Free NocC 023 - The Ancients 05 - Bonnie Vanak - Incubus Wolf - Harlequin 2012-09 by Nocturne

looked as if the pain were fresh and new and searing—as if it
happened all over again.
    Fury spiraled inside him, warring with the grief he felt. Alex
refused to meet his gaze as he cupped her tattooed chin.
    “You’re not a whore. You’re a beautiful woman, Alexandra. I
knew it from the moment I first saw you.”
    “Beautiful because you saw me as that golden-haired imbecile
who believed men could be good.” Alex gave a bitter laugh. Now she did look at
him and the cold emptiness in her gaze chilled him to the bone.
    “It was you, Dominic. You were my first lover. Only you didn’t
remember because I was beautiful. I’m not anymore. I’m…” She spread out her
hands and jerked away. “This. And now you see me as I am.”
    “I already did see,” he told her quietly. “From the first
moment you stepped into the bar. I knew who you were, Alexandra.”
    But she seemed too caught in her own pain to listen.
    “I can be beautiful again.” She stared into the mirrored
hallway. “The wizard promised more of the beauty potion if I brought you to him.
I can be myself again, the way I was, long ago.”
    Now he understood her desperation. Belaramos had convinced her
beauty could be restored. But wizards lied and deceived with false promises.
    “It’s an illusion, sweetheart. The bastard lied to you.”
    Two single tears tracked down her tattooed cheeks as she
violently shook her head. “No, it wasn’t. I was beautiful. But I can’t bring you
to Belaramos. You did something to me inside, Dominic. Cast a spell of your own,
maybe. I won’t betray you.”
    Hope flared inside him, fierce and bright. He reached out for
her, but she sidestepped.
    “I’m going home,” she told him dully. “I’ll tell the Society I
failed to find you. Serve them another ten years. It will be harder to disguise
myself with this face, but…”
    She refused to meet his gaze. Ashamed. He’d seen it so many
times in his pack members when they first arrived, before they regained their
confidence and realized their self-worth.
    Anguish twisted his heart. He could not bear to see her like
this, broken and shattered. The woman burning with purpose, whose passion
equaled his own, was gone. Empty and dead.
    It hurt beyond words. Dominic rubbed at the tightness in his
chest as she closed the door behind her. He knew what he must do.
    Even if it meant sacrificing himself. At least she would live
again. He could not bear the deadness in her lovely green eyes.
    Never could he erase the mistake he’d made the first time when
he’d left her. But he could make up for that failure by fulfilling her secret
wish.
    Dominic’s shoulders tensed. Belaramos would not be merciful.
But if it meant freeing Alexandra from the curse, so be it.
    Halfway down the stairs, he saw Carla and issued an order. As
she wept, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her forehead.
    “Be kind to Michael,” he told her, his chest tight. “He will
need you.”
    As he headed for the front door, he saw Michael. “Stay here.
That’s an order. You’re in charge for as long as I’m gone.”
    But I will not be back . In his
heart, he knew it.
    “Where are you going?” his second demanded.
    “Going to get a potion. I’m off to see the wizard, the
wonderful wizard of Odd,” Dominic murmured as he opened the door to the cold,
dark night.
     

Chapter 9
    The wizard stared, dumbstruck, at the incubus wolf
who’d walked into his living room. And why not? Dominic thought cynically. After
all these months of playing games, he’d just walked into his lair like a deer
into a wolf’s den. He’d avoided the cabin so many times before in his midnight
raids to free the captured wolves, hell, he could find it with his eyes
closed.
    “Farrell.” Belaramos flung his hands back as if to send an
energy bolt.
    “Do it and you’ll damage the goods.” Dominic tapped his chest.
“Me.”
    The wizard lowered his hands. “Why are you here?”
    “To surrender. You can have me. Just