I was happy as fuck to know there hadn’t been any men in her life before me, but I hated seeing the faint sheen of tears in her eyes. Knowing the woman who’d given birth to her—I refused to call her Larissa’s mom because she sure as hell hadn’t earned the privilege—had hurt her so badly had my wolf ready to hunt her down. “I’m sorry you went through all that.”
“It’s okay.” She shrugged and sniffled. “My dad is beyond awesome, so I didn’t really feel like I was missing out on anything while growing up. And Hannah, Allegra’s mom, was always there if I had questions about girl stuff.”
“My mom will be happy as fuck to help you with women shit.” I had no doubt she was going to be on my dad’s ass to come back earlier than planned. “She and my dad left for a two-month long road trip a few weeks ago, but it was mostly an excuse to visit my brother at college. My dad is going to razz her so hard for not being here when I met you. She’s been dying for one of us to finally find our mates and give her grandbabies.”
“Grandbabies?” she echoed, eyes going wide. “I feel like I should remind you—again—that we met maybe an hour ago.”
“I know down to the minute when I first laid eyes on you, baby.” I grinned at the dreamy sigh that nickname puffed from her lips. “I wish like fuck that there were a lot more of them, but I can’t change that. All I can do is make the most of the time we have now, while keeping in mind that this is all new to you. We’ll move at whatever pace works for you”—even if it fucking killed me—“and I’ll warn my mom to lay off on talking about babies until you’re ready for it.”
“I—What—Ugh!” She let out a growl that was worthy of any she-wolf and whirled away from me. “Are matings always like this?”
I wasn’t sure what about my promise had set her off when I’d thought it was going to help. “Like what?”
She threw her hands up in the air. “I was freaking out about you mentioning babies so soon. Then you offered to let our relationship go at my speed and have your mom back off, and I felt the strangest sense of disappointment. As though going slow was somehow...wrong.”
I prowled over to her and slid a palm down her back, pressing her chest against mine. “What you’re feeling is the power of fated mates. There’s bound to be some inner conflict when your soul knows you were born to be mine, and your mind is trying to catch up because it's outside your realm of experience.”
“I guess that makes sense.” She wrapped her arms around my body and dropped her head against my chest. “Maybe it’ll help if I knew more about what usually happens with fated mates.”
“Sure, baby. Whatever you need.” I led her back over to the couch and got us comfortable again with her on my lap. “Shifters can recognize their mate at first sight or smell.”
She turned her head to sniff her shoulder. “Is that your subtle way of trying to tell me I smell?”
“Only like the best thing I’ve ever smelled.” I buried my nose in her neck and inhaled deeply, her delicious scent filling my lungs and giving my wolf the first sense of peace he’d had since she talked about going back to her campus. “It’s the biggest fucking turn-on for me.”
Larissa wiggled on my lap, gasping when my cock pressed against her ass. A pretty pink blush filled her cheeks. “Yeah, I kind of noticed.”
“Only kind of?” I growled, shifting my hips up.
“Definitely more than kind of,” she confirmed with a giggle. “Since that would be difficult to miss.”
I maneuvered her to the left when she started to wiggle again. When my cock nestled between her thighs, she went still, and her scent deepened and turned sweeter. “Fated mates feel a fierce desire for each other. The need is more intense when they first meet, but it never wavers over the years. I’ll always want you. That will never change.”
She tilted her head to the side and smiled shyly at me. “I like the sound of that.”
“I’m glad, baby.” I brushed my lips across her cheek. “Because there are other aspects of mating that are probably going to be more difficult for you to accept.”
Her eyes went wide again. “Like what?”
“A part of the process involves me marking you.” I brushed my fingers down her neck to her shoulder. “While we’re still connected after sex, I’ll bite you here, and it will solidify our connection, making you mine forever.”
“It won’t turn me into a shifter, right?” she asked.
“No, you’ll still be human,” I assured her, “but you’ll age slower and heal faster.”
Her eyes narrowed, but they gleamed with humor. “No super strength, huh?”
“Nope.” I grinned. “But you’ll have me around to kick ass if you ever need it.”
“That works for me.” She winked, and she was so fucking adorable, I almost spread her out on the couch so I could taste every inch of her body. But then she turned serious again. “Will it hurt?”
I shook my head. “I’ve been told it enhances the sexual experience, taking our pleasure to another level.”
“Wow,” she breathed, the scent of her desire filling the room again.
I lowered my head, intending to claim her sweet lips in our first kiss, and wanted to howl in frustration when there was a knock on my door. I wanted nothing more than to ignore the world outside of this room, but my responsibilities as alpha made that impossible. “Sorry, baby,” I whispered before stalking over to the door to flip the lock. I waited until I returned to Larissa before I called out, “Come in!”
The door opened, and two members of my pack walked in. Luke had been working his way up the ranks of the pack ever since he turned eighteen, but his sister was a different story. Her parents had given her pretty much anything she wanted, and she’d grown to expect everyone else to treat her the same. Neither my wolf nor I respected her much, but it wasn’t her presence that bothered me at the moment.
