Marked by the Alpha

by Adaline Raine

  “You advertise well?” Mason grinned and then sat down across from her.

  Dani waited as he served himself and then accepted the platter. She had made the steak the way that she enjoyed it— just seared—and hoped for the briefest moment that he would like it as well. She took a small portion from each dish and then looked back at him. “Do you have wolf GPS or something?”

  “What are you afraid of?” Mason asked with a slight frown, before taking a large sip of the wine.

  Dani looked down at her plate and fed herself a few spoonfuls of potatoes. She was not going to give in so easily. If he was there for other purposes then her mentioning him claiming her would just give him the idea that it was something she wanted. “I do not frighten easily, Mr. Daniels.”

  Mason reached over and touched her chin so that she was looking back up at him. “Something has you on edge and I want to know what it is.”

  “Right now the only thing that has me on edge is you showing up at my store!” Dani snapped as she pulled away and stood up. Part of her was worried that he would try to claim her and another part was equally scared that he would not.

  Mason blinked up at her. “Do you think I’m here to claim you, Dani?”

  Dani blinked back an uninvited sheen of tears and glared. “I am sure that you have thought of it or you would not have mentioned it just now!” She was breathing heavily as he moved the chair back.

  Mason stood slowly. “That is not really my style, though by the end of the night you will learn to treat me with respect.”

  Dani huffed and sat down. She drained her glass of wine and focused on eating her steak. That damn feeling of wanting to just roll all over him was really messing with her head. She continued to devour the meat and said nothing.

  “Tell me about the threats then.” Mason began to eat but kept those eyes on her.

  Dani took a deep breath. “They are just like the ones your pack gets, I’m sure. I’ve had some occasional dead animals in the entryway to my store,” she said with a shrug, trying to sound casual.

  “Nothing like that is happening to anyone in my pack,” Mason said, then took another sip of wine.

  Dani frowned and dropped her fork. “I thought those sort of things were happening everywhere.” She licked her lips. “You think that someone is actually after me?”

  “You are a dominant female and one of the only red-haired wolves in the entire country. I would say that you would be highly sought-after by hunters.”

  “And you think offering me your protection will stop the threats?” Dani asked as she poured another glass of wine. Was he trying to scare her into his protection, or were hunters really after her in particular?

  “If you become part of my pack, I will guarantee your protection.” Mason motioned for her to fill his glass as well.

  “I will not be forced into a pack,” Dani huffed. She noticed that her hand was trembling as she held the glass.

  Mason took the bottle from her and filled his own glass. “I am not here to force you to do anything, unless you prove that your independence has made you foolish.”

  Dani stood up again. She hated appearing vulnerable and weak. After all the years of being on her own, the last thing that she needed was some alpha male busting into her life like a knight on a white horse. “You will speak kindly to me in my own house, Mr. Daniels.”

  Mason smiled. “I have spoken to you with more kindness than most would have, Miss Dixon.”

  Dani took a step towards him and he mirrored her immediately. She was fuming for the second time that day. There was something about this man that made her want to either curl up on his chest and stay there or tear him to pieces. It was infuriating.

  “Are you like this with everyone you meet, Dani?”

  Dani growled. “I let you into my house, but it does not mean that I am letting you into my life.”

  “If you growl at me again I will show you right now just how this is going to play out.” Mason’s words came out cool and collected and it just poked at Dani more.

  “I am not yours to command,” Dani said fiercely, feeling more off-balance than ever before. One minute she was ready to impress him and please him, and in the next she was ready to force him to claim her in every sense of the word. She took a step towards him.

  Mason grabbed her hair and pulled her the rest of the way. She stumbled and wound up on her knees. “You may be dominant, but not with me,” he warned her. He let go of her hair and she glared up at him. “You are going to respect me, Dani, no matter how long it takes,” Mason said, and then reached down, pulled her up into his arms, and set her on the edge of the table. “You should be warned that you will not like how alpha males teach their females respect.”

  Dani slid off the table and sat back in her seat while she glared daggers at him. “If it involves bowing down and letting you walk all over me, then you and your pack can go and—”

  Mason grabbed her chin. “I tried being reasonable, but now I am going to teach you to respect me.”

  “You get your hands off me!” Dani growled. She was done being rational. She wanted Mason Daniels out of her house and out of her business!

  Mason shook his head. “I warned you about that,” he said firmly, then picked her up and threw her over his shoulder before she could react.

  “Mason Daniels you put me down or so help me—”

  SMACK!

  Dani jumped. He had smacked her ass! What the hell? She was too shocked to comprehend what he had just done, let alone what he might mean to do next. While she was trying to remember what he had said earlier in the store about respect, he carried her across the room, then set her on her feet in front of him and sat down upon her couch, all the while keeping a tight hold around her waist. Dani tried to escape from his grasp, but she was suddenly yanked over his lap and then pinned by one of his legs. She bucked but had nowhere to go. “I will never forgive you for this,” she spat between her teeth as he grabbed her arm and held it behind her back.

  “I am not going to stop until you have learned a good lesson,” Mason whispered as he rested his other hand on Dani’s back.

