Bitterness clings to the back of my throat as I pound on the Omega’s door and push inside. The chamber is dark, lit only by the moonlight slicing through the windows across the room, and the pungent smell of her perfume overpowers my senses. She’s assumed her usual position, lounging in her wing-backed chair, staring at the snow as it falls beyond the glass.
“Lukas,” she says quietly, without looking at me. “Come closer. Have a seat.”
Suppressing an eye roll, I do as she says and slide into the nearest chair. Her lap is covered in a thick wool blanket and her glasses have slipped to the crooked tip of her nose. If I said she’s aged well, I’d by lying through my teeth. Wrinkles cover her face. Her lips are thin and tight. Our packmates live a normal lifespan, weaken, then die like everyone else, but it looks as if Father Time has been especially hard on her lately.
No one has seen the Omega shift into a wolf in fifty years. Some think she’s incapable, lost her touch, or simply too weak to make calls about the future of the pack.
She opens her mouth slowly and leans forward. As if she’s about to say something important. Life or death. For my ears alone.
“Andes Mint?” she says, handing over a plate.
“No, thank you, grandmother.” I exhale heavily and don’t bother to hide that I’m counting the minutes until I can get the hell out of here. “I’d rather talk about the reason you disturbed me tonight. You said it was about my cousin.”
Scrunching her face into a pout, she replaces the plate on the table beside her and stares out the window. “Are you any closer to finding who is trying to overthrow me?”
This again? “No, grandmother. I’ve been too caught up in the ceremony this year to dive into the investigation fully.” I place my hand on her knees in an effort to placate her. “But rest assured, you and the pack are safe. With the number of guards I’ve brought in recently, no one is going to harm you. They’d be stupid to try it.”
“Well, that’s the thing, my dear boy. I’m not worried about my safety so much as my position.” She swings her gaze my way. “I’ve been hearing rumblings through the pack that I’m too old to shift. That I can’t relate to the packmates, and have lost touch with what’s best for them in our changing world. Have you heard the same things?”
Yes. “No.”
“You would tell me, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course.” Hell no. What good would that do? “But grandmother, you must understand that you bring up a good point on the shifting matter. No one has seen you in wolf form in—”
“Fifty years,” she finishes quickly. “I remember precisely the last time I shifted, and I don’t feel the need to do it again.”
She speaks as if she’s annoyed at the idea, but we’re werewolves. Shifting regularly should be a requirement for the leader of a pack. There are dozens of young packmates who have yet to see their leader as a wolf. If she doesn’t assert her dominance in that form soon, they could begin to seriously question her ability.
“Forgive me, grandmother, but I’m still not sure what this has to do with Reaper? My guard said you wanted to talk about him.”
“Ah, yes.” She plucks a mint candy from its bed, peels the wrapper, and shoves the chocolate into her mouth. “I love these things. Can eat them all day. You sure you don’t want one?”
Tick tock, tick tock.
I don’t have time to sit here and go back and forth about candy. Ivy is waiting for me, spread-eagle on my bed, naked in my sheets, the sweet scent of her shampoo coating my pillow. Will she still be blushing by the time I make it back? Will her lips be kiss-plump and parted softly, waiting for my mouth to close over them? I nearly groan from the image as it streams through my brain.
“I’m sure. Thank you,” I say flatly. “Now what about Reaper?”
“Nothing, really.”
What a waste of time. “That’s great.”
“Only that I’ve asked him to return to the pack to conduct his own investigation based on my suspicions.”
“You’re kidding.”
She blinks up at me over the thin rim of her glasses. “I’m not, actually. Are you sure you don’t want one of these? They’re small, but pack a minty punch.”