It was a damn good thing my wolf had rubbed up against Larissa and I’d held her on my lap while we talked. Having my scent all over my mate was the only thing stopping me from attacking the unattached male who was too damn close to her even though he’d quickly taken in the situation and remained by the door.
6
Larissa
Twisting on Kace’s lap, I glared at the two people who had interrupted what I had no doubt would’ve been my first kiss if they hadn’t knocked on the darn door. The guy flashed me a welcoming grin, but the girl returned my dirty look with a scowl of her own. A deep growl rumbled up Kace’s chest, and her gaze softened when she focused her attention on him. He stood, taking me with him and setting me on my feet. The quick change in position left me unsteady, and I gripped his arm to regain my balance. When my hand grazed his chest along the way, I realized he was still shirtless, and the girl’s reaction to him took on a whole new meaning. One that had an unexpected surge of jealousy racing through my system.
“Put your shirt on,” I muttered, earning me a chuckle from the guy and another glare from the girl.
Her gaze stayed on Kace as he bent over to grab his shirt off the floor. I stepped in front of him and earned myself another dirty look from her.
“Cut it out,” the guy grunted, elbowing her in the side.
“Shut up, Luke.” She widened her eyes, and she pasted an innocent expression on her face that I didn’t buy. Not even a little bit. “As usual, you don’t know what you’re talking about because I wasn’t doing anything.”
Kace moved to my side after tugging his shirt in place, his arm going around my back. “Don’t try to pull any shit, Heather. I didn’t put up with it before, and I’m not going to start now.”
“And he sure as fuck isn’t going to let you do anything to upset his mate,” Luke added.
“Mate!” Heather shrieked, her gaze raking me up and down before her lips curled up in a snarl. “Wow, the strongest alpha in the region ended up with a human. Fate really fucked you over.”
Kace was across the room with his hand around her neck before I could blink. “I get that you�
��re still young and trying to figure out your place in my pack, but don’t think for even a second that I’ll hesitate to punish you for the slightest infraction against my mate.”
“I apologize for my sister’s offense.” Luke lowered his chin to his left shoulder, baring his neck to Kace as he stared at the floor. “Too often, Heather speaks before she thinks.”
“It’s a habit she needs to break before it gets her into the kind of trouble she can’t handle,” Kace warned as he released her.
Heather’s hands went to her throat, and she mumbled, “Sorry.”
Kace prowled across the room and wrapped his arm around me again. “Get out of my sight and don’t return to my home until I’ve given you permission.”
Luke yanked on Heather’s arm and pulled open the door to shove her outside. After he slammed it shut, he turned to face us again. “I’m sorry as well, Alpha. I should’ve known better than to bring her with me when I needed to speak with you about pack business.”
Kace nodded to acknowledge the apology. “What did you need?”
“Tane got a call from his mom. There was a family emergency, and he had to head to New York,” Luke explained. “Before he left, he asked me to complete a task you assigned to him.”
I felt some of the tension leave Kace’s body, and his hold on me eased a little. “He sent you to Stewart?”
“Stewart?” I tilted my head back to look up at Kace’s face.
“Yeah, we’re having some issues with the liquor distributor there. I was pissed as hell at how badly they fucked up our last order, so I sent Zeke over to fix it last night.” He grinned and winked at me. “If it didn’t set the wrong precedent, I’d let them get away with it since the whole mess ended up with Zeke and I finding our mates.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Damn, it’s too bad your good luck didn’t rub off on me. My trip to Stewart this afternoon was a pain in the ass because Heather wanted to come with me. Finding my mate would’ve made it worth all the trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” Kace asked.
“The guy at the liquor place wanted to stare at her tits instead of listening to what I had to say, and I couldn’t let him insult my sister like that. So I had to get a little physical with him.”
Kace barely reacted to Luke’s announcement. He just asked, “Will Zeke need to intercede with the Stewart PD on your behalf?”
“Nope, it didn’t go that far,” Luke assured with a shake of his head. “The guy backed down the second I yanked on the collar of his shirt. He sputtered an apology and promised to fix things for the bar.”
Kace chuckled. “You didn’t let him off that easily though, right?”
“Hell no!” Luke pulled a sheet of paper out of his back pocket and held it out with an outstretched arm. Kace moved forward to grab it and quickly returned to my side. “He’s knocking ten percent off cost for all our deliveries over the next year, and he replaced the missing bottles at no charge. I took them over to the bar already.”
Kace glanced down at the paper and grinned after skimming the details printed on it. “You did good, kid.”
“Thanks.” Luke grinned and jerked his chin in my direction. “You did even better.”
“Don’t look at her,” Kace growled, tugging me behind his back.
“Sorry, Alpha. I know better.” Luke did that thing where he looked at the floor and bared his neck at Kace as he reached behind him for the doorknob. “I’ll be on my way. I’m sure you want some alone time with your mate.”
When the door shut behind him, Kace stalked over to flip the lock. “Luke will get the word out that we don’t want to be disturbed.”
One minute, Kace was talking about our babies, and the next, I was stuck dealing with crap from some other girl in his life. Then he had the gall to act jealous over a small compliment from a guy I’d never met before. I wasn’t sure what to think of it all, but everything that had happened in the past five minutes made me even more confused than I already had been.
