Taming Alaska

by Katherine Rhodes

  I’d been so hopeful in my twenties, building a house with four bedrooms and a master suite.

  “This is amazing,” Jess called from the bathroom.

  “Thanks.” I stood just out of view next to the door. “Just upgraded.”

  “You did all this?”

  “You get really good with your hands when you’ve got six months of paralyzing cold.”

  She giggled. “I know just how good you are with your hands.”

  My cock jumped in response to that comment. Damn.

  Clearing her throat, I caught the barest whiff of her arousal. I peered around the corner—and shouldn’t have.

  She was just pulling her shirt off, and her simple bra held her firm, lovely breasts aloft. I recalled the taste of them, and I instantly regretted it as my dick slammed into my zipper.

  Well, shit.

  I turned the corner and entered the bathroom. I saw the shock on her face for just a moment, then a filthy little smile showed up to take its place.

  My hand had its own ideas of don’t do anything as it slipped up the silky skin of her sides and found the clasp on the back of her bra. I trailed my hands up her shoulders, dragging the straps with me and sliding the whole thing down her arms.

  She slipped it off and folded it as my hands easily wrapped around the pert tits that had been revealed. Her nipples were hard little pearls against my palm, and in a heartbeat, I had her hair swept to one side and my hand back at her breasts.

  I kissed a trail from her shoulder, up the column of neck, to the soft sensitive spot just behind her ear. She trembled, and I stole a glance at her in the mirror.

  Her head was tipped to the side and her eyes had drifted shut. Her skin was luminous in the lights and I plumped her breasts.

  Her eyes opened, but the lust in them was dark and alluring, and caught my gaze in the glass.

  “Fuck me, Garrett. Please.”

  My hands left her nipples and slid quickly down her hips, dragging the panties she was wearing with them, as well as the pajama bottoms she’d managed to get on. I yanked my shirt off over my head, and it felt like I couldn’t get my pants unfastened fast enough.

  I did, though, and my painfully hard erection leapt free. With one hand on her hip and the other on my dick, I slid myself through her wet heat a few times, nudging against her clit and savoring each of her little gasps of delight.

  I probed her welcoming depths with just the tip of my crown, and as soon as I was secure there, my aim true, I let my eyes wander back to the mirror.

  Jess had braced both hands on the counter, and her beautiful naked body was flushed and pink with her heat. Her brown eyes caught my blue ones and we locked gazes.

  Sliding into the heat of her pussy from behind while our eyes were locked ranked as the single most erotic moment of my life to that point. Welcoming, slick, and tight, her sex was fluttering around my intrusion immediately.

  Stepping her feet apart and pressing her soft, round ass into mine, she waited.

  I couldn’t.

  I watched as her eyes fluttered the same way her sex did as I slid in deep. How in the space of just a few hours had I forgotten the sweet heat of her sheath around me?

  I held her hip with one hand and she pressed back against me as I was seated balls deep inside. A moment later, I drove in and out, short and sharp.

  Her breath hissed out, “Yessss, please.”

  My other hand found its way to her clit and I pressed against it. Her entire body shook this time, and the heat in her eyes from the mirror broke my resolve to be slow.

  I thrust and withdrew in the next heartbeat, pounding my cock deep, deep into her. I couldn’t stop—didn’t want to stop—the rough rhythm of our coupling.

  If I stopped, I would bind her to me with a deep bite to her shoulder, and she didn’t even have a clue she was fucking a shifter at that moment. So I slammed into her depths again and again, my wolf howling his delight as we took our mate hard and fast and in our own home.

  Her breath snuck out. “Garrett.”

  I loved the sound of my name from her lips.

  “Come for me, baby,” I managed.

  “Come with me.”

  “Oh, I’m there.” I felt her legs trembling as I pushed hard and deep.

  A simple dusting of my fingers over her clit and she exploded, dropping forward onto the counter to brace herself. The ripples of her orgasm gripped my cock and a moment later, I lost all control and shot my cum inside her, filling her.

  Fuck, I wanted to claim this woman. I nearly let enough of my wolf out to howl our victorious climax, but managed, just barely, to hold it back.

  Her body went limp, and I knew I had only a few moments more of energy left in mine. Scooping up the gorgeous trembling woman who had so eagerly taken my cock, I managed to get us to the bed, throw the covers back, and set her down.

  I nearly collapsed on top of her. It was only sheer will that got me around to my side of the bed.

  Once I was off my feet, I had just a little more energy left. I arranged Jess in the bed with me and pulled the covers up to ward off the chill.

  She felt amazing against me. Jess was a picture of carnal delight tucked against me, her hair tumbling over the pillow I had put under her head.

