Wild One (Wilding Pack Wolves 4) - New Adult Paranormal Romance

by Alisa Woods

  He wanted all of her—heart, body, and soul—and not just a hot, stolen kiss.

  But fuck that kiss was killing him.

  He broke it, but only to slide his mouth along her jaw, tasting her sweet skin, nibbling his way down to her throat. The breathy sounds coming from her mouth as she banged her head back, opening herself up to him, were driving his wolf into a frenzy. He lifted her leg and hooked it over his hip, giving him access to grind his rock-hard cock right into the sweet spot between her legs. The hitch in her breathing told him he could probably have her now, right here in the hallway… and damn if he wasn’t seriously considering it.

  He wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman before.

  And he wasn’t sure he had enough control to say no if she was saying yes.

  Fuck.

  He forced himself to slow down the insanely sudden make out they had going. “Jesus, Julia,” he breathed. “I want you so fucking bad.”

  He felt the shudder ripple through her body, chasing after his words, and that about put him over the edge. Two heartbeats later, he felt the ground shake below his boots… but it wasn’t their lust going into overdrive. It was someone outside the apartment—several someones pounding down the stairwell and shaking the whole floor.

  Then there was pounding at the front. “Marco!” It was Stefan, calling through the door. “We found it!”

  Marco pulled back, releasing Julia’s leg and disengaging from his full-body press against the wall. He was breathing hard, but so was she—and those big eyes of hers were staring at him with a mixture of awe and half-hooded lust.

  “We’ll have finish this later,” he said, his voice still hoarse with need.

  She just blinked, neither agreeing or disagreeing, but he still had to force himself to push away from her. He straightened his clothes, took her hand in his, and led her toward the door.

  Oh my God, that kiss.

  That thought ran through Julia’s mind in an endless loop following the afternoon’s dramatic events where Marco had saved her, once again, from her own foolishness. Then, even in the heat of trying to protect his pack, he took a moment to pin her against the wall and show her how much he wanted her body.

  And her body had sung with that knowledge, not to mention her wolf purring in anticipation, for the next two hours. But that time had been filled with other things. Crushing the bug, watching the Wolf Hunter’s surveillance feed stop, reconvening back at the shelter to make follow-up plans for further patrols. None of it gave Marco a chance to follow up that kiss with another one… or possibly more.

  Now she was back at the abandoned furniture store with him, but they were far from alone. He’d brought along a dozen kids—he called them pups—for their afternoon exercise and physical training as young wolves. They’d split up the sexes—girls on one side and boys on the other—and then practiced shifting back and forth with their wolf forms. The girls ran around naked, and the boys did, too, each group being supervised by several adult wolves to keep them to their own side of the flimsy partition set up in the middle of the cavernous room. They played games as wolves, and then other games as humans, and throughout it all, Marco lead the boys in their training while Isabel lead the girls. Julie stuck to the girl’s side with the rest, but she caught glimpses of Marco and his amazingly gorgeous physical form on the other side of the partition.

  He said he wanted her. And there was no denying she was aching for him, too, at least in a physical sense. He was hot, and that kiss lit up every part of her body that could be lit. Only Marco wasn’t looking for someone to sleep with. Maybe. He was under pressure to take a mate, and he’d made it clear that the other women in his pack, including Isabel, didn’t work for him.

  But he was definitely interested in her.

  Julia just didn’t know what to do with that.

  She needed a safe place to stay while she sorted out her life, but she had planned to scrabble her way back to that life. Piece it together again, not give up on it entirely.

  Which was what staying in Marco’s pack meant.

  Not to mention that she was stepping into a big old mess of pack dynamics that she knew nothing about. Namely, Isabel. The tall, slender, and gorgeous female wolf who was apparently not Marco’s girlfriend. She’d been checking Julia out through all the kids’ activities.

  That wasn’t awkward. Nope, not at all.

  Isabel finished up the latest game where the kids passed around a ball and said something as they went. Julia thought it was maybe code within the pack. She didn’t understand it at all. As the kids ran off to the drinking fountain, Isabel signaled Julia over from the sidelines where she’d been hanging out, watching. She sucked in her courage and made her way over, trying not to look like she was dragging her feet.

  “Hey, how are you holding up?” Isabel asked.

  It felt really weird for her to be concerned, but as far as Julia could tell, it was genuine—in fact, Isabel seemed like the kind of person Julia could be friends with. If she hadn’t just made out with Marco two hours ago.

  “Yeah, I’m good. Thank you for asking.” Julia wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “I heard you took on Cruz’s beta all on your own.” Isabel’s eyes sparkled with some kind of mischief. That certainly wasn’t the official story, so she must’ve gotten it from somewhere… Marco. Which made Julia even more uncomfortable, thinking about the two of them discussing her.

  “Not one of my best choices.” Julia moved her weight from one foot to the other. She looked to see if the kids were coming back, but it appeared they were done. They were laughing and joking and taking down the partition. When she looked back to Isabel, the girl was examining her, like she was trying to figure Julia out.

  Great.

