Jace

by Alisa Woods

  Jace’s horrified expression was working its way into her heart, loosening her tongue even further, spilling out things she had never told anyone—not anyone who didn’t already know, like Noah.

  “What the hell… what kind of alpha does that?” Jace was aghast, and she was sure that in the perfect world of the River brothers, with a loving family and mates who adored them, this kind of thing must seem… impossible.

  “He was the kind who abused everyone… including my mother. I don’t think he actually hit her—although I don’t know what happened behind their closed bedroom door. I think the mating bond, perhaps, protected her a little. At least enough so that he didn’t actually kill her. But he made her so miserable, she decided to take care of that herself.”

  She had to stop talking because her throat was closing up too much.

  Jace moved even closer. Her back was up against the door—the door she had been ready to charge out of just a moment ago—and he was so close, they could almost touch.

  “Piper, I’m so sorry.” His voice was a gentle whisper that knocked loose the words again.

  “The mating bond killed her. That, and having a bastard child with a mate who didn’t want me. So, you see, I really did ruin everything.”

  “Piper. No—”

  “No, it’s true.” She put both hands on his chest and pushed him slightly away, unable to deal with the fact that he was so close and so caring and so concerned with those dark, gorgeous eyes. “I long ago swore off mating. I saw what it did to my mother. And I was worthless, good for nothing to my father… except whatever he could sell me for as mate for some other asshole alpha he knew.” Tears were coming up unbidden to her eyes. “I was never good for anything but a strategic alliance. It was the only thing I could take from him. So I did—I left. I vowed never to mate. And I’ve been running my life my own way ever since. And now he’s ruining my brothers’ lives with some other damn scheme of his that I’m sure increases his power or prestige or something. And I’m not going to let him do it! I’m not to let him take the one thing that matters to me in this world, the only person who’s ever given a damn about me—Noah was there when Mom died. He knows the truth about how our father is, what he’s really like.”

  She was trembling so hard and backed up so much against the door, it felt like all her insides were going to spill out. The look on Jace’s face—pitying and horrified—just twisted her stomach more. He reached for her cheek. She tipped her head back, but there was nowhere to go. He held her with a gentle touch that just wrenched the tears from her eyes and made them spill down her face.

  “Your father is wrong. About everything, but especially about you.” His words, soft and close, made her tremble. “No true alpha does something like that. No decent man treats a daughter that way. I don’t give a fuck if you’re his biological daughter or not. You were born of his mate, the woman he was supposed to treasure and care for and love above all things. If I had a daughter, you can be sure I would treasure her like the moon and the stars. Like the love I would have for her mother, my mate. You don’t treat a dog the way your father has treated you, much less a beautiful woman. A gorgeous, smart, incredible woman. He’s wrong about everything… and I’m not going to let him manipulate you into doing something that will only get you hurt.”

  She wrenched her face out of his hold and turned around to face the door again. She slammed her palm against it once, twice, three times, and let out a growl. Why did Jace have to be such a good man? The kind she could never have. Why did he have to say those words to her? Didn’t he know her anger was the only thing that kept her going?

  She grabbed the doorknob and yanked on it, but his hands against the door held it closed. “Let me out of here!” she screamed as she pounded her fist against the wood.

  “Piper.” His voice was soft, but with an underlying command tone that rippled through her like a shiver. “Turn around.”

  She closed her eyes and let her head fall against the door. Then she turned around, still trapped in the cage of his arms on either side of her, his palms pressed against the door. She looked up into his dark eyes, and they didn’t just hold concern anymore. They were blazing at her with a dark heat that lit fires all over her body.

  “You’re not going to leave,” he said, soft and powerful. “You’re going to stay here and do exactly what I tell you.”

  A shiver worked its way up her body, coursing heat and lust through her. Her wolf responded to his alpha tone, whimpering for him. The woman in her wanted to protest. The angry girl in her wanted to slam her fists against his chest. But Jace was a better man than any man she’d ever known, and he was looking at her like he wanted her. Not just for sex. Not the way sleazy Michael wanted to fuck her. Jace’s heated, possessive, yet soft-and-caring look said he wanted her in every way—to protect, to keep safe, and to ravish against the door of his bedroom.

  She couldn’t force herself to say no.

  He leaned in close, his commanding voice strong and soft. “You’re not as wild as you act… not as crazy as you pretend. You’re smart and strong and you don’t need to let that asshole control you anymore. Because you’re not alone. You don’t have to do any of this on your own. Everyone should have someone at their back, and I’m going to be that for you, Piper. I will be there for you, through all of this. To the end.”

  His words were an earthquake, shaking her to her core. A small part of her dared to believe him, and that sent even larger shockwaves through her body.

  He leaned even closer. “Now kiss me, dammit.”

  It was a command, one she didn’t even want to think of disobeying. She leaned forward, closing the small distance left between them, and very tentatively pressed her lips to his. She was trembling so hard, her lips barely brushed against him, but the heat of his lips touching hers raced sparks throughout her body.