  I kissed the shell of her ear and smiled. She mumbled. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to seduce you.”

  “You’re not sorry at all.”

  “Not even remotely.”

  I chuckled as she drifted off to sleep.

  How was I going to convince her she belonged to me?

  * * *

  I smelled bacon.

  Taking my time sitting up, I held the sheets to me and surveyed my current situation.

  I had accidentally had sex with Garrett last night.

  It was a nice accident, but it was totally an accident. When he appeared in the doorway, I was just going to tease him and then we could go to sleep.

  Next thing I knew…

  How oddly comfortable I was here with him. It wasn’t something I really wanted to feel yet, comfortable. I had been hugely betrayed by my ex, and I thought it should take me longer than this to find someone I…liked. And what was with the sudden, magnetic attraction? I knew I could spend the whole day with him, any which way I could get him. Naked, dressed, in bed, fixing the power at the cabin.

  The bacon, on the other hand, was calling to me.

  I hopped out of bed and dressed as fast as I could, retrieving my clothes from the bathroom where Garrett had shucked them off me. The bathroom where I had…

  I forced myself to dress and not think about him driving into me from behind.

  Damn it.

  Shaking off what I could, I trotted down the stairs, glad I had put on more than a shirt and panties. Everyone was in the kitchen, and Garrett was standing at the stove, cooking eggs.

  He could cook. Damn.

  “Good morning, finally,” Delia said, cocking her head from the table.

  I finished walking down the stairs and presented her my middle finger as I took one of the two empty seats. Patrick cleared his throat and I realized I had just done that in front of Garrett’s parents.

  The embarrassment blushed my cheeks. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

  His mother, Olga, waved me off. “Please. I call my best friend a bitch all the time.”

  Both Patrick and his father choked on the pancakes they were munching on, and Olga worked her jaw, desperately trying not to laugh. I laughed too, but I also had the sneaking suspicion that the joke went deeper than I knew.

  Garrett was suddenly next to me with a sizzling pan of hot bacon and put a few strips on my plate. “It’s boar bacon. Dad got the boar mid-March and we’ve been waiting for the bacon to cure.”

  I stared at the strips of perfect bacon and looked over at Brandy across from me.

  After a snort, she nodded at the plate. “It’s bacon, but like a million times better. Just try it. There’s plenty of other interesting foods you’re going to have
to try while we’re up here.”

  “The Aleut tribe usually bring us whale and reindeer mid-summer,” Martin said. “And we trade them for boar and elk. Dried. Which is why we have this bacon. I always save a slab or two for us.”

  I picked up my fork and poked at the meat. It smelled insanely delicious, and I just gave in, spearing it and shoving half the strip in my mouth.

  The flavor exploded in my mouth, and I couldn’t stop the moan of appreciation. It just escaped me. Garrett’s eyes grew wide and I could tell my food porn noise had turned him on by the way he spun back to the stove.

  Oops.

  “So, we have a lot to do on the cabin today,” Patrick said. “We’ve already called for the diesel delivery and Garrett’s put in the order for the turbine. We’re all going to go up there today and start working on the electrical system, get the house ready for the solar panels, figure out where to put the collection tanks—”

  “We who?” Brandy sliced into the list of things to do.

  “Me, Patrick, Dad, and a bunch of other guys on the compound,” Garrett said.

  “We can’t afford a huge—” Brandy started.

  “Whatever you need to do,” Delia cut in smoothly.

  “Delia—”

  “Cram it, Brandy. If we’re all going to be able to use the cabin any time we want, I want it full of creature comforts. It’s covered.” She looked at Garrett. “Whatever it needs.”

  They were going to fight again, but I hoped they would at least hold off until we were out of the house. The house needed to be checked and…

  “What are we going to do about the coyotes?” I pushed the other pieces of bacon around my plate. “They’re aggressive and they pissed on the front door.”

  Olga’s fork clattered to her plate. “They did what?”

  “Marked the front door,” Brandy repeated.

  “Mom, we have it,” Garrett said.

  She really looked like she wanted to say something else but bit her tongue. She tossed a look at Martin, then went back to her breakfast. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but I was sure we were going to find out.

  Martin cleared his throat. “I would like you ladies to stay down here in the compound tonight with us. You’ll be safer until we’re able to deal with the coyote problem. We have something that will work, but it has to be done overnight. It’s better if you ladies spend another night here.”

  That was not a problem with me.

  After we finished eating, everyone piled out to the various cars waiting outside, while I trotted upstairs to change out of the pajama set I was still wearing. I threw on the jeans I had on the night before and grabbed my sweatshirt.

  “I wish there was a way I could keep you here, naked all day.”