“Was Heather an ex of yours?” I heaved a deep sigh, feeling as though I’d been put through a mental wringer. “You know what? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to run across the street and let Allegra know I’m heading back to the dorm.”
“What? No!” His head jerked back, and his brow wrinkled in confusion. “She’s not an ex, and anything you want to talk about absolutely does matter.”
“There’s no ‘of course’ about it.” I jerked my thumb toward the door. “That girl wants you. Badly.”
“She doesn’t want me,” he insisted with a shake of his head.
“You’re blind if you truly believe that,” I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “She eye-boffed you the entire time she was here.”
He tugged my arms down and hugged me close. “Shifters don’t feel physical desire for anyone other than their fated mate, and I’m not hers. The only thing that particular she-wolf likes about me is that I’m the alpha, and she’s all about getting whatever she wants. She’s jealous of your position within the pack as my mate. That’s it.”
“Whoa. Hold up.” I hadn’t thought he’d be able to surprise me any more than he had when he’d changed into a wolf, but if I was understanding him correctly, he’d just proved me wrong. “Are you trying to tell me that the perpetual hard on you’ve been sporting since you hauled me into your house is a new thing for you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you, baby.” He pressed his hard length against my belly. “This is all for you and only you.”
This hot man with the dominant personality was a virgin? He’d never look at another woman? “When you were explaining how mating worked, you probably should’ve led with that piece of information since it definitely goes in the plus column.”
His fingers dug into my hips. “Is it a big enough plus that you’d consider mating with me?”
I’d always known it would take a special man to capture my attention. Measuring up to my dad wasn’t an easy task since he was beyond awesome. But Kace seemed to be amazing in his own right...and not just because he could shift into a gorgeous wolf. He was sexy, bold, and confident. He was also the only man I’d ever felt an ounce of desire for—a fact I wasn’t willing to overlook. I’d always been someone who knew their own mind and was willing to take risks when I felt as though they were worth it. Throwing myself into a relationship with Kace—one he said would last forever—might be considered foolhardy by others, but it seemed like a no-brainer to me.
7
Kace
It felt as though the entire world hung in the balance while I waited for her answer. But the uncertainty—as unaccustomed as I was to the feeling—was more than worth it when she rose on her toes and tilted her face toward mine as she murmured, “Yes.”
Triumph and relief surged through my system. Cupping her face in my palms, I nipped at her bottom lip before claiming her mouth in a kiss. I groaned at her taste and deepened the kiss, needing more. One of my hands slid to the back of her head, tangling in her hair to hold her in place while I devoured her mouth. By the time I pulled away, we were both panting. “I’ll never give you reason to regret taking a chance on me, baby.”
“You better not, or else you’ll be the one regretting it,” she warned.
I loved how fierce she was. “It’s never gonna happen. Fate couldn’t possibly have found anyone more perfect for me than you. I’m not going to mess this up.”
“Good.” She jumped up and wrapped her legs around my waist. “Then take me to your bedroom and make this official. I’ve waited my whole life for this moment, and I don’t want to waste another second.”
“Neither do I.” I gripped her ass and carried her upstairs. After kicking my bedroom door open, I stalked over to the bed and dropped her on the mattress. I craved seeing her sprawled naked on my bed with her blond hair spread across my pillows and those pretty blue eyes hazy with desire, so I didn’t hesitate to get to work at removing her clothes as quickly as possible.
&nb
sp; First to go were her sneakers and socks. I wasn’t a guy with a foot fetish, but my cock screamed for relief at the sight of her bright pink painted toenails. Then I tugged her leggings—which had been driving me crazy because of how they showcased her fantastic ass—down and tossed them over my shoulder. The scent of her desire grew stronger, and I groaned when I saw the wet spot on the silky material covering her pussy. My wolf howled in my head, and my canines ached with the need to mark her as mine. I kicked my boots off and yanked my shirt over my head before pressing a knee to the bed. “Sit up, baby.”
Larissa’s hands went to the bottom of her shirt as she levered up, and I yanked it over her head. While I dropped it on the floor, she unclasped her bra and threw it to the side. Her tits sprung free, and I wanted to slide my cock between the creamy mounds before I came all over them. But that would have to wait until I’d come deep inside her pussy and claimed her neck with my mark. “There are so many things I want to do to you,” I rasped, my gaze sweeping down her body.
After sliding her panties down her long legs, I unsnapped my jeans and shoved them down to kick them off. Placing my hands on either side of her body, I hovered over her and dipped my head. I kissed my way down her neck, my lips curving up when she threw her head back against the pillows and whimpered. Her nails dug into my shoulders hard enough to leave a mark I’d be proud to wear.
My fingers trailed down past her collarbone until I was cupping her breast in my palm. My thumb stroked over her nipple, circling around the pebbled peak. “Fuck, you smell good. I want to taste every single inch of your skin, starting here and working my way down.”
“Yes, please,” she whimpered in agreement, and the scent of her desire strengthened.
Her Alpha Page 3