  “Look,” Julia said, holding up her hands in surrender, “I don’t know if I’m even sticking around here, you know? So, you don’t have to worry about me, um, causing any more trouble.” The kiss she shared with Marco was undeniably hot, but she didn’t want to be the person who came in and ruined things. Especially when it was obvious that Marco was doing so much good here.

  Isabel frowned. “I see.”

  Julia had no idea what that meant.

  Marco was winding up the activities on the boys’ side as well, and the makeshift gym was quickly emptying out. Julia had no idea what was on the menu for the rest of the day. It was close to dinner time, so maybe they were heading back to the shelter for meals? Some of the kids had homes outside the shelter, too—she knew that much from rescuing Ethan on the way home from school.

  “Well,” Isabel said as she slowly backed toward the door. “I hope you decide to stay. I think you’d be a great asset to the pack.” Then she turned and strode toward the door, leaving Julia with her mouth hanging open.

  Isabel gave a nod to Marco as she passed him.

  He frowned after her, watching her with the same apparent confusion that Julia felt stirring around inside her chest.

  What the hell? Did she have no idea that Marco was attracted to her? Or was this some kind of elaborate girl game that Julia didn’t understand? She’d never been any good at reading those kinds of signals, always too busy figuring out how to keep her life from going off the rails between her mom’s problems and her many stepfathers moving in and out of her life. Playing the whole mean girl game had never been an option for her, anyway—she was never part of the in-group, and she was highly trained at staying below the radar and keeping out of the way of bullies.

  Before she could sort it out, Isabel was gone, and the gym was empty except for her and Marco.

  Again.

  Julia swallowed when he turned toward her, a small smile on his face.

  He slowly crossed the gym with measured paces and that crooked smile.

  Jesus, just a look from him was heating her up already. And that look had all kinds of expectation and promise built into it. The visceral memory of their kiss flushed through her body again.

  When he reached her, he a
sked, “What did Isabel want?”

  She shrugged, genuinely confused. “She just said she hoped I would stay in the pack.”

  Marco raised his eyebrows and gave a short nod. “I’d like that, too.”

  Julia sighed. “I don’t know, Marco, I just—”

  He held up a hand to stop her. “You don’t have to decide this moment. But I’ve been thinking about you…” He ran a look over her body that heated her from head to toe, and she couldn’t help wondering if he was thinking about her the same way she had been thinking about him. Namely, calculating the odds of repeating that kiss. Maybe with fewer clothes.

  Marco licked his lips, not leaving much to wonder about. “And I’ve been thinking about your wolf.”

  Her wolf? Man, she hoped that wasn’t some kinky wolf thing. “Please tell me you’re not thinking about making out with my wolf form,” she said with a frown. “Because I’m really not into that sort of thing.”

  He let out a huff of laughter and grinned wickedly at her. “No, most shifters like their human forms for that sort of activity. I was thinking more about how you could control your wolf—if you join my pack, I need you to have a little more discipline than earlier today.”

  She frowned and stared at the floor. “You know, I thought I actually had it more under control than that.”

  “That’s what I’ve been thinking about.” He moved closer but dropped the sexy smile in favor of a more eager one. “You’re so… passionate. Righteous. You have such strong feelings. I think it’s because the wolf is so strong in you, and it just wants to come out when you feel those things.” He reached out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I really like that part of you.”

  Even that brief touch was lighting her on fire again.

  “But I’d love to see you be able to control it,” he said softly. “So, I figured we could do a little role play.”

  She lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

  “Not that kind of role playing,” he said with a laugh. Then he was back to that smirky, sexy grin. “Although I’m open to whatever you’d like, later on.”

  She scowled at him. “So what do you mean, then?”

  He stepped back. “Whatever you do, don’t shift.” It was a command, the kind she heard him giving other members of his pack. She could feel the thrum of it throughout her body as her wolf responded to his alpha-ness.

  “Like, ever again?” she asked, wondering what this was about.

  He smirked. “Just for the next 10 minutes or so. As long as you can.”

  “I don’t understand—” But he was holding his hand up again to stop her.

  “They are all kinds of fucked up things in the shifter world,” he said, his voice taking on a hard edge. “Kids are rejected by society from the moment they’re born. There are people who are outting shifters…” He gestured to the world beyond the walls of their abandoned furniture store. “People who, as soon as they know you’re a shifter, will turn on you as if you’re subhuman. Who would just as soon see you dead.”

  “I know,” she protested. “I know all of that all too well—”

  He cut her off again, starting to circle her with an intense look in his eyes. “Have you? Have you really? Where do you come from, Julia? Because no matter where it is, I’m pretty sure it’s not as fucked up as things are here in downtown Seattle, ground zero for shifter gangs and abuse.”

  Her wolf bristled at the accusation that somehow she hadn’t been through enough suffering, not like him and his people. “You don’t know anything about me!” A little growl had snuck into her voice from her wolf.

  “No, I don’t know anything about you.” Strangely, it looked like he was fighting a smile. “But I doubt you have any idea what this world is really like. Do you know what the Wolf Hunter would have done with Ethan? Do you have any idea what I’ve seen him do already?”

  A shudder rippled through her, raising the hairs on her arms. “I’ve seen the videos.”

