Kayne’s gaze narrowed, all worry from earlier gone, and pure alpha back in his gaze. “Where’ve you been the last week, Ember?”
The blonde shrugged and glanced at the whisky bottle with interest. “Busy. Have you forgotten your manners? Aren’t you going to offer me a drink?”
“You don’t drink whisky.”
“I wouldn’t say no to a twenty-year old single malt.”
“Damn it, Ember!” He stood now, advanced on the female—who didn’t back down an inch. “You know where she is?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, arched a defiant eyebrow. “Yes.”
It was as if all the air was sucked out of the room with her response.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Kayne’s voice was low and deadly.
“You didn’t ask. And I’m still not telling you.”
Something electric sparked between the two of them. Even Reece could see it was sexual tension. He didn’t give a shit what was going on though.
He forced himself to stay in his seat when all he wanted to do was get up and shake the female, to force an answer out of her. “Is she safe at least? Protected?”
Ember looked at him then, her eyes glinting with surprise. “You care?”
“Of course I care!” He’d gone too long without seeing her, without touching her or hearing her sweet laugh. And he’d thought she cared about him too.
“Hmm.” She looked back at Kayne then. Even though she was tall, the alpha was taller so she had to look up. “On what planet did you think it would be a good idea to force a mating on your daughter?”
Kayne growled, but not at her bold question, it was more of a sound of frustration. “I wasn’t trying to force her. I won’t be around forever and I wanted her mated with someone strong, someone who would always take care of her. When Reece came to me about courting her—”
The blonde’s head swiveled to Reece, then back to Kayne. “When did this happen?”
Reece wanted to know who the hell this female was that she was able to ask so many questions of the alpha without reprimand. But if it got him the answers he wanted, he’d tell her anything she wanted.
“About a month before Alyssa and Kayne came to my territory,” he said before Kayne could respond.
Frowning, the female stepped back then moved around Kayne and grabbed the bottle. “Wait, there’s no way you met her before then. She’d have told me.”
Reece rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable. He’d seen Alyssa out shopping in a neighboring town before he knew who she was. His wolf had woken up and taken interest immediately. He’d been about to approach her until he spotted what looked like two bodyguards hovering nearby. After some research he’d discovered exactly who she was. So he’d approached Kayne about courting her.
Reece had never thought the older alpha would decree some sort of arranged mating. Not that he’d argued, because he’d wanted Alyssa with every fiber of his wolf.
“I didn’t say we met. I just saw her.”
“Then he came to me about courting her. I was the one who decided to implement the arranged mating.” Kayne took the tumbler Ember had just poured and downed the contents.
“You’re an idiot,” she muttered, but with no heat as she turned to Reece. She looked at him hard, her gaze assessing. “Do you want Alyssa to strengthen your pack, or for her?”
“Her.” God, he didn’t give a shit about strengthening his pack. They already had a solid foothold in their territory and that wasn’t changing. He’d told a few annoying packmates that was why he was mating with her, but soon everyone would see she was his.
If she’d just give him a chance.
“You actually sound like you’re telling the truth. I need a few days to think about it before I tell you though.”
His wolf instinct had him stepping forward before he’d realized he’d even moved.
Kayne moved lightning fast, yanking Ember behind him as she yelped in surprise. Kayne’s wolf flared in his eyes and that was when Reece realized this was more than just sexual tension between him and the female. The alpha hadn’t claimed her yet, otherwise Reece would have been able to scent him on her, but he definitely wanted to.
“She told you a few days,” Kayne growled, the sound more animal than human.
“Fine. You know how to reach me,” Reece said through gritted teeth. Not that he didn’t already have two of his packmates trying to track her through other means. Sneaky? Yep. He’d hunt his little mate down any way he could. Then he’d convince her they were meant to be together.
Without another word he stalked from the kitchen and exited the house. As soon as he made it to his truck, he was calling his guys again, checking on their progress. He wasn’t going to wait for one of Alyssa’s packmates to tell him where she was.
* * *
“What was that?” Ember asked, her voice breathy and far too seductive for Kayne’s sanity.
He took a deep breath, forced his wolf under control before he turned around to face her. It was becoming harder and harder to control his wolf around her. After his mate died almost three decades ago, he’d never thought he’d have the desire to mate again. And not to someone so young. She was thirty, but compared to his two hundred it felt wrong. At least that was what he’d been telling himself the last twelve months. The excuse was getting old though.
“You don’t get to ask the questions,” he murmured, finally turning to look at her. “You’ve been sitting on Alyssa’s whereabouts for the past week, when you knew I was worried?”
She squirmed slightly and glanced away for a second. “It’s not like I’ve seen you the past week, so how would I know you’ve been worried?”
“Don’t be a smartass.” He grabbed one of her hips in a purely dominating gesture, tugged her to him.
Her gaze flew to his, her eyes wide with surprise and…there was definite lust in the air. From both of them, not just her. He was exhausted trying to hide his reaction to her.
“Who’ve you been with the past week?” He could try to tell himself he had a right to know since he was her alpha, but it wasn’t his business who Ember spent time with. She was a grown wolf and as far as he knew, she hadn’t taken any lovers in the pack. For that he was grateful. Meant he wouldn’t have to kill one of his packmates.
