NaNo Day 8:
Viking-2—2286 words
GWB-Me—1049 words–and complete!

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for a free download of this book!

NaNo’s kickin’ my ass, but I’m slogging forward. I wrapped up my contribution to the Girls Who Bite anthology, and I’ve started playing with the order of the stories. I’m not nearly through all the submissions, but a few standouts have made the cut so far. I’m 132 pages from the end of the second Viking story. I’m writing wildly, and hoping that something wonderful is waiting under all that mess for me to polish into gold. Tomorrow, I begin a new story, also due at the end of this month. Is it really the 9th! Frick! Have to up my daily dose of caffeine.

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“…Delilah Devlin packs a powerful punch with ALTERED STATES: UNLEASHING THE TIGER…Ms. Devlin creates a beautiful romance with a paranormal twist that gives the readers what they are asking for and so much more…”
5 Angels, Fallen Angels Reviews

“…I thought [the choice of hero] was a brave and unusual choice for the author to make…It was definitely worth the read…”
4.5 Stars, Just Erotic Romance Reviews

“…I really liked this book for its very sensuous love scenes…I loved how Khalid’s character was portrayed as very alpha yet he was so tender with Casey…This short story moves along swiftly with a mixture of military action, intelligent yet amusing dialogue, and red hot sex to keep the reader thoroughly entertained.”
4 Hearts, The Romance Studio

An analyst in a secret government agency, Casey McTaggert’s professional life has been dedicated to the capture of one suspected terrorist. Even before she’s abducted by Khalid in the midst of a firefight, she’s completely fascinated with the man they call the “The Tiger.” But what began as a professional obsession quickly becomes lust as his dark, Persian features and harshly hewn body awaken a forbidden passion.

Khalid Razeh can’t fight the genetic programming that makes him shift into a tiger any more than he can resist the sensual allure of his lovely hostage. While forcing her to accompany him on one last mission, he fights the overwhelming attraction, knowing that he is walking into a trap that will end in death. Casey’s tender lovemaking and growing belief in his innocence are a sweet balm to his wild, savage soul.

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Khalid watched the woman’s mobile mouth curve into a mischievous smile. She had no idea how close he was to pouncing. Her scent beneath the sweat and dirt teased his nostrils like the flick of a cat’s tail, tugging at his cock, which jerked against the smooth leather case he’d perched on his lap.

Never had he been so distracted from his purpose. Just another thing he hated about the changes in him. He seemed to have lost control over his ability to shut out physical needs. His mind was no longer the captain of his body.

It was just an added irritant that he really did need her to accompany him. The woman obviously spent too much time in a sheltered cubicle—far from the harsh glare of reality. Her unshakeable enthusiasm and curiosity contradicted the image of the stale, world-weary analyst he would have conjured. She was almost…innocent…in her wonder.

His instinct for self-preservation reared up, reminding him not to relax his guard in her disarming presence. She was a woman—an attractive one despite the wire-rimmed glasses sliding down her nose and the messy knot of blonde hair pulled tight at the back of her head. The prim suit hugged slender curves, almost boyish in their lack of definition. Her legs, however, were extraordinary.

Neat, slender ankles, long straight calves and smooth round knees.

His cock approved, straining against the case.

“Do you know how?” she asked, her eyes shining in the moonlight with a hopeful glitter.

Most assuredly, he knew how. But he did not think he was responding to the correct question. He shook himself and looked around. The truck. “Yes. I can…hotwire it. Cut the engine.”

With the M-19 he’d “acquired” back at the wall strung over his shoulder, he bounded from the vehicle, supremely aware of the wag of his rigid cock. He didn’t bother to turn away from her. Better she should know her affect on him now. Perhaps it would curb her enthusiasm.

Her gasp was gratifying, but he ignored her and strode barefoot to the dented truck.

Minutes later, he sat behind the wheel, glad to have something else to occupy his attention—besides her ripening arousal.

He could smell it. The scent wafted in the air, a tantalizing mix of baby powder and feminine musk.

She shifted on the seat beside him as he pulled out onto the road and cleared her throat. “Daylight’s gonna be upon us soon.”

Daylight meant time to rest. The tiger inside him was a nocturnal creature. Besides they’d be more easily spotted in the light of day. Which meant there was time for other horizontal activities. The woman’s arousal left his own unabated. A distraction he could alleviate if she were willing.

He watched her from the corner of his eye as she fidgeted and tucked a straggling strand of hair behind her ear. Her movements were jerky. He needed her relaxed. Pliant.

Women loved to talk, he recalled. “You don’t sound like you’re from Washington,” he said, keeping his eyes on the highway stretching before him.

“I’m not. I’m from Oklahoma.”

“I don’t hear the twang.”

“Well, when you’re blonde and blue-eyed and you have a thick accent, no one takes you seriously.”