  The nerve of him! Dani had never been in this position before in her life! She bucked up against his palm. “My pain tolerance is epic, Mr. Daniels.”

  “I’m not going to spank you because I want you to hurt you, I’m going to spank you because you need it,” Mason said, then lifted her skirt and lowered her panties. He began to smack one cheek and then the other, over and over, harder and harder, turning her bare bottom quickly from pale to pink to bright red.

  Dani bit her lip. Though her tolerance was indeed high she was growing more nervous about being held in such a manner. She had never been spanked as a child. Hell, she had been on her own since age ten. When she heard him undo his belt she fought anew to get free, and she really began to squirm and struggle when his belt began to sting her upper thighs.

  “You let me go!” she yelled in pain and fury.

  Mason continued to rain the belt down on both of her exposed cheeks. “Are you going to start treating me with some respect?” he asked calmly.

  Dani kept squirming as the spanking continued. “I hate you!” she finally yelled out as the tears began to flow. True to his word it did not feel like he was trying to bruise her but the intense sting and the humiliation were ebbing away at the wall that she had so firmly kept in place.

  Mason finally tossed the belt aside. “Tell me, Dani, why have you been behaving so rudely toward me?”

  Dani continued to cry but said nothing. How could she possibly tell him that part of her was secretly hoping that he was here to claim her, and that another part of her hated him for making her think that way.

  Mason let out a sigh and began to spank with his hand. “I want the answer. There has to be some reason that you have been so disrespectful to me.” After several moments Dani heard him pick the belt up again.

  “Is this what men like you do to your females?” Dani spat the words
. Her mood had turned sour and she was deeply confused at the rush of emotions running through her.

  Without answering, Mason began to smack with the belt again. The truth was that she did not want him to let go of her… ever… and that thought deeply frightened her. She had never relied on anyone before and the idea that she should trust a complete stranger with her life was completely unsettling. Soon the speed of the strokes increased until even Dani could no longer keep quiet, pain tolerance be damned. “Please! Mason! Please!” she cried out. “Please, stop!”

  He didn’t stop immediately, but at last he set the belt aside again. She felt him adjust her clothes and then he lifted her up and turned her around so that she was pressed against his chest. “Tell me now, what is the problem that you have with me?” he asked, gently this time.

  Dani wiped at her eyes. He was holding her against him and she was growing more confused. How could he spank her like that and now sit here with such a gentle hand? “I have never reacted to anyone the way that I react to you,” she finally answered.

  “Have you never been around an alpha before?” He wiped her tears with the tip of his fingers and Dani fought to keep from pulling away.

  “I thought so, but perhaps not,” Dani answered with a shrug. She kept her head down.

  “You will learn to respect me, Dani, and I will keep you safe no matter what.”

  Dani looked up at him. She opened her mouth to protest, but then his mouth was suddenly on hers.

  Her wolf side growled in deep contentment as he began to lick along her neck and nip at all the right places. She pulled the shirt from his pants and began to run her hands over his stomach and chest. He was warm and muscled and he felt wonderful beneath her hands. She decided she wanted more and began to lick the path that her hands had followed. Soon she was nibbling and sucking and then full-on biting.

  He pulled her skirt up out of the way and began to nibble along her thighs. His tongue was an odd mix of wet and fiery as it began to delve into her most private places. She stopped biting then as she was surrounded by heat. She drew great scratches down his back, which healed almost as quickly. Dani bucked and writhed and she called out his name as he brought her to climax.

  Then, without warning, the rational part of her brain which she had moments earlier pushed aside took control again, and she began to push against his chest.

  “No,” she suddenly protested. She was scrambling to get out from underneath him. “No!” Dani said again and pulled away from him, leaving herself kneeling on the carpet next to the couch.

  Mason was sitting on the couch staring at her. “What is with you?”

  Dani was shaking as she looked around for her clothes. “I just want you to leave. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “Why, Dani, tell me?” He reached out for her and she scurried away to the other side of the room.

  “I can’t think with you touching me, so please stop,” she demanded in a pleading tone. She had managed to put some distance between them.

  “Is this some sort of game to you? You think that I would offer my protection to just anyone?” Mason asked her angrily.

  Dani shook her head. The power that was radiating off of him was distracting. “Please, just go.”

  Mason pulled on his shirt and walked over to her. He clasped her wrists and pulled her up. “I want the truth.”

  “I have never had to rely on anyone and I am sure as hell not going to start with you.” Dani snapped, fighting back tears as she gave a tug at her wrists. “You’re just making it worse.”

  “If I were truly here to claim you, I would have done it and we would already be on the way back to my house. Is that clear to you?” Mason asked, and then finally let her go.

  “Get out of my house,” Dani said, glaring up at him.

  Mason leaned over and pulled her close to him. She inhaled sharply as he bit down and tugged with his teeth at the spot where her collar bone and neck met. Her knees turned to jelly and she pushed weakly at his chest.

  “Da-damn you, Mason. Get out!” Dani’s head was spinning as he let go of her and walked to the door. She followed mutely as he stepped out.

