a low groan. “That was amazing, Red.”

  “It was.” There was no denying how good it felt, how right, but what were the consequences?

  “Please tell me you’ll spend the day with me.” His lips continued to pepper my knuckles in soft, gentle kisses. “Spend the night with me.”

  “I don’t know that I can.”

  “What do you mean? Of course you can.”

  “I have a lot of things to do to prepare for your party. I wish I could spend the night with you, Jude, but I can’t.” I slipped out of his grasp and gathered my clothes.

  I needed to get out of here. I needed a moment to breathe. A chance to think.

  “You’re leaving? So soon? I know the sex wasn’t that bad, Red. There’s something there, between us. Something big.”

  I needed there not to be, but I didn’t say so. He wouldn’t understand and I couldn’t explain it to him. Some things were better l
eft unsaid.

  I slipped my sundress over my head and grabbed my panties from the floor. After stepping into them, I located my shoes and left his bedroom as fast as I could. Jude followed me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. If I did, I would stay like he’d asked, and staying would be the worst idea ever.

  Although, probably not as bad as sleeping with him had been.

  “Hey, wait a damn minute.” From in my peripheral vision I could see him pulling on a pair of shorts. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Tears rimmed my eyes. I grabbed my keys off the kitchen counter and headed toward the front door. When I gripped the doorknob I paused to glance back at him. “You didn’t do anything, and I’m the last woman on earth who deserves you.”

  I swung the door open wide and ran out, my emotions getting the best of me. A guy stood on the porch carrying a bag of something on his shoulder. I veered away from him just in time, barely nipping the edge of my elbow against his arm as I passed.

  “I got the–” the guy said, obviously thinking I was Jude bursting through the door, and then stopped. “What the hell?”

  I bolted down the stairs, taking note of his tall frame and dark hair. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.

  “Sophia!” Jude yelled. His hard footfalls against the wooden stairs had my heart thumping faster inside my chest.

  I wouldn’t let him get to me, because I couldn’t explain why I was leaving the way I was. I couldn’t. Sleeping with him was a bad idea.

  I blamed the mess I was in on my brother.

  And Mitch.

  Mitch. That’s where I recognized the guy on Jude’s porch from. He was from Mitch’s gambling house. I’d almost plowed him over there too, right before I puked beside my car. He’d called me a crazy bitch. What was he doing here?

  “Sophia, wait,” Jude pleaded.

  I climbed in my car, cranked the engine, and gassed it out of there. Gravel and dirt kicked up behind me as I barreled down his driveway, eager to put distance between us. The area where he’d bit me throbbed with pain that trickled to my heart. Was I a wolf now, or was this something else?

  Jesus, what had I been thinking?

  I hadn’t been thinking, that was my problem. And because of it, I’d gotten too close to Jude Wilder. Now my heart would pay the price, because there was nothing about this thing between us that would end well.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  JUDE

  What the hell had I done? I’d scared Sophia away. Sleeping with a shifter was probably the last thing on earth she ever thought she’d do, and yet somehow I’d managed to seduce her. She probably hated me. I didn’t blame her if she did. I hated me too.

  Damn it.

  Being with her had been the most beautiful thing I’d ever experienced and somehow I’d managed to ruin it in two seconds flat. I’d never made a woman flee from me the way she had. My hands raked through my hair.

  Shit, it was because I’d bitten her.

  She was human and I’d bitten her. My hands smoothed along my face, blocking my view from the kicked-up dust her tires had created. She probably thought she was a werewolf now. She wasn’t. That wasn’t how things worked; it wasn’t a under a full moon. I needed to explain that to her. I hadn’t bitten her with the intention of changing her … I bit her with the intention of making her mine. I’d marked her.

  Sure, some might say that was just as bad, but it felt right.

  Being bonded to a wolf most likely wasn’t something she’d planned for herself, considering her aversion to shifters, but it might be something she could see past one day.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Troy asked from behind me.

  I spun to face him. He was standing on my porch with a bemused expression twisted across his face and a bag of pea stone gravel slung over his shoulder. My jaw tightened. I was in no mood for his shit. The smirk on his face needed to disappear.

  “That was none of your fucking business. That’s what that was.” I stalked toward the porch, up the stairs, and shouldered my way past him into the house. “Head down to the bottom of the road and fill that massive pothole like I told you.” I slammed the door shut behind me with more force than was necessary, rattling the stained-glass windowpanes in it.

  I headed to the kitchen, thinking a drink might calm me. My inner wolf growled with pent-up rage and I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I felt raw inside and unstable, out of control. My mind raced with ways I could’ve gone about things, things that might have made Sophia stay, differently. The itch to change simmered beneath my skin as my wolf released a howl that rattled my brain. He was hurting and just as angry as I was from Sophia’s quick departure. He wanted a mate the same way my man desired a meaningful bond with a woman. Both of us had glimpsed what we wanted inside of Sophia.