  “The videos are nothing,” Marco spat, still circling her, forcing her to turn to face him. “Nothing compared to what he’s actually done to members of my pack. He tortured them, Julia. Tortured them to death. Do you have any idea how hard that is with a wolf? Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering the Wolf Hunter and his thugs have already inflicted on my pack members?”

  She shook her head, not even wanting to hear about it. “I know it’s bad—”

  He stopped suddenly in his circling and grabbed hold of her shoulders, pulling her up close to him. But there was no softness in his voice or his face, just a hard, glittering determination. “He tortured a little old lady to death. He would’ve flayed Ethan alive. This is the fate that awaits all of us, Julia, every single one of us if people like the Wolf Hunter have their way.”

  She wrenched out of his hold. “You’re saying this like it’s my fault! I didn’t do anything—”

  He jabbed a finger at her. “No! You haven’t done anything. What have you done to try to stop it?”

  “That’s not fair! What can I do? I’m just—”

  He leaned back and gave her a slightly disgusted look. “You’re just… what? Not one of us? Better than us?”

  She balled up her fists. She could feel her wolf pawing the ground, wanting out, wanting to tell him off. Or possibly scratch off his face. “I’m not saying that! I’m saying I’m just one wolf…” And suddenly all the tension drained from her body.

  She was just one wolf.

  Marco’s eyes lit up, and a little of that smile he’d been fighting snuck back on his face. “Yes. You’re just one wolf.” But his voice was encouraging now. “But together, Julia… together we are a pack. And then you can do so much more.” He closed the distance between them and slid his hand up on her cheek, holding her firmly in that way that made her melt into him. He tipped her chin up and looked like he wanted to kiss the hell out of her again. And, oh man, did she want him to do exactly that. “Just one wolf—one beautiful, powerful, hot and sexy wolf.” He was whispering, and she felt his heated breath reach across the few inches between them. “But if you join me, join my pack, you won’t be alone in any of this. Not anymore. Let me protect you. Join with me in fighting this. You have the spirit, the energy, this pack needs.… that I need…” His last words were soft, a bare whisper.

  He waited, eyes blazing, wanting to hear the words from her lips. That she would stay with him. That she would join his cause and his pack. And she knew what joining with him meant—being a mate. Even though she only had the barest knowledge of what that really meant, it scared the hell out of her.

  She wasn’t ready.

  And she wasn’t at all sure that joining a criminal shifter gang was the answer to any of it. No matter how hot Marco was, that was still the situation—he was the alpha in charge of a gang of shifters who were dealing drugs and who knew what else on the spectrum of illegal activities.

  She pulled back, out of his hold, and watched as disappointment dimmed the light in his eyes. “I don’t know, Marco. This is all moving so fast. And I… I just really need a place to stay for a day. Maybe two. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

  The fervor on his face shut down, and it went blank—devoid of the animation from before. It seemed like there was still a fury boiling beneath his skin, but he wasn’t letting it out.

  He stepped back. “Very well. If that’s the way you want it.” But he was pissed. She could tell.

  He held his hand out to the door. “I’ll make sure you get back to the shelter all right. You can stay as long as you need to. Until you’re ready to go.”

  Her heart clenched with that, but he was putting her in an impossible situation—how could she decide a thing like mating when she’d only spent a day around him and his pack? She hadn’t even slept since she’d stumbled upon them. In fact, she hadn’t slept any of the last several days that she had been wandering the streets, fighting to stay alive on her own. And here was a gorgeous, hot wolf wanting her to join his pack, offering
her safety. A way out.

  Was she a complete idiot for turning him down?

  She marched stiffly past him, ignoring the cold look on his face. But it was still slicing through her heart.

  True to his word, Marco made sure she got back to the shelter safely.

  Then he turned his back on her without another word and left her alone.

  Marco stalked through the shelter, ignoring the startled looks on the faces of his pack.

  What was he thinking? That he actually had found his fated mate? Julia certainly didn’t seem to think so. What they had between them was only lust, at least on her side of things. But he wasn’t angry at her—mostly it just stung like hell that the one woman he had seriously been interested in, pretty much ever, didn’t want anything to do with him. That kiss in the hallway had been insanely hot, but that’s all it was to her. He was good enough for that, but not good enough to keep. She wasn’t interested in his heart.

  And his heart lay with his pack.

  How had he forgotten that? He didn’t get this far by being a romantic idiot. He had a hundred people relying on him to be smarter than that. As he marched past the bunks, past the eating area where he garnered even more stares, and headed for the rec room, he knew just what he needed to do—find Isabel and claim her for his mate.

  It was his duty, and dammit, he was going to do it this time.

  He poked his head into the rec room, but she wasn’t there. He ignored the calls of his name and spun back around to scan the open part of the shelter. Wherever she was, he was going to find her, haul her back to his room, have hot, angry sex, and forget all about Julia. Marco had driven away the stress of his problems in Isabel’s arms before—he could do it again. And this time, it would be forever.

  He may not be in love with Isabel, but he knew she was committed to the cause. His cause. Unlike Julia.