“None of your business.” Her expression was more confused than defiant.
He sucked in a sharp breath, inhaling her sweetness. Leaning down, he ran his nose along the column of her neck.
She went completely still before her long, elegant fingers settled on his chest and he could feel her trembling. From lust or fear, he couldn’t tell. Maybe a bit of both. Not that she could be afraid he’d ever hurt her. He’d rather cut off a limb. But he’d never touched her like this before. Even if he’d wanted to.
“Tell me,” he murmured.
“No.” She shoved at his chest. Hard. The action took him by surprise more than anything.
He didn’t step back, but he lifted his head, looked down at her.
Her breathing was erratic. “I never thought you were cruel.”
“Cruel?” He blinked in surprise, unable to stand the sudden tears shimmering in her gaze. God, he’d made two females he cared about cry in the last week. What the hell was wrong with him?
For the first time in years panic invaded his veins. Shifters in his pack didn’t generally cry, they usually just took out their aggression or whatever by shifting and going for a run. Or fighting. He didn’t know how to handle this.
“Using my attraction to you against me is unnecessary,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself. Clearly protecting herself from him. “I’ll tell you where she is, I just…promised her I wouldn’t. I don’t want to lie.”
That was when he realized Ember thought he’d been asking about Alyssa’s whereabouts again.
A brief burst of shame filled him that he hadn’t even been thinking about his daughter’s location. Because the truth was, if she was in dange
r, Ember would have already told him. So he knew she was safe. All he’d been thinking about was who Ember had been spending time with. “I wasn’t even thinking about her,” he admitted, moving in on her, crowding her until he had her pinned against the center island.
Her tears dried as she stared at him with a hint of confusion and yeah, lust. “What?”
“I just wanted to know if there was some pup I should challenge.” Even the thought of her with another male made him insane. She’d just returned to the pack a year ago and he’d been fighting his feelings and attraction the entire time. She was strong, smart and funny. He adored everything about her.
“Wait…what? Is this you being jealous?”
He watched her for a long, hard moment. The confusion rolling off her was real. For the last year she’d pushed his buttons and he’d let her. Hell, she was the only one in the pack he let get away with talking to him the way she did.
And others had certainly noticed. Probably why none of the males had made a move on her. He might not have actually claimed her, but in one sense he had. Now it was time to man up. “Yes.”
When her eyes widened, he continued. “I want you, Ember. Have since you moved back. I won’t settle for something casual so understand this, I’m possessive, stubborn, set in my ways, and have a lot of years on you. And I’ve got a lot of responsibility I deal with every day, something you know. You need to think about what you want, decide if a future with me is something you can handle because if we cross the line, it’ll be for life.” He wasn’t admitting that he loved her just yet, because damn it, he couldn’t say the words. He couldn’t face her rejection.
Before she could respond, he spun on his heel and stalked from the room—and his house. He needed to shift and run. Because being around her and not claiming her was making his wolf go nuts.
Chapter Two
Shelving the guilt that had been a constant companion the past week, Alyssa dropped her duffle bag next to her and knocked on her friend Charlie’s front door.
Seconds later it flew open and she found herself pulled into a tight, welcoming hug. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
Alyssa laughed lightly, relief invading her veins in a slow, smooth crawl. After a week of traveling she was glad to be in Kincaid territory, a place she felt safe and welcome. Stepping back, she eyed her friend’s long, dark hair. “You grew it out.”
She fingered the strands, grinned. “Yeah, needed something different. Come on, let’s get you inside.” Charlie grabbed Alyssa’s bag before she could stop her friend.
“I’ve got a suitcase in my car too.” Not that she needed anything from it right now. After a day of driving she just wanted to kick her feet up and catch up with her old friend.
She snorted. “I figured you didn’t pack this light. So, you want to tell me why you’re here?”
“I just needed a break from my pack, that’s all,” Alyssa said, trailing after her down a hallway lined with beach-themed black and white prints and a few pictures of Charlie with her various packmates.
The hallway opened up into a huge open living room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Gulf Coast. Charlie was part of the Kincaid pack who lived in Orange Beach, Alabama. Alyssa knew the pack did well for themselves and owning beach front property was pricey anywhere. But the Kincaid pack owned the entire condominium she was now in.
The way the place was built each packmate had an ocean view. Unlike a lot of condos she’d been in, she noticed that when she’d headed up the stairs to Charlie’s place all the hallways were glassed in instead of open. And they only had one main gated entrance with a high wall blocking the parking lot. The extra privacy made sense for a shifter pack.
“No way. You don’t get off with that easy answer.” Charlie dropped Alyssa’s bag next to one of the microfiber couches and continued on to one of the sliding glass doors. The calming sound of ocean waves filled the room as she opened it.
When Alyssa stepped out onto the patio she saw that Charlie had a plate of cheese, crackers and stuffed mushrooms filled with some sort of cheesy mix that smelled delicious. And there was a bottle of wine. “I could kiss you right now.”
“I’ve got vodka too, in case you needed it,” Charlie said on a laugh.