  “Enjoy the wine,” he called dryly as she slammed the door and locked it behind him.

  Dani walked to her bathroom and turned towards the mirror. She looked tired and angry and his teeth had left a large imprint on her skin. It would take days to heal, perhaps longer. It was a sign that she belonged to him, that he planned to claim her in the future, and that any wolf that interfered with that would have to contend with him. She touched the spot and growled long and loud.

  “Damn you, Mason… and damn me too!” Dani shouted at the mirror even as she felt the wetness between her legs growing. Mason Daniels had marked her without asking, and even worse, it turned her on immensely.

  * * *

  Mason was furious. How dare she kick him out of her house when she was practically begging him to claim her! He was pacing back and forth and growling as Phil looked on.

  “Some women like to play games,” Phil stated simply from the relative safety of the doorway.

  Mason continued to pace along the length of the den. “She was not playing,” he growled at last, looking angrily at his second-in-command.

  Phil immediately dropped to all fours. “I was only offering that maybe she led you on.” It was not smart to make such a comment to a distraught alpha, but Phil often spoke before thinking.

  Mason waved his hand as he continued to walk in great strides up and down the room. “I am not angry at you.”

  “Sure, Mason, but you didn’t see the look on your face,” Phil said, still looking at the floor. He had a very submissive, ‘oops, I stepped on your paw’ grimace on his face.

  Mason finally gave up pacing and sunk down on the couch. “Dani doesn’t trust anyone, and especially not me. I don’t know why.”

  Phil crawled into the room and kept his head down until he was literally at Mason’s feet. “I’d like to talk to you about it, and not really from the floor.”

  Mason reached down and patted his head to let him know that he truly was not upset with Phil. “I told you I wasn’t angry at you, now tell me.”

  Phil got up and sat next to him. “Turns out she’s been on her own since she was a little kid. Her parents were real fucking losers. They never did anything to take care of her and she went through her first change alone. Her uncle ran a mid-size pack and he tried to do the best he could, at least from what I heard. Still, she had a rough start.” He shook his head.

  “What does this have to do with me?” Mason kept his eyes on him.

  “She’s afraid to lean on you.” Phil shook his head again and then gave a small smile. “But her best friend is rooting for you, at least.”

  “You got all that out of her friend?” Mason gave an incredulous look to the grinning idiot sitting next to him.

  Phil smiled. “She wants Dani to lean on you. She told me that she is honestly worried about her.”

  “You have a thing for this friend of hers?” Mason leaned back on the couch. Dani’s friend was adorable, but a tiny human would not fit well in a pack of wolves.

  Phil frowned. “I don’t have a thing for anyone. I’m just telling you that the only person looking out for Dani is a small human female. She needs you no matter what happened last night.” Phil spread his hands out as if to show that he was unarmed. “You should really go and get her.”

  Mason cocked his head to the side. Should he consider Dani’s feelings or just do what really needed to be done? If hunters were getting close to her then it was only a matter of time. “You think the threat is that serious?” he asked.

  Phil nodded. “All I can say is that her friend is terrified. That should send up some red flags right there. Usually humans only care about their own little world. She is really scared that someone is going to hurt Dani.”

  Mason sighed. “I marked her.”

  Phil raised his eyebrows and leaned back against t
he couch. “You honestly think that your mark will protect her from hunters?”

  “No, but it’s one hell of a calling card.” Mason snorted.

  Phil shook his head and tried again. “Mason, man, I’d go get her regardless of how she reacted.”

  “I have to let her make her own decisions.” Mason sighed and ran his hands through Phil’s hair. The younger man seemed to be seeking attention tonight and Mason was not sure if it was because Mason had upset him, or if Phil was truly worried about Dani as well. “I owe her that.”

  “She’s been making her own decisions for years. Don’t you think it’s time to convince Dani that our pack will protect her?” Phil nudged Mason’s hand with his head.

  “Convince her how?” Mason let go and stood up. Phil was not usually so affectionate with him. “I don’t know, man. I just hate the fear I saw in Alisha’s eyes.”

  “You are dead serious about this, aren’t you?” Mason was not able to tell where this rant was coming from. One would think it was Phil’s potential mate.

  “I am not questioning you, Mason; I’ve just never seen you like this.” He dipped his head down.

  “I appreciate your honesty. I will take what you said under consideration. Thank you,” Mason said, and then put his hands on Phil’s shoulders. “I’m fine, but I would like to be alone now.”

  Phil rubbed against his alpha’s hands. “All right, Mason,” he said, and nodded before leaving the room.

  Mason sighed again as he watched Phil go. “Dani, why won’t you trust me?” Mason said aloud to himself before sitting back down on the couch. Why was he having such an issue with this? If she were really in danger shouldn’t he just go and get her whether she liked it or not? Damn it. Mason pounded his fist on the coffee table and it broke into splinters. “You will be mine, Dani,” he muttered, then shook his head and began to pick up the pieces.

  Chapter Two

  “What is with the scarf?” Alisha was poking at her again. “It’s almost 100 degrees out.”