“I take you seriously.” He turned to give her a look filled with sensual promise. “I thought you should know,” he said softly, curious now to see her response.

She blinked rapidly, her expression dumbfounded. “You mean…as a spy-catcher?”

Did she possess no confidence in her sensual appeal? He frowned. “I take you seriously—as a woman I intend to fuck.”

Her jaw dropped open.

He fought the urge to smile, not wanting her to think he was only teasing her to amuse himself. “Why do you think I brought you and not one of the soldiers back there?”

“Because I was the only woman and you could more easily subdue me?”

“You weren’t the only woman there. But you were the only one who smelled aroused.”

“What?”

“Before the attack, the scent was fading, but I caught it still. I was drawn by it. Were you flirting with the soldier who shoved you out of the helicopter?”

“I certainly wasn’t flirting. And I certainly wasn’t aroused!”

He liked her embarrassed outrage and it amused him how easily she could be riled. “You’re aroused now.” He dragged a deep breath into his nostrils. “You can’t lie to me about that. One good thing about the changes in my body. I have an excellent sense of smell. I can smell arousal and fear. I was curious at first about your absence of fear. Now, I realize it’s because you haven’t any better sense.”

“That’s…that’s insulting!” she sputtered. “I have plenty of common sense. I’m not really afraid because these things are all new to me. I’m still…processing.”

“You sound like a computer.”

“I work closely with one.”

“You make it sound like a friend.”

“It’s an AI—we have the most fascinating conversations.”

“I bet you do.”

A long pause stretched between them, then…

“Besides, we don’t have time to fuck.”

A smile stretched his mouth. She was thinking about lying with him. “Sure we do. We have to find a place to hide before daylight rises and wait until the stores open. I might get arrested in this condition.”

Her gaze dipped to his cock and her cheeks flamed. “Right. An arrest for indecent exposure would cap a really hellish night.”

He rolled down his window, letting the cool night air fill the cab, enjoying the brush of it over his skin. But it did nothing to cool his ardor.

Then he saw the gravel track to the right that led to a copse of trees in the distance. He followed the rutted road away from the highway, far from any sign of human habitation, and parked the truck. Determined now, he let himself out of the cab. He smelled water nearby and followed his nose.

A door slammed behind him and Casey followed more slowly into the shadows cast by moonlight filtering through leaves. “Do you need to visit the bushes for some privacy?”

“No. But we’ll stay here until the stores open in the next town.” He pushed back more branches, forging a trail.

“So, tell me,” she said, trailing behind him and sounding a little breathless. “Just how do you think you’re going to go into town naked and buy clothes?”

“I’ll stay here. You’ll go.”

Her footsteps ground to a halt. “Why would you trust me not to call the agency?”

Khalid’s gaze captured hers. “By the time you leave for the store, you’ll do anything I ask.”

She gave a short gust of laughter. “And you’re going to persuade me how?”

“I’m going to show you what kind of man I really am—you will believe in me.” He continued toward the sound of running water.

“I’m not some Pollyanna,” she said, stomping in dried leaves. “I don’t believe the world’s a happy place, and I know what kinds of atrocities ‘good’ men can commit against each other. Why do you think I’ll believe you—and help you, for God’s sake?”

He halted again and turned back to face her. “Because you already believe in me—and you’re dying to know what happens next. Take off your clothes.”

Her eyes widened like saucers in the moonlight. “I will not!”

“Suit yourself.” He turned and parted the brush, slipping through it and into a clearing at the edge of a narrow stream.

He wasn’t disappointed long. Casey crashed through the vines and branches behind him, emerging with her hair straggling around her shoulders.

Not waiting for her reaction, he set his weapon against a tree and stepped into the stream, wading toward the center. The water came to only mid-thigh, so he knelt and let the fresh coolness sweep between his thighs and around his raging cock.

“You could have mentioned the creek,” she grumbled.

“I did not wish to agitate you further. I prefer to begin sex with a clean body.”

“I wish you’d stop saying that. You’re just doing that to discomfit me.”

Khalid couldn’t help the grin stretching his lips. “You think I’m wearing this erection because I want to annoy you?”

“It doesn’t take much to get a guy going.” Under her breath, she added, “I know that much.”

“You think I get this way around any woman?”

“Any woman who smells of arousal apparently—or so you said.” She sounded grumpy, edgy. She smelled deliciously horny.

“Casey McTaggert, take off your clothes and join with me.”

Her hands fisted at her sides. “This is ridiculous. I’m on a mission. I can’t compromise myself.”

“We are on the same side,” he said softly.

“Are we?” she asked, her bottom lip quivering. “I’m not so sure any more.”

“You like being right,” he said, softly, seductively. “Why do you doubt yourself now?”

“Because…” Her eyes glittered in the darkness. “I’m not used to wanting anything this much.”