“Fuck me.” And screw the damn mint candy. Couldn’t she speed this up? I seriously need to get back to Ivy. She’s consuming my thoughts more than any other pre-shifter has before her, and I’m not sure why. I’m drawn to her and captivated by her beauty. But my attraction to her is more than skin deep. It’s the glimmer of innocence in her eyes that makes me want to protect her, the way my heart clenches into a fist when she’s in my arms, and the way I can’t stop thinking about her, even after I’ve just had her. Shit, she’s gotten under my skin. I scrub my hands through my hair as I wonder how the hell that happened so fast. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Precisely,” she snaps. “That’s why I’ve asked Reaper to return. While you’re occupied with the pre-shifter of your choosing, he can dig around. Hunt down the truth.” She grins triumphantly. “You were too distracted to take on the task at this time, so I’ve solved the problem.”
Distracted?
More like shocked. Sucker-punched below the belt. Dazed and confused. All of those things were closer to the truth. She acts as if I haven’t been the one in control, successfully ruling the pack in Reaper’s absence. I only have the pack’s best interest at heart, and I’m fucking tired of being undermined at every turn.
“When does he get here?”
“He’s already here.”
I choke on my own spit. “Say again?”
“He’s here, already searching. I hope to have some clarity by morning.”
“Grandmother,” I bite out, dropping to my knees in front of her and taking her wrinkled hands in mine. “It wasn’t necessary to call Reaper back from his hunt. I could’ve eased your worries myself, if you’d only talked to me first.”
She pats my cheek, and just like that, I’m ten years old again. Feeble and incapable. Without the promise of ruling as Alpha in sight.
“I know you’re worried that he’ll stay and reclaim his role as Alpha,” she says softly. “But he won’t. He’s assured me he’s leaving right after this.”
Having him stay, having two males able to rule in the same castle, would be the worst possible scenario. Reaper will be watching me at every turn, making me feel as if I’m unable to call the shots on my own.
Talk about hell.
Removing her hand from my cheek, I replace it in her lap and tramp toward the door. “It’s settled, then. I wish him a quick trip.”
“Well,” she goes on, her voice weak and unsure, “I suppose I’ve spoken too quickly. He doesn’t plan on staying, but if he falls for the pre-shifter he’s got his eye on, that could change.”
Hand to handle, I slowly pitch around on my heel. “Come again?”
“He’s got his eye on a pre-shifter—one of your girls.”
A dark sense of foreboding slugs through my veins. “Which one?”
“He wouldn’t say, but you know I have a sense for these things.” She shrugs, returning her attention to the drifting snow. “When he first arrived, he came to see me. I could sense a strange desire burning within him. The one he’s got his eye on is special—different. And something about her is tearing him up inside.”
The Omega has always had the uncanny way of sensing energy. Of knowing what lies in a shifter’s heart. She can’t read minds, but her intuition has always been spot on. If she’s correct this time, one of my women has captured Reaper’s attention. Someone different.
Ivy.
Dread slithers over my skin, leaving a chilled trail of gooseflesh behind.
“I should get back.”
As I pull hard on the door and open it wide, she says, “You know it’s her choice in the end, don’t you, Lukas? Pre-shifting women declare their mates in front of the pack, not the other way around. You’d do well to remember it.”
I pause as my grandmother’s
words replay in my head.
Her choice in the end.
My grandmother may be decrepit and losing her mind, but she’s incredibly sensitive when it comes to her instincts. Her words strike a chord and hum through my veins. Maybe it’s her tone or the mischievous gleam in her tired eyes. There’s something I’m missing…
Ivy has a choice to make.
I’m not the only one.
The realization hits me like a fucking battering ram to the nuts. My grandmother is warning me that Ivy could choose another at the ceremony. She’s preparing me, cautioning me not to get too attached. But I’m the fucking Alpha. If I want to claim Ivy as my own, I should be able to do it and to hell with everyone else. The only reason pre-shifting women get to choose their mate in the first place—rather than the other way around—is because, according to my grandmother, by choosing their mates, women give their hearts, their lives, and their consent—the latter being the ultimate bottom line.
Turning back, I meet my grandmother’s onyx eyes as moonlight spills over the sharp angles of her face. “I know that, grandmother. When it’s time to parade in front you, she’ll make the decision for herself.”
But now I’ve got questions.
And Ivy better have the right answers.
…
Ivy
He’s coming.