  “No,” he whispered, his voice husky, “Not like that.” He slid one of his hands away from the door and threaded his fingers through her hair, grabbing a fistful and tilting her head back, lips opening up to him. “Like this.”

  Then he crashed his lips into hers, devouring her. His body slammed hers against the door, his leg already between hers, forcing them open. His urgent, powerful kiss and the grip on her hair demanded that she open her mouth to him, not that she even thought of hesitating. His tongue plundered her mouth, demanding that she yield to him even more. Heat flushed hard and fast to her panties, soaking them as his hand found her breast, grabbing and squeezing it and making her moan. The sound echoed a rumbling deep in his chest. Only then did she notice his erection, powerful and rock-hard against her stomach, reminding her of what she first glimpsed on his kitchen floor… and what she’d fantasized about having fill her ever since.

  Jace finally broke the kiss, just for a moment, but her hands were already on his shoulders, pulling him back. He growled and pulled her head farther to the side, devouring her neck in a serious of hot, wet kisses that practically made her come with their intensity. He feasted on her, working his way up to her ear, then hoarsely whispered, “Piper, I need to be inside you.”

  Her answer was to let her hand fall to the mountain of cock pressing between them and giving him one hard stroke. She wanted all of him. Inside her. Now.

  He groaned a feral, wolfish growl that raised every hair on her body—with excitement and lust—and her wolf was already in the submission position, ready to give everything to him.

  She gasped with that realization. No! Not submission. No, she couldn’t… but as Jace’s mouth greedily devoured hers again, and his hand shoved down her pants to find the sopping wet core between her legs, she knew he wasn’t asking that. He wanted to fill her with his cock and his love… not his magic. Not the bite that would forever bind her to him.

  He wanted her love and her body… and those she could give him. In fact, she had never wanted to give them to a man so badly in her life.

  She tried to shove down his jeans but got nowhere. Jace pulled back e
nough to unbutton and work loose his pants, springing his cock free. It was even larger than she seen tenting out his sleep pants before, and her mouth watered. She wanted to suck him, make him come in her mouth, have him in a dozen different ways. She wanted to pray at the altar of that gorgeous piece of man flesh and the amazing man who owned it, but before she could get her hands on it, he was grabbing her blouse and ripping it apart. Buttons flew, and he practically tore her bra from her body. She was bare up top now, and his hooded eyes said he wanted to spend time there, but she couldn’t wait. She tugged at her own pants, but her hands were still a shaking mess. He shoved them aside and dropped to one knee, plastering hot, wet kisses on her belly as he undid her pants and slid them down her hips. As soon as her sex was exposed, his tongue found it. She gasped with the sudden electric spark of pleasure as he darted in, sweeping across her nub. She grabbed his head, pulling him closer.

  “Oh, God, Jace. Fuck.” She was panting and barely able to form coherent words.

  His hands were still working her panties off her body as his tongue worked her soaking wet core. “Oh, yes, my love. We’re going to do that. But first, I’m going to enjoy myself a little.” As soon as her panties were free, he thrust two fingers inside her, pumping her as his tongue flicked across her nub.

  “Jace!” She clutched at him, but she was racing to orgasm, and it caught her like a wave that swept her off her feet, throbbing and pulsing all over her body. “Oh God. Oh God.” She kept saying it over and over, with every thrust of his fingers and every convulsion of pleasure. She’d barely crested the top when he pulled out and stood, his hands on her hips, holding her steady—which was good because her knees were so weak they could barely hold her up against the door.

  The grin on Jace’s face was all wolf. “Tell me you want me,” he commanded.

  “I want you.” Oh God, how she wanted him inside her.

  He gripped her hips, hoisting her up and pressing her against the wall. His enormous cock nudged against her entrance. She could barely catch her breath, and the anticipation was killing her… but he only teased her with it, not giving her what she desperately wanted.

  His breathing was just as ragged as hers. He leaned in to whisper, “Tell me you’re not going to run away.”

  “I’m not running away.” Wasn’t that obvious? Although she probably would have said anything at that point, just to have him take her, hard, up against the door.

  He thrust inside her, and she gasped—he had to be the largest man she’d ever had. He stretched and filled her in a way that made her whimper and grab hold of him. But he remained still, sheathed inside her, unmoving.

  “Goddamit, Jace, what do I have to say?” she begged.

  She could feel the heat of his smirk on her, but she didn’t care—all she wanted was for him to move. To make love to her. To own her body against the door like it belonged to him.

  He moved ever-so-slightly, and it coursed pleasure through her, but then he stopped again. “Tell me you’re going to stay and let me love you,” he whispered, and this time it was soft, less demanding, more questioning.

  Her heart cracked wide open. She sobbed, then the words spilled out. “I’ll stay.”

  “And let me love you.” His words were a tremor that shattered her again.

  “Please love me.” The words came out as sobs, but then he moved inside her, thrusting hard, and her sobs turned into shrieks of pleasure. He pumped into her, furiously, groaning his own pleasure, taking her hard, building on the shockwaves already coursing through her body, taking her higher. She’d never experienced anything like this—this emotional wrenching, this surge of pleasure and love, all wrapped into one writhing mess of bodies slick with heat. She clung to him, riding him like the hurricane he was, sweeping into her life and changing everything… changing her… breaking her down, turning her inside out, and putting her back together again.