  I jumped and whirled. Garrett was leaning in the doorway, arms folded. His arms were sculpted and for some reason that was doing it for me at that moment.

  “We have to get the house going.”

  “I know.” He stalked into the room and up to me. “That doesn’t mean I can’t think about it. Tossing you on the bed and having my wicked ways with you.”

  “You are not helping me.” My breath escaped in a rush.

  “There are also a lot of places at the house we can sneak away to.”

  I put a hand on my forehead. “Stop. No. We’re going up there to work. You can have me whatever way you like tonight, but please… let me help with my friend’s house.”

  He grinned. “Fair enough.”

  It didn’t stop him from pressing himself up against me and letting me know just how much he didn’t think it was fair with his raging hard-on.

  Frankly, it took everything I had to not grind back and invite him to bed for a romp.

  What was wrong with me? What was going through my head that after such a horrible, awful six months, I was so willing to jump into bed with this guy?

  I took a deep breath and gently stepped back.

  “We have to get going. We’re already way behind everyone else up there and we want to get out of your hair as soon as possible.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and I felt his breath in my hair. “You’re not in my hair. And I know you’re having trouble with this because of what happened with your ex.”

  “There should be more time…”

  “There is no set way to mourn, Jess. None at all. Everyone heals differently at different paces. If you think it’s time to let go, let go. If you’re not ready, then that’s fine too. What happened yesterday, last night, was fast. For both of us. But that doesn’t mean it was wrong. It doesn’t mean it diminishes what you’ve experienced.”

  He tapped two fingers above my heart. “Here. This is what matters. No one else dictates what your heart does and doesn’t do.”

  I saw the ghost of something pass over his features, but we were late. I didn’t pursue it. We were just booty calls.

  Right?

  Chapter Six

  The cabin was alive with people, and I was relieved to see it. Half of our St. Terese pack was there, and some of the Turner Lake Pack had come up.

  I walked up to the alpha and stuck my hand out.

  “Fergus. Good to see you.”

  He nodded and smiled back. “Garrett. Thanks for inviting us up.”

  “This is Jessica, one of the ladies staying here this summer.”

  Jess held out her hand and they shook.

  “You’ve met Brandy?” I glanced around, looking for the Yéil heir.

  “Certainly did. And Delia is the money.”

  Jess chuckled at that. “That she is. Thank God she’s generous.”

  “I wanted to talk with you about some issues on the property,” Fergus said, looking around. That was code for, ‘we need to talk about everything going on here, including our exiles.’

  I understood immediately.

  “Jess, why don’t you head inside, and Fergus and I will talk shop. I’m sure there’s someone in there who wants to gossip with you. Our crap is boring.”

  She raised an eyebrow. I didn’t like dismissing her, but she seemed to understand I had good reason. “Yeah, more like they want to know all about how good you are in bed.”

  Fergus snorted, and I narrowed my eyes at her. “You can tell them all about my prowess.”

  She held up her fingers just an inch apart and winked. I wanted to grab her and remind her I was not sporting a compact at all, but she ran away laughing, jumping up the stairs and into the house.

  “Human?” Fergus asked.

  I took a deep breath. “Fully.”

  Slowly, his head rotated back to me. “Mate?”

  Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, I sighed. “Yup.”

  Making sympathetic noises, Fergus clapped me on the back. “She’s got no idea you’re pack.”

  “Not at all.”

  “What about the Yéil woman?”

  “She’s got no clue, either. They’re one hundred percent human world raised. They might have played with Wicca while they were at college, but that’s it. They know nothing about our world.”

  “You’ve got your hands full.”

  “The exiles marked the door.”

  Fergus nodded. “I scented that and sent everyone away from the cabin until I could wash it over and mark over it.”

  The shock shot my eyebrows up. “You?”

  “Only way to really let them know what was going on here.” Fergus studied the cabin. “Though I didn’t mark directly on the door. I opted to go to the side. Because really? Pissing on a door? Gross.”

  I chuckled. He was right. While it was important that we marked our territory, all the shifter clans marked away from houses and personal property as much as possible.

  Especially the bears.

  Because bears most assuredly shat in the woods.

  “Do you have any ideas about the exiles?”

  Fergus shook his head. “I was going to talk to your dad and Chief Great Paw. I need ideas.”

  Patting his shoulder, I nodded at
the house. “Dad’s here, if you need to talk to him. He came up with us to help.”

  The coyote alpha perked right up. “Perfect. I’ll get him at lunch and see what he says. Meanwhile, we have sheet rock and bathrooms to start on. Your guys were digging the pit for the turbine footing at start of day.”

  “Awesome, that means they’re nearly done by now.”

  Fergus clapped