by Alisa Woods
But it wasn’t to be. And the fallout had been bad for Mace’s ambitions in the pack. Yet tensions with the Sparks pack had faded in the months since the incident. She couldn’t see what was making Mace glower and worry.
“What do you think might mess it up?” she asked, tentatively.
“You.” His glower turned his dark eyes into glittering coal.
She swallowed. “I’ll do anything to help you make partner, Mace. Just tell me. I’ll do it.” And she meant every word of that.
He shook his head like he was disgusted. “Just give my father what he wants. If he wants you to have a degree and help in the business, then fine. I expect you to bust your ass and make that happen.”
She was nodding vigorously. “I can do it, Mace. I can.”
He grunted. “Good.” Then he rolled up from the bed and started pulling on the clothes that he’d hastily discarded once they’d reached the bedroom. “I’m going back to the office.” After slipping on his pants, he pointed a finger at her. “You’re not to leave the house. Just because you’re a student now, doesn’t mean you come and go whenever. I want you in class or studying here. And I want you done with studying by the time I get home. I may need some more stress relief after the board meeting this afternoon.”
“Of course.” She watched him slip on his tailored black silk shirt. “Maybe once I’ve taken some classes, I can help you with your work as well.”
He snorted a laugh and shook his head. He didn’t answer while he put on his socks and shoes. When he was done, he fixed her with a cold, dark stare. “That’s not the kind of service I want from you, Arianna.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
He sighed. “My father has some kind of plan for you, and whatever he wants, he’ll get. Personally, I think the old goat just wants to see your sweet ass sashaying around the office. But beyond that, don’t get any grand ideas. Eventually, the novelty of it will pass, and he’ll want grandpups. Hopefully not anytime soon. But keep that in mind.” He pointed his finger once more at her as he headed for the bedroom door. “No leaving the house.”
“I know.” She watched as he left, not moving until she heard the front door click shut.
As soon as he was gone, some of the fog in her mind lifted. She flopped back on the bed, still naked, and stared at the ceiling. But thoughts of Mace disappeared with his presence, and in their place rushed all kinds of grand plans for classes she could take, ways she could arrange the timing of them for maximum time spent on campus, and a fervent hope that tomorrow a certain dark-eyed, smiling shifter named Jak would be her bodyguard.
Chapter Three
The steady thrum of club music pulsed through Jak’s head.
It was only Thursday night, but the place was packed. Hipsters from the dot-com crowd in their black t-shirts and jeans as well as newly minted millionaires in their silk shirts and tailored pants. The groupies were plentiful, too, college girls looking to score a rich geek… or just a hot screw for the night. There was plenty of flesh being pressed in the darkened corners of the cavernous warehouse-turned-trendy-bar. The lighting was intentionally weak with blue neon snaking along the walls and glowing from under the stage.
Arianna would never fit in here, with her wide-eyed innocence and world-weary smiles.
Jak shook his head. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since he took her to school the day before. Today he hadn’t drawn guard duty, and he couldn’t help thinking it was because he had somehow disappointed her, right there at the end. He wasn’t sure how in spite of wracking his brain to figure it out. But something had been off, and he hadn’t opened his mouth to figure out what. Because he was an idiot.
He slammed back his second scotch and set it on the bar behind Gage.
His alpha noticed his empty drink and signaled the barkeep for another. “Make any progress on that Silver Quick analysis?” Gage asked.
His alpha had brought half his pack out for drinks and carousing, celebrating the closing of another deal, but it was just like Gage to already have his mind on the next project. “Still buried in sifting through their reports,” Jak said. “I’m not at all sure their data can be trusted. The test protocols are pretty sketchy, at least on paper. But I’ve made an appointment to visit their lab tomorrow at the University.” Jak’s thoughts drifted to Arianna, wondering if she would have classes tomorrow and if there was any possible way he could engineer to “accidentally” cross paths with her.
