by Lea Jade
“I’ve wanted you for a long time,” I admit, trembling before him. He all but towers over me making me feel small, and my wolf… well she likes it. Likes it a lot.
“All I know,” he says, so softly that it makes my insides knot, “is that I've wanted you for the longest time, ever since I first laid eyes on you.”
I bet I’ve wanted you longer.
“Then come and get me.” I challenge him.
He shakes his head but offers me a sly smile as he does. “You first.”
So, I reach for him, pulling off his towel at last. I’m not disappointed to see he’s huge and already rock hard. He tugs at the waistband of my sweats.
“Get on the bed.”
The omega in me obeys, crawling on to it, enjoying the feel of the cotton sheets on my bare skin. He climbs on after me and flips me over. I groan as he tugs off my sweats, leaving me completely naked for him. Then he lowers his warm, partially wet, body over me so I can feel the hard length of him pressing against me. Just like I imagined, but better.
His hot breath mingles with mine as he leans in and kisses me soft and hard, then deep, running his hands through my hair. His tongue slips inside my mouth, teasing my own, driving my wolf wild as his lips flutter over my throat, teasing kisses slowly all the way down my neck.
This is what I’ve been craving my whole life.
“I want you,” I say, breaking the spell to look down into his eyes.
He looks up at me, eyes fierce with a need matching my own. “You have me.”
Then, as if in a dream, his sweet mouth finds my breasts. He takes one of my nipples in his mouth and rolls his tongue sensually over the bud, gently biting, pulling, and sucking until pleasure meets pain. All the while, his hands explore my shaking body, stroking lower and lower as my own fingers dig into his damp skin.
I close my eyes, letting everything dissolve away but him.
“Jess, you’re beautiful. I want to taste every inch of you. Can I?”
“You’re asking me now?” I say, opening my eyes, panting.
He smiles. “Just checking. You can tell me to stop at any moment.”
I shake my head. “Don’t stop…”
Jake grins and shifts on top of me, slowly working his way down my body again, trailing hot kisses as he goes. This time I watch him as he devours me, the heat of his breath burning me up inside. Naturally, my legs part for him. As his fingers slide into the slick wetness hidden between my thighs, I can’t help but let out a moan.
“Fates, you’re tight. Open for me, baby,” I hear him growl.
Obeying, I spread my legs and feel his fingers stretch and dip into me, deeper. The heat and sensation of him where my mind had him only moments ago, has me gasping for air, causing my entire body to tremble.
This man will be the death of me.
I’m not ready for his warm, wet tongue slipping inside me, stroking me like a wave, pulling me beneath the surface. He teases me hard and all I know is the feel of Jake licking me out, tasting every inch of me. His touch ignites my soul, driving me to the edge of reason as the pleasure builds.
“I’m going to come,” I say, with my hands twisting in his hair.
And then it comes, a monsoon of pleasure rushing from the tips of my fingers to my toes. I feel the air leave my lungs as I cry out and goosebumps prickle across my skin. My body has become so light and so free.
Then his lips are on mine. I can’t help but give another soft moan as I taste myself on him—it makes me want him even more desperately than I already do. One orgasm is not enough. My wolf rumbles as he rubs his body over mine, crushing me with his weight as we kiss.
Fates, I’m aching for him.
But instead of taking me like he promised, he lies down next to me pulls me back into his embrace nuzzling my neck, so that he’s spooning me from behind. “Let’s leave it there for tonight. Our wolves are making this attraction to each other extra hard to resist, but I want to take things slow with you. You might change your mind in the morning.”
He doesn’t know me at all.
“No. I’ll just want you even more in the morning.”
He’s right though, my wolf is releasing all kinds of hormones into my system right now. The energy and connection between us is undeniable, but that might just be the raw need of two beasts in heat. Both of us are probably pretty high on adrenaline right now after whay happened in the alleyway.
I wriggle back into him so we’re as close as we can be. The way we’re molded together, I can feel his erection brushing up against me, intensifying the need for him. At least I know he still wants me.
“Where in heaven did you come from?” he whispers into my skin, nipping me on the shoulder gently.
As sleep lulls me from all sides, I turn back to kiss him instead of answering, the words I want to say resounding loudly in my head.
If only you remembered, Jake.
Chapter 5
Jake
Light streams through the window, letting me know it’s morning.
As Jess lies there beside me, her billows of raven hair spilling across the pillow like some magnificent crown, I fight the urge to kiss her. But I don’t, since I don’t want to wake her. Instead, I watch her sleep and dream. She snores a little, making me smile to myself.
She didn’t answer me last night, but I know I know her from somewhere.
After a few more minutes, I breathe deeply, stretching and then sit up, running my fingers through my hair. I have the urge to piss, so I get up and go to the bathroom. When I come back into the main room, she’s still fast asleep in dreamland.
I glance at the clock. It’s getting late.
The twins will be arriving soon, and Jess should not be in my apartment when they get here. If I am falling for her, entirely too fast and entirely too hard, it’s better if they have no idea just how much. I grab my shorts off the chair and as I do her purse falls to the floor, its contents scattering everywhere. I bend to clean up, putting everything back in when I come across her ID. The picture of her on it is super cute, but that’s not what stops me. It’s a medical student ID, for this semester. Sighing, I put it back in her bag and then sit back down on the bed, reaching out to place a hand upon her shoulder.