The pounding of footfalls rains outside the chamber door, causing the breath to hiccup in my chest. I scramble over the bed and try to remember the exact position Lukas left me in. Arms over my head. Knees bent and legs spread. I watch the door, waiting. Listening. Barely remembering to breathe. Quivering in anticipation.
He barges in, slams the door behind him, and stands at the foot of the bed with his hands on his hips.
Not exactly the entrance I was expecting.
“What’s the matter?” Sitting up, I draw the sheet over my body. His gaze is mixed with a bizarre combination of hunger and hatred. It’s like he wants to eat me up and hurt me at the same time. I’m intrigued, yet confused by both the change in him and my reaction. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Ditch the sheet.”
Hesitantly, I do what I’m told, pushing the satin aside. I fold my arms over my chest to cover my breasts, and he hisses in disgust. He was commanding before, drawing out my pleasure as if he knew my body better than I do, but now…he’s changed. A cold, stinging undercurrent of hostility lingers beneath the surface of his controlled facade, and I don’t know whether to be aroused or afraid.
I’m both.
“Don’t hide your tits from me.” He’s around the bed before I can blink, dropping the robe from his body, exposing his hard, swollen length. His muscles glisten and twitch in the moonlight, and I’m overcome with the desire to rake my fingers over his rippling abs. “Uncross your arms.”
The severity in his tone has me hesitating, obeying slowly as I drop my hands to the mattress. I don’t move an inch, and won’t until he tells me to do so.
Awareness settles over me like a warm cloak. This time when Lukas takes me, it’s going to be rough. Despite my apprehension, pleasure spikes in my core at the sight of his enormous cock. Since he left, I’ve thought of nothing but lying back and having him drive inside me. How it would be difficult—maybe impossible—to take him all the way in.
I already made up my mind that I would let him fuck me sideways, upside down, or with a top hat on, if that’s what fueled his fancy. Hell, I would even beg for it. For one chance to feel that kind of pleasure and pain as he stretches the walls of my sex. Just once.
“Is everything all right?” I’m completely in awe of the raw strength of his body and the blazing heat in his eyes. “You’re looking at me like—”
“There’s something inside you that I need,” he finishes for me. “And I’m going to take it from you, Ivy.”
Oh. My. Gravy.
“I have questions.” He snaps, pointing to the edge of the bed as I scramble closer. “And I’m going to draw the answers out of you one way or another. Stand up.”
With my breath coming shallow, I rise to my feet, only to be gripped at the waist and spun around. He’s moving fast, as if he’s greedy, possessed by uncontrollable need.
“Hands on the bed,” he growls. “Bend over.”
As I flatten my breasts against the cool sheet, I’m shocked by my body’s reaction to his anger. I should be frightened, cowering in fear. But I’m suddenly flushed and tingling as he settles his hips behind mine. Digging his fingers into my sides, he slides the head of his thick length through my folds, sending ripples of pleasure licking up my spine.
“You’re wet for me, aren’t you?” Pulling back, he smacks my ass hard, and I buck off the bed as my cheek begins to sting. “I asked you a question. Answer me.”
A fevered rush sets my heart racing. “Mm-hmm.”
“I said answer me—words, Ivy. I need to hear you say it.”
He smacks me again, but this time it’s between my legs. His fingers flick against my clit, stinging my sensitive flesh. But as soon as the pain subsides, pleasure takes its place, wetting me instantly.
“Yes,” I moan, gasping the sheet in my hands as I squeeze my thighs together and arch back, searching for his hips behind me.
A satisfied sound rumbles the air as he pushes against my hips, sliding his cock through my slit. “I want your pussy wet and trembling.”
Oh yes.
As if on command, the juncture between my legs is liquid heat. Resting my head on the mattress, I crane around to look at him, to witness the desire flashing in his eyes, but he plants his hand on my back to hold me down. His forcefulness only increases my need, and I’m racing toward a violent climax.
“This is my pussy, isn’t it?” His voice is low, a possessive growl. And then he smacks me again, harder this time. Pain and pleasure blur into one. “Only mine.”