“Sounds like a solid plan.” Gage nursed his drink and scanned a pair of leggy blondes as they passed. He had two mates at home, but an alpha like Gage didn’t confine his sexual exploits to the Red pack estate. It was foreign to the way Jak was raised, but his family life as a kid was far from ideal, to say the least. He wasn’t one to judge. And besides… the Crittendens were powerful men who made their own rules.
“I like the tech, though,” Jak added. “If it’s half of what they promise, there’s real potential there.”
Gage nodded then threw him a smirk. “Sounds like you might be at the University tomorrow anyway.”
Jak frowned. “How’s that?”
“Didn’t you hear? Mace’s mate has been asking for you.”
Jak choked on his drink. “She’s been what?”
Gage was an inch or two taller than Jak, but his eyes were now boring into his, judging his response. “I guess Alric’s turn at guarding her today didn’t go so well. She’s expressed a preference for you.”
Jak’s stomach tightened. “Well of course she expressed a preference for me. Alric smells like shoe leather and has a face that looks like it’s been pounded together by a rock.”
Gage chuckled. “Look, I don’t want to turn you into a glorified babysitter. But I also wouldn’t mind having you keep tabs on what Mace is up to. After the Sparks incident… I just want a heads up if he’s going to drag us into another pack war. If his mate’s asking for you, spend a little time with her. See what she knows.”
Jak’s pounding heart slowed a little. “Sure. I can do that. Like you said, I’ve got to be at the University tomorrow anyway.”
Gage dipped his head. “Good. Shouldn’t take too much of your time.” He smirked. “And she’s not exactly hard on the eyes.”
Jak shrugged one shoulder, eyes on the crowd of writhing bodies moving with the low-thudding music. “Yeah, I guess. Not really my type.” He steeled himself against a spasm of internal wincing. What the hell was he doing, letting that out of his mouth?
Gage laughed outright then held up a hand to signal Mason, one of the omegas from his pack that was hanging out at the periphery of the dance floor. “I know exactly your type, Jak.” He lifted his chin. Mason was bringing over a doe-eyed brunette with a slim waist and ample chest.
“Yes, you do,” Jak said with real appreciation. His alpha knew him well, not least because he’d helped him screw his way through half the female human population of Seattle over the four years he’d been Gage’s beta.
“She’s a special I’ve ordered up, just for you.”
Jak lifted one eyebrow. “What’s the occasion?”
Gage clapped him on the shoulder and leaned over to whisper as Mason, and the girl approached. “Let’s just say I want to keep you happy while you spy on my brother’s mate.”
Jak knocked back the rest of his third drink and got rid of the glass before the girl sauntered up to them. The liquid sloshed in his stomach. He told himself that was the source of his queasiness.
“Hi,” she said, her deep brown eyes staring into Jak’s.
Gage grinned and threw an arm around Mason, guiding him away and leaving Jak alone with the scantily-dressed girl. On any other night, he would be salivating over—or more accurately on—her within minutes. Her eyes were big and brown, nothing like Arianna’s bright and lively blue ones. Her smile was sultry, not innocent. Hungry, not bursting with joy. She was everything Arianna was not… which was probably exactly what he needed tonight. Even if he had no stomach for it.<
br />
Besides, Gage would be watching him.
“You have a name?” he asked the girl.
She smirked. “Do I need one?”
“I’ll just call you Mystery Girl, then.”
She stepped closer, and her heavy vanilla perfume smothered his senses. His wolf whined, and Jak breathed through his mouth. Human girls always wore too much perfume. She probably had a perfectly lovely scent underneath the five different products she drenched her body and hair in to hide it.
“Your friend said you were feeling a little down.”
“Did he?” Whatever Mason or Gage said, it likely involved going down not feeling down.