  A tightness coiled deep inside her, more than pleasure, building to an ecstasy that felt like it would change everything. “Oh, God, Jace, I’m going to come.” Her words were back to being sobs.

  He ground into her even harder, thrusting and angling just right. “Come for me, baby.” His voice was ragged, looser than before. It made her heart lurch. There was something wrong. Something terribly wrong with that sound… but his groans, and his mouth clamping on her neck, with the hard points of his fangs sheathed by his lips, held back, not claiming her but still teasing her with their sharpness… it pushed her right over the edge.

  She screamed his name and came so hard she bucked them both away from the door again and again as he held her tight.

  He growled, and she thought he had reached his release, too… but instead, he suddenly wrenched away from her and staggered back, leaving her panting and hollow against the door. His erection stood tall in the waning sunlight spilling through his window, and his fangs were bared, claws out, with a wild look in his eyes.

  “Get out!” he yelled.

  His words sliced through her heart.

  Then he turned his back on her.

  Chapter Eleven

  Holy fuck, what was he doing?

  Jace struggled with his beast, wrestled with it, cursed and shouted and summoned every ounce of will he had to shove it back deep inside him. He watched as his claws receded, felt his fangs tuck back into his mouth, and his heaving breath mixed with sighs of relief. What was he thinking? That he could take Piper like that, the way he wanted to—the way his wolf wanted to—and not risk his beast bursting forth? He knew she needed to hear those words, to feel his body, to know what he felt for her was more than just lust… but he’d gotten too lost in it.

  And almost lost control.

  Her words from before haunted him—I ruin everything. He wanted to kill the man who told this little girl she didn’t matter in the world. Because she was starting to be everything to him—someone who needed him; someone he could care for; someone he could rescue to make up for all the lives he had destroyed. And he’d almost let his wolf loose on her. A shudder ran through him, but his beast was quiet again, even though his hard-on was still raging.

  He turned back to Piper. She was naked and horrified, laid bare physically and emotionally against his door. Her expression speared through him. She had to wonder, had to know, there was something terribly wrong with him, but he couldn’t let her go for one second more thinking it had anything to do with her—because he could see it all over her face.

  He’d told her to get out.

  Fuck.

  He lumbered back toward her. “Piper, I’m sorry.”

  “I can… I can… leave now…” She was hysterical, looking everywhere in the room but at him. “I’ll just… get my clothes…” She bent to pick up the scraps he’d torn from her body.

  God, he had messed this up so badly. His body was still coursing heat from their lovemaking, and his hard-on stuck out from his body like an awkward additional limb, but he didn’t let any of that stop him from pulling her up from where she crouched on the floor and gathering her into his arms. She was trembling again. Because of him. And not in a good way.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, his voice less ragged, now that his beast was under control. “Come with me to the bed.”

  She was blinking and shaking. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

  “I know. Let me explain,” he said softly, slipping his hands down her body. Damn, she was so soft and delicious… his hard-on wasn’t going anywhere at this rate. But he eased her toward the bed with him, holding her around the waist because her legs didn’t seem so steady. When they reached it, he drew her down into his lap as he sat on the edge. His erection made its presence known, but he ignored that, pushing a wild lock of her gorgeous black hair behind her ear. She was so goddamn beautiful—and so open and vulnerable to him right now. He felt like he was holding a kitten. A very sexy kitten… but a fragile, beautiful thing, nonetheless.

  “I have a secret to tell you.” His chest clenched bec
ause she might run from him. She might decide he was too dangerous to be around or just plain evil. But he obviously couldn’t risk making love to her—his beast was too easily drawn to the surface by her—and she deserved to know why.

  Her dark eyes were wide, her body still flushed from their lovemaking. Her nipples were tight, and he couldn’t help running his hands up the gentle curve of her waist to lightly trace the flesh hardened with pleasure. He could spend the rest of the night just playing with her gorgeous breasts.

  “I think I’ve already figured out that you like my breasts,” she said with a small smile.

  It made him laugh and broke his heart at the same time. “You have no idea how much I like your breasts,” he said, his voice suddenly going husky again. His cock twitched… and that really wasn’t where this needed to go. “Maybe I’ll show you later. But first, there’s something you need to know about me: I can’t shift.”

  The smile dropped from her face. “But I saw you…” Realization dawned on her face. “You said before that you choose not to shift. Why?” She was open and curious now. Unafraid.

  For the moment.

  “Because I can’t control my beast.” He said it quietly, but he could count the heartbeats between his words and her response.

  A frown slowly drew down her face. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that, when I shift, I turn into a wild animal, not a man in wolf clothing.”

  To her credit, she didn’t immediately pull away in horror. In fact, she just looked perplexed. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

  “It’s pretty rare.” He cleared his throat. He was unusual in more ways than that. “In fact, I’m the only one I know with this… affliction. But it means that I can’t risk shifting, not when anyone else is around, at least.”