“Ahhh…” He nodded. “You are missing holes—huge caverns—in your notes. Will you not fill them? Won’t you let me…fill them?”

“I don’t like being a source of amusement,” she said, her voice tight now.

“You think I ridicule you?”

“Look at me,” she said, spreading wide her arms. “I’m not exactly…fuckworthy.”

She believed it—he could see it in her pink cheeks. “Why not let me be the judge?”

She drew a ragged breath and stepped closer to the edge of the creek. “This is like recreational sex, right? Just to get the tension out?”

“Are you very tense?”

Her quick nod was terse.

“Then, yes. We will have recreational sex. But you still have to remove your clothes.”

She swallowed and cast a wild glance around them. “Is the water clean? Cows aren’t peeing in it upstream?”

“Where is your optimism? Of course it’s clean. I smelled it, too.”

“You don’t know how unsexy that nose of yours is becoming.”

“But you will take off your clothes?”

Her eyes closed momentarily. “You do know I’ll have to report everything we do? Even this, however embarrassing.”

“By the time you do, this will all be over. Your mission at an end. Your subject completely revealed.”

She sighed as though this was a great effort. “How about turning around until I’m in the water.”

“It’s dark here.”

“Along with that awesome hooked nose of yours, I know you also have enhanced night vision.”

“I’m going to taste every inch of you, Casey. Do you think I’ll keep my eyes closed the entire time?”

She sucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Guess not.”

His heart pounded faster when she shrugged off the jacket and turned to hang it on a branch.

“I feel like there ought to be some cheesy music playing.”

“I prefer the sound of the water. It’s soothing.”

“If you say so.” She ducked her head and unbuttoned the row of tiny buttons down the front of her blouse, then gave him a quick, nervous glance before opening it and letting it too slip from her shoulders. The pale cups of her bra glowed in the moonlight.

Khalid’s balls tightened, drawing closer to his groin. He dropped his hand below the surface of the water and caressed his cock, warming it with his hand.

The skirt quickly followed as did the frayed hose and her plain pumps. When she stood, looking awkward in just her underwear, he turned his back.

The sound of silky garments sliding over smooth skin sent shivers down his neck. His skin prickled with awareness.

The first sloshing sounds had his back stiffening, fighting the urge to turn toward her and gather her close. He needed so badly to sink inside her body—find ease for the ache in his groin, growing more painful by the moment.

But he let her make her own way toward him, timidly, hesitantly.

What he didn’t expect was that she would circle him to stand in front of him as he knelt.

Her hands settled on his shoulders. “I’m not sure what happens next…what you want.”

His gaze roamed her small, round breasts and the narrow curve of her waist. Afraid to touch her, he gripped his thighs under the water and leaned forward to take her nipple between his teeth.

Her nails bit into his shoulders as his teeth nipped the hardening bud.

“Aw, God,” she moaned and leaned closer, pressing her breast deeper into his mouth.

He opened wide, sucking her breast into his mouth, working the nipple with the flat of his tongue. The velvet softness of her areola invited the stroke of his tongue, so he circled it, pausing to gently chew her hardened nipple.

Still, he didn’t reach out to hold her. He feared he’d leave bruises if he did now.

“Khalid, please, please,” she moaned. She widened her legs and her rich, ripe scent filled his nostrils.

He let go of her breast and moved across to the other, nudging it with his nose while he breathed in her delicate scent. When his teeth closed around this nipple, she shivered and her hands clasped the back of his head.

Khalid liked the way her fingers sank into his hair to curve around his scalp. She combed through his hair, dragging hard when he suckled deeply. He released her breast but continued to lap her skin with his tongue, laving the soft underside of her breasts, then working his way down her quivering belly. Groaning, he traced the contour of her belly button, pressing his tongue hard against the soft button and enjoying the throaty moan it produced.

Then he leaned down to lick his way toward her sex. Crisp, clean hair—curling, but soft—tickled his nose and her legs widened again, inviting him lower still. When he tongued her cream-coated folds, his sex jerked between his legs.

“Oh God,” she groaned, her fingers tightening around his head.

Khalid sucked on her outer lips, savoring her salty-musk flavor. His whole body tightened against the overpowering need to plunge inside her…fuck deep into her moist, hot core.

“Inside me,” she whispered. She pulsed her hips, her movements a little jerky. “Lick inside me, please, Khalid.”

With his own body shivering now with restrained lust, he let go of her thighs and lifted his hands to carefully part her folds. His thumbs opened her like the petals of a fragrant rose. He slipped his tongue between the petals and he hardened the tip to spear inside her.

A deep shudder racked her slender frame and she cried out, her whole body growing rigid as she strained against him. “Please, please…more.”

Allah! He’d not known a woman’s softness or her many flavors in so long. He’d withheld himself, kept true to his faith. But his hunger, his beast’s hunger, overrode his strict personal code to do no harm.

He meant to devour her.