She leaned in close to whisper-shout over the music. “Thought maybe I could help bring you back up.” Her breasts brushed his chest, and her hand grazed his stomach, hot even through the thin silk of his shirt. His wolf was holding back, still recoiling from her perfume, but his cock had no problem responding to the feel of her pressed against him. Her hand drifted down, and if he didn’t move this show out of the spotlight, she’d be stroking him right at the bar.
He ran a hand up to her face and held her an inch or two away. “I think I want you with a slightly different background.”
She grinned.
He took her hand and towed her away from the bar. Gage was a regular at this particular club, so Jak knew all the secluded spots, whether for just a quick make out or a full-blown sex-until-we-drop encounter. In fact, he knew the places better than he remembered the faces, and tonight he wanted a spot where he wouldn’t have to look doe-eyes in the face while he made her come.
The buzz from the scotch was warming his body, and an image of what Arianna’s face would look like in the throes of passion flashed across his mind. He shoved it away. He didn’t want her here, in the overwhelming stink of a seedy human bar… not even in his thoughts.
Jak brought Mystery Girl around the side of the stage and down a hall that led to the bathrooms. He’d used those on more than one occasion, but only when desperate. The stench was nearly unspeakable. But tonight he cut left into a short corridor that led backstage. There was a tiny closet that served as a changing room for the band. It smelled perpetually of pot, but at least that masked all the other odors. And the music was deafening, a low thudding pounding that eliminated the need for talking.
Inside the room, there was barely space for the two of them, so he propped Mystery up on the small makeup table in front of the mirror. Her short skirt hiked up, and he wasted no time slipping his hand between her legs.
“You seem to have forgotten your panties,” he whisper-shouted in her ear, but his words were lost in the music.
She didn’t bother answering, just gasped at his sudden touch at her core. She was already wet, so he slipped a finger inside while he worked her nub. Soon, she was clutching at his shoulders and squirming on the rickety table. He kept his gaze in the mirror, watching her legs wrap around his back. He could have her coming in no time. Maybe he could just leave it at that. His cock was aching and hard, but he’d rather get off with his own hand, back at home, with sweet visions of Arianna in his head.
And maybe then, he could sort out what he had done wrong yesterday. If he was going to see her tomorrow, he wanted to figure out how to make it right.
Mystery Girl was moaning—he could feel the vibrations through his grip on her, even if he couldn’t hear her over the music—but even as he slipped in a second finger and pumped harder to get her finished, she started to claw at his clothes. She palmed his cock through the thin fabric of his dress pants then gripped it hard. He couldn’t help groaning, and even his wolf was whining for release. Jak debated pulling her hands away and going down on her to finish the job, but less than a second later, in a series of expert moves that said she’d done this a million times before, she’d freed his cock from his clothes, and she was pumping it like a pro. She clearly expected him to do more with it than come in her hand, and he couldn’t afford a disappointed groupie to get back to Gage.
Using both hands, Jak shoved the girl’s short skirt up to her waist and plunged his cock into the slick wetness of her core. Her mouth fell open, and her head tipped back. Her lips moved—probably cursing or praying—but he couldn’t hear anything over the throbbing music. He pounded into her, his thrusts racing the tempo of the beat reverberating off the walls, and he could feel her tighten around him. The squeeze of her climax brought him to the edge, and he came over a series of thrusts designed to draw out the last of her orgasm.
He hadn’t used a condom, but it didn’t matter—wolves didn’t catch human diseases, even the sexual kind, something he knew from experience as well as pack lore. And she didn’t scent in her fertile phase, something every young wolf learned how to detect early on in his exploits. She was probably on birth control if she was hooking up with random guys in bars anyway.
He tried not to pull out too quickly. Rushing the ending was worse than rushing the rest, but he itched to be gone, home, showering off the stink of the girl and the bar.
He leaned back and held the girl’s cheeks for a moment, in what he hoped she would take as a tender touch. “You good?” he mouthed, peering into her eyes. They were half-lidded with the orgasm she was still coming down from.
She gave him a lazy smile.