  She doesn’t feel the same way though.

  I stalked toward the sliding glass last door that led out the back of the house and into the backyard. After I pulled it open, I stepped outside onto the deck and shed my shorts. The instant they fell to my feet, I gave in to the change, allowing my wolf to take over because I couldn’t bear feeling the torment and pain of my man’s emotions any longer. I’d screwed up, and I wasn’t sure how to rectify it.

  My bones cracked and popped as I shifted into my second form. It was slightly painful, but in this instance I felt I almost deserved it. I’d scared Sophia away.

  I jumped off my porch and landed on my paws in lush green grass. A howl ripped from my throat, vibrating my chest and kick-starting my heart. The woods called to me, but so did something else. Gravel crunched beneath my paws. Power pulsed through my body as my gait widened and my pace picked up. The side of my house passed by in a blur as I raced down my driveway. I knew where I was going, even if I didn’t care to admit it.

  My wolf and I had one mind, and the only thing on it was Sophia.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Troy yelled as I darted past him, kicking up dust and gravel with my paws as they dug deeper into the road, giving me the leverage I needed to go faster.

  While I knew I wasn’t fast enough to catch up with Sophia’s car, I could at least follow her scent. It would eventually lead me straight to her. It didn’t dawn on me that she might not be headed home, until I was forced to run through a busy section of town while following her. When I cut into a residential area, the tension in my muscles eased and my pace began to slow. It wasn’t from exhaustion, but because Sophia’s scent was growing stronger.

  One of these houses with hers.

  I inhaled, trying to pinpoint which one. Strawberries mingling with the fragrance of her fear and the all-consuming smell of her fading arousal stemmed from a tiny yellow house on the corner. Her car was in the driveway, heat still billowing from the hood. She’d gotten here seconds ago. Relief surged through me and my wolf gave out a satisfied grumble.

  I’d found her house. I’d found her. But now that I was here, I wasn’t sure what to do.

  I strolled into her yard and sat outside her living room window. I could see her through the sheer curtains. She was sitting on her couch, nibbling along her bottom lip as she stared off into space. There was something broken about her. The desire to shift into my human form and walk through her front door to pull her in my arms filled me, but I knew it would only make things worse.

  Hell, just being here would probably make things worse. Sophia wanted to be alone, she’d made that much clear.

  Still, I couldn’t force myself to leave. I continued to stare at her, trying to name each emotion as it shifted over her beautiful face. When the first tears slid down her cheek I let out a whimper unintentionally. It was loud enough for her to hear. Her eyes drifted to her window, locking on me instantly. I should’ve left her then, but I couldn’t. I stayed, wondering if she knew who I was. Did she know that I’d come to check on her? What about that I wanted to explain myself?

  I waited for her to walk to the window. I waited for her to say somethi
ng, to give me a sign that it was okay I was here. Instead, all she did was continue to silently cry. Her eyes remained locked on mine. Neither of us moved. And for a long stretch of time, it seemed as though neither of us breathed.

  When she slid off her couch and started toward the window, warmth bloomed through my chest. This was it, the moment when I could make everything better. Sophia paused at the window sill and stared at me. Her teeth clenched as she wiped tears from her eyes.

  “You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have followed me.” She gripped the white cord to her mini blinds. “Go home, Jude.” She pulled on the cord and white blinds flew down, blocking her from my view.

  She was pissed. I could understand why. She needed time. I’d be an asshole if I didn’t give her that.

  I tipped my head back and let out a howl infused with all my frustration and heartache at the situation. Then, I gave Sophia what she wanted. I left her alone.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  SOPHIA

  I cried myself to sleep that night, replaying Jude’s heartbreaking wolf howl in my head, knowing I’d caused him pain. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him but the simple truth was that I had. How was I going to save them both? And how could I not? Things had changed. It was impossible for me to kill Jude to save Stephen, and yet I couldn’t let my brother die in order to save Jude either. My head throbbed at the mess I was in. There had to be a way to keep them both alive.

  My cell rang. I fished it out of my purse out of habit and glanced at the screen. Part of me had expected it to be Jude calling, and I was surprised to see it wasn’t. It was Liz instead. My thumb hovered over the answer button, but I hit decline instead. I couldn’t talk to her right now. She’d know something was wrong and would hound me in an effort to figure out what. Knowing about my taking a catering job for Jude was one thing, but knowing the mess my brother had involved me in was another. It was best to keep her in the dark. Safer.