As I shake her awake, her eyes spring open and she smiles when she sees me, staring up at me with those astonishing blue-grey eyes. I so badly want to tunnel down beneath the sheets, spread her legs, and make her scream again. I feel myself getting hard just thinking about it.
First things first.
I lean in and kiss those soft lips, breathing in the scent of her; essence of jasmine and peppermint. As the kiss deepens, I draw my fingers up through her hair and I cradle her head. She sighs as though content.
“You're not one of us, are you?” I say, after we break the kiss.
She gives me an amused look and settles back, propping her head up by her elbow.
“What makes you say that?”
“You didn't even try to defend yourself when you were being attacked by that bear, back there in the alley...”
She frowns. “You think I’m not a shifter?”
I shake my head. “I know you’re a shifter. I mean, you’re not who you say you are. This life, hanging around the twins. This isn’t you. Why are you here?”
“You know…” she starts then huffs, drawing her long black strands out of her eyes and letting them cascade down against the side of her angelic face. “You don’t own me. I can be here if I want to be.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, almost busting out with laughter. “Is that right? So, if you get attacked again, you’re just going to lie down and take it.”
“You didn’t seem to be complaining last night.”
“I’m not talking about me. That date you went on… he could have…” I’m not explaining it the best way, so I just come out and say it. “You should be part of a pack.”
Like a storm cloud rising, her eyes darken. I can almost taste her fury. “Not you too,�
�� she tuts.
“So, you have a pack?” I venture, wanting to kiss the anger out of her but stopping myself in time.
She signs and nods. “I do, but I’m taking time out.” She stares me in the eyes. “It’s complicated. What about you?”
“Me?”
“Do you have a pack?”
I shake my head. “Never have, never will.”
It’s her turn to smile and I’m rewarded with a zing in my heart at the sight of it.
“Is that right?”
This is what it must feel like to be in the eye of the storm. “In my world, it’s not so strange. A lot of us who fight are lone wolves.”
“Sounds lonely,’ she says, looking down.
“Right now, it’s not,” I say, and my hand shifts under the sheet to grab hers. I’ve no idea why I’m acting all maiden-soft. Hell, this isn’t me at all, but I can’t help it. I want to please; my wolf demands it. On one hand, my concern is that she’ll leave me one day to go back to her pack, on the other my worry is she’ll stay.
She can’t stay. This world will break her. I can’t let that happen.
At last she lets out a defeated sigh, looking up at me again, and I can see in her eyes, her guard slightly lower. She considers me for a long, long moment.
“You're right,” she says finally. “I'm not one of you. Not really. But my brother is, or was. My brother is why I'm here...”
“Your brother?” I ask, intrigued.
“Dylan Hunter, a pit fighter like you. He was selected from our pack to fight in one of the fight club eastern arenas, but he never came home. He disappeared without any explanation. I knew he lost that night; I just don’t know if he survived.”
And it all starts to make sense; her questions, her innocence.
“You came here to find him.”
She nods, and then lifts her eyes to mine. “Don’t say anything, to Eric or Xavier. They have no idea.”
“What does your pack think about this?”
“Screw my pack, it’s their fault he was picked.”
I rack my brains to think of a fighter called Hunter but all I see in mind’s eye are dead bodies. I could’ve been the one to slaughter her brother.
“Fates, Jess. How was it that you managed to sneak into the fight club in the first place?” The twins wouldn’t take lightly to a pack member joining the crew, since it more often than not caused dissension in the ranks. To the Dragons, pack members are fodder for the club, nothing more.
“I guess I got lucky,” she says with a shrug. “I’ve worked as an EMT in the human world, so I already have all the knowhow. I'm really good at what I do, if I do say so myself. So, once I managed to make contact with someone from the shifter underground to fabricate a fake ID, I got into the job pretty easily.”
I’m pretty sure that short skirt helped too, but I don’t say that.
I pause before speaking. I need to her to tell me the truth about her age without telling her I saw her ID. “Hang on, you worked with EMTs? You have a fake ID? Does that mean you’re not a real doctor?” The words slip off my tongue like silk. I’m such a bastard.
“Shit. Did I say that?”
“Please, tell me you’re qualified.”
She closes and then opens her eyes. “Okay, don’t freak out. The short answer is not yet. I would have been in March, but I dropped out early to take this job.”
“Okay, Jess,” I say, admiring her audacity yet feeling exasperated at the same time. “We need to keep a tight lid on this. If anyone finds out…”
“Trust me, I know. That dickhead from last night…”
“You mean the grizzly?” I start, my thoughts leaping straight to the shifter who'd attacked her back in that alleyway.
Jess nods. “I’ve been asking around as discretely, you know, probing for information as to the whereabouts of my brother. I got a message from an ex-fighter; said he knew what I was looking for. When I got there, he straight up tried it on with me. When I screamed and kneed him in the balls he shifted and launched himself at me, the fucker. He could have killed me.”
I can’t help but shake my head. “Why didn’t you shift?”
“I can’t. Well, sometimes I can’t. My wolf gets scared.”
“Scared?” Then it dawns on me, her scent is always appealing to my wolf. “Your wolf is usually submissive around alphas, right?”
“Not submissive all the time. I’m an omega.” She says by way of explanation.
Omegas are the lowest in pack and usually they’re the most charming, but they’re also the ones who have trouble shifting which makes them vulnerable. They almost always stay within the safety of pack territory, and almost always are attracted to the strongest alpha. It’s probably why the bear was attracted to her and why he shifted at all. Some alphas just can’t control themselves.
I squeeze her hand and she gives me a soft smile. Whatever happens, I need to make sure she gets back to her pack. Her being here isn’t good for her or them. The twins will take this as defiance and punish them all, including Jess. I can’t let that happen.
“You need to go home.”
She shakes her head. “Not without my brother.”
I sigh, why did I think this was going to be easy. “If I help you find out what happened to your brother, will you let me take you home?”
She nods and relief washes over me.
“It’s not going to be straight forward,” I say. “A lot of people go missing in the Pit all the time.”
She sucks in a breath and looks at me like a wolf on the hunt of something she wants. “Including you?”
I frown but nod, she’s not wrong.
“Tell me,” she urges.
“What’s to tell?” I shrug.
“How did you go missing?”
I suck down some air and rub my face with my hands. Her words are like arrows, going straight for the kill. “I don't know... It was like I just woke up and this is all I've ever known. My memory only goes so far back. These past several years or so. Before that, it’s all a bit hazy…”
She stares at me with eyes like two bottomless pools; if I’m not careful I’ll fall so far and so deep into them and I won’t come out again. “You don’t remember who you were before, at all?”
“I know I was a fighter; I can’t deny my body knows how to move. And I have these scars…”
“Do you think it’s amnesia?” she asks, her brow furrowed, as she traces the faint lines over my chest with her hands. My wolf rumbles, enjoying the attention.
“Maybe. It’s possible,” I croak. Trying to ignore the feel of her and what it’s doing to my groin. Now is not the time, Jake. “Amnesia is the closest thing I can think to compare it to. Anyway, when I woke up at the clinic a few years back. Eric was there when I came round to tell me I’d had a huge knock to the head during training and had been unconscious for days. Apparently, they’d been worried sick.”
“And you didn’t think to check out this for a fact?” Jess exclaims.
“Why would I?” I say, feeling absurd for saying it. She has a fucking point. The twins do not worry about anyone but themselves.
“Fates, so you really don't have no clue who you are?”
I smile wryly. “It doesn’t matter, I’ve given up on my old life anyway, whatever it was. It’s enough that I know what I enjoy and don’t enjoy. I’m still Jake however you look at it.”
Jess continues to glare for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, and then sits up in the bed.
“We need to go down to the clinic,” she says.
“What, now?”
“I want to check something in the club medical database.”
“Such a thing exists?” I ask, honestly surprised.
She nods as she slides off the bed. I watch her traipse naked across the room, temporarily forgetting about any of our problems as her glorious, perfectly pert butt cheeks dance for me with every step. Next minute, I’m hard again as she bends to retrieve her clothes from the floor. She looks
at me as she starts to get dressed, eyes shining.
“I want to get some spare clothes. I can’t turn up for work like this.” She gestures to her half naked body. “And I want to try and look you up and see if your record history has the blow to the head Eric said you had. If it’s there, then…”
“The twins might be telling the truth?” I say, brow raised.
“Exactly!” It dawns on me then, just how much of genius she is.
First thing I notice as we get down to sub level one, is that the door to the clinic is already open.
“Did you lock up last night?” I say, slowing down my pace.
“Yes, why?” She looks over and falters. Before she can rush toward the door, I make a motion for her to stop and be quiet. It’s still early, too early for the twins to have arrived or any of the night staff.
I step cautiously until I’m level with the frosted glass, and peer around the door. The whole place is trashed. As I move inside, all I see are box files upturned, papers littering the floor, and broken glass almost everywhere—someone was looking for something.
“Shit! What the hell?” Jess appears in the doorway, eyes wide and horrified.
“Don’t come in just yet,” I say to her as I pick my way across the debris. I check the back room and bathroom to make sure the place is completely empty before coming back to the main examination room.
“Whoever it was is long gone. Looks like they were looking for something. Is anything missing, do you know?”
Jess shakes her head. “I don’t know, maybe. Shit! How did they get in?”
“All the windows and doors are still intact. It looks like they had a key.”
Jess frowns and then rummages around in her bag. “My keys, they’re gone.” She sighs and rubs her hand over face. “Oh fates, that freaking bear… he must have swiped them. Shall we call Eric and Xavier?”
I think about it for a moment, then shake my head. “No, let’s keep this to ourselves for now. Let’s just clean up, see if anything is missing.”
“Okay. Shit… If I see that bear again, I’m going to murder him.”
It doesn’t take long to straighten everything out and right the room. Nothing seems to be missing, strangely. Jess gets changed and then sits at her desk, turning on to her computer.