He zipped his pants while she straightened her clothes. As long as she left with a smile on her face, he’d be free to go. Maybe he could offer to walk her to her car. That would give him a fine excuse to skip out of the club early. Gage would be more than willing to let him go if he thought Jak was getting laid.
If his alpha had any idea Jak was going home to fantasize about his brother’s mate, he’d haul him out to the alley in back and thrash some sense into him. And Gage would be more than justified. Wanting Arianna that way was stupid and dangerous, broke every pack law, and was contrary to the magic that bound the entire pack together… and none of that mattered.
Because Jak was going to see her again tomorrow.
Chapter Four
“Woooooooo!” Arianna screamed for all she was worth, and her inner beast howled like it was a full moon, but the wind just whipped away her words and sent them sailing down the highway behind her. She was standing on the passenger seat of Jak’s car, half her body sticking out the open sunroof, arms raised to the glorious blue skies above. Yesterday had been miserable, rained all day, but today was gorgeous again. Beautiful days and Jak seemed to go together. It was another sign: this was how her life was supposed to be.
“Will you come down, please?” Jak said for the third time. His voice was barely audible above the wind whistling past her ears.
Arianna ducked her head back inside. “Why?” She scanned the road ahead, but they hadn’t reached the exit for the University yet.
Jak’s eyes were wide. “I don’t know. Maybe so we don’t get pulled over by Seattle’s finest?”
She scowled at him. “What’s a sunroof for, if not to stick out your head?” She kind of hoped it was illegal. She didn’t want to get Jak in trouble, but the idea of doing something—anything—that broke the rules tantalized her with a mouth-watering intensity.
Jak smirked. “I’m pretty sure it was designed to let the sun in, not the people out.”
His eyes were dancing, and she was sure he wouldn’t object if she let out a few more whoops for good measure, but she dropped down the rest of the way into her seat anyway.
If they got pulled over, Mace would find out. He would be embarrassed, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone. Besides, she didn’t want anything to mess up today. She’d let Mace think bringing back Jak as bodyguard was really his idea: given that Jak was an alum, and things had gone fine the first day, whereas the second with Alric was one comedy of errors after another, starting with being late to class and ending with coming home late. The last one was what had set Mace off—he’d been waiting at the house for her. It was only logical that, since things had gone smoothly with Jak, he should resume bodyguard duties.
Jak’s smile dropped away, replaced by an uncertain look. “If you really want to—” He was clearly still thinking about the sunroof.
She waved him off, pushing the button to close the roof then giving him a cheesy smile. “You can make it up by taking me out to lunch after class.”
He smiled wide. “Actually, I was planning on asking if you minded grabbing lunch then heading over to one of the labs. I have a potential client I need to do a site visit for.”
She frowned. “Oh.” She figured Mace wouldn’t begrudge them grabbing something to eat before coming back to the estate, but if she was gone much longer… “I don’t think Mace would like that.”
Jak’s smile settled into a smirk. “Gage already cleared it with Mace. We’re good for the most of the afternoon.”
His eyes glittered, but that was nothing compared to the surge of joy running racetracks through her chest. She leaned over to impulsively hug him. It was awkward and gangly, and Jak looked shocked, but he didn’t seem to mind. She retreated back to her seat and busied herself with buckling up. And trying not to blush too much.
This day was going to be perfect.
When she was settled, and the heat had mostly gone from her face, she said, “Tell me about this client! I want to know all about them before we get there.”
“It’s a bunch of tech stuff. You probably wouldn’t be interested.”
“Try me.”
Jak raised an eyebrow. “Well, they’re researching quantum computing. They think they might have a new way to access some of the quantum states with a complicated series of lasers and switches and a new crystalline material. They’re looking to store data in the quantum state then access it again. It’s been done before, but they’re scaling up, trying to find ways to store lots of simultaneous data in the crystal then pull it out again very rapidly.”