Alyssa collapsed on one of the seats at the mosaic table. “I think wine’s good.” She’d been on the road for a week, stopping at various places and basically just enjoying the privacy away from her pack. She’d checked in with her dad via text and had been calling some of her packmates so they knew she was okay. She didn’t want anyone to worry, but after the blowout with her father, she’d known space and time away were the only way she’d get past everything.
Charlie opened the wine bottle, poured them both glasses before sitting too. “Talk.”
“My dad and I got in a pretty big argument.” Even the thought of it made her throat tighten. She knew she was probably being a baby, but he’d never yelled at her before. Not once. And it had come as a shock. Her reaction annoyed her and she’d realized that if he was going to see her as an adult, she was going to have to make her own damn decisions. She never should have even entertained the idea of an arranged mating. She should have said no before they went to O’Shea territory. But she’d wanted to make her father happy.
She cleared her throat when Charlie didn’t respond. “He wanted me to get mated to an alpha and I disagreed. Sort of. It’s complicated. Anyway, when I told him I was backing out of the mating he wasn’t happy.”
Charlie’s dark eyes widened. “Wait, your dad tried to force you to get mated?”
“Not exactly. He set up this arranged mating—”
“What!”
Ignoring her friend’s cry of outrage, she snagged one of the stuffed mushrooms and popped it into her mouth. When she’d swallowed she looked at Charlie again, who was staring expectantly. “So he set up this arranged mating that I wasn’t planning to go through with—until I met my intended mate.” She felt so pathetic even admitting it out loud but if she couldn’t be honest with her friends then she needed new ones. “I thought maybe we might have a chance at happiness.”
Alyssa wasn’t going to get into all the sweet things he’d done for her or the long conversations they’d had late into pretty much every evening for three weeks because it didn’t matter. He felt differently about her. “But it turned out I was just a business deal to him. So I told my dad I didn’t want to mate with him, we fought, and I left the next morning.”
“First, I’m surprised your dad of all people would have pushed an arranged mating, given his relationship with your mom.”
Alyssa nodded. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around her dad’s reaction. Lately he’d been edgy though, snapping at packmates. He was still fair, but his temper had seemed shorter the last few months. She wasn’t sure what was going on with him. Well, she had an idea, but wasn’t positive. “I know.”
“Second, whoever this dickhead is who didn’t want you for you—”
“He’s not a dick.”
Charlie snorted. “Anyone who thinks of you as a business deal, is a dick in my book. And I’m your friend so I get to be childish and mock him and his definitely small penis.”
Alyssa snickered into her wine. She was pretty sure Reece wasn’t small anywhere, but Charlie’s words made her laugh. She’d met Charlie in college and given that they were both shifters, they’d bonded pretty quickly. Charlie was older and had taken Alyssa under her wing more or less. She’d been a senior when Alyssa had been a freshman so they’d really only spent one year hanging out but she’d visited Charlie in Kincaid territory since graduating and vice versa. “Well, I wouldn’t know about that.”
“Good, at least you didn’t sleep with him.” She nodded once in approval. “Makes it a lot easier to get over a guy if you haven’t sampled the goods.”
At the faint sound of a knock, Alyssa glanced at the open sliding glass door. “Are you expecting someone?”
“Grant said he’d s
top by.”
“Oh, right.” Charlie’s alpha was giving her passage into his territory, no strings attached. She’d met him on more than one occasion when she’d visited Charlie and was thankful he was being so generous. Not that she expected less from the male.
Charlie popped up from her seat and disappeared inside with a supernatural quickness. Alyssa stood and smoothed her hands down her cashmere sweater and jeans. She felt a little grungy after the day of driving and wished she’d had time to freshen up. Especially since she figured she’d be getting to meet the alpha’s new mate. Alyssa would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about the human female who’d made two-hundred year old Grant Kincaid fall hard.
Seconds later Grant and Alyssa strode onto the patio. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt didn’t take away from the aura of authority that surrounded the dark-haired alpha. Just like Reece and her father, he seemed to carry an innate sense of power like a custom-made jacket. It wrapped around the male, letting any supernatural being know he wasn’t a male to mess with. Well, unless you wanted your ass kicked.
Right now he was all smiles. “Hey, Alyssa. Glad to have you back in my territory.” He gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.
Shifters were all about touch, but not all alphas were as friendly as Grant. Yeah, she’d definitely made the right decision coming here. She had down time to breathe without being hassled by her pack. “Thanks for having me. Listen, my dad doesn’t know I’m here and—”
“He does now. Don’t worry about it, he’s glad you’re here. Well, he’s glad you’re safe.”
“You told him?”
“No. I got a call about ten minutes ago from him wanting to confirm you were here.”
“Oh.” She bit her bottom lip. “Did he sound mad?”
Grant snorted and shrugged. “He was a little surly but you’re his kid. He’s fine now that he knows where you are.”
“I won’t cause you any grief by being here?” That had been her main concern. If it would cause any strife between the two packs she would just leave.
“No. Just relax and enjoy yourself while you’re here. I think…your father felt bad about something.” There was a question in his gaze though he didn’t outright ask.
To Catch His Mate (Crescent Moon Series Book 5) Page 2