Well, not completely his.
Reaper.
His name blasts through my mind like a firework as Lukas slaps me again. This time his fingers circle over my clit. As I pinch my eyes shut to focus on the carnal desires lashing through me, an image of Reaper’s face appears on the backs of my eyelids. His features are handsome and strong, his onyx eyes blazing bright, his full lips pressed into an illuminating grin. But I can’t have him, and he doesn’t want me, anyway. He’s made that crystal clear. I have to move on, forget about him, and focus on the man dominating me completely.
As Lukas strikes me again, pleasure follows on the heels of the pain, erasing Reaper’s face from my mind. Every sensation is heightened, more than I ever thought possible. He’s waking my nerve endings one by one, bringing each to their limit.
“Yours,” I moan, waiting with bated breath for the brutal contact of his hand. Does he know I was just thinking of another? Guilt laces my tone. “All yours.”
Damn it, I shouldn’t have said that. But I’m drunk on the promise of release. Overcome with need. Teetering on the edge of something wonderfully sinful.
“That is exactly what I needed to hear.”
And then his fingers are between my legs, plunging inside me. I’m shoved against the mattress by the force of his hand as he stretches me to the limit. I’m climbing toward a peak just out of reach. So close. Trembling. Aching.
“Not yet,” he commands.
But I’m there, hovering on the brink. Straining toward release. Shaking with the force of my desire. I need to feel him inside me. One thrust is all it would take. One long, full stroke to send me careening over the edge. As if he knows what I’m reaching for, he stills, going quiet behind me.
“Lukas…” His name escapes my mouth on a breathless moan.
I spread my legs wide for him to take what he so desperately wants. But when the thick head of his cock enters me, stretching my pulsing walls, I’m the one who is desperate, wanting more, lifting my hips to ease him all the way in.
“That’s the way.” He rams into me in one brutal stroke, the blunt head of his cock hitting the deep
est walls of my sex. He groans, slamming into me again. Harder. Harder still. “Tell me I’m the only one who can fuck you this good, Ivy. Say it.”
“You…Good…God.”
It’s amazing and hot, and I’m clawing toward ecstasy, my clit pulsing and throbbing and aching for release.
“You’re going to come on my dick, Ivy, but not yet.” Leaning over the top of me, he reaches over my shoulder, caresses my cheek, and then plunges a finger past my lips. “Tell me I’m the only one. Say it with your hot fucking mouth.”
I suck on his finger, earning a groan of satisfaction in return, and swirl my tongue around and around. He pinches my lower lip, sending a firecracker of sensation straight between my legs.
“You’re the only—” I can’t finish.
With every demanding thrust of his hips against mine, and every sweep of his finger against my cheek, I slam back against him, urging him deeper. I lift up on tiptoe to give him the best angle, arch my hips up, roll them down, and up again.
Too deep.
He’s as far as he can go. I’m dying from sensation overload. Shattering. Crying out from the pain and pleasure of it all. He is so thick and hard, and I can’t remember anything before this moment.
He’s too big.
There’s only Lukas and his goliath cock and the sound of the air punching out of his lungs. Swiping his finger across my lips, he sucks in a breath that sounds like a hiss and slams me against the mattress with unrelenting thrusts. I’m going to be black and blue from the force of his hips and his cock, and I’m too lost in sensation to care.
“Fuck, Ivy.” He groans, jerking inside me. “Come with me. Now.”
I roll my hips faster and faster. Take every inch of his hard length and pinch my eyes closed. And when he stills inside me, straining, erupting, he grasps my backside in both hands and claws into my flesh. Pain explodes into bliss, and it’s more than I can take. The orgasm roars through me as I bite down on his finger and then suck hard, silencing the cry rising up in my throat. And when he rakes his other hand down my back, grabbing a fistful of my hair, the orgasm increases ten-fold. I light up from the inside out, writhing against him, completely consumed by his finger and his shaft as they work on either end of me.
Dominating Red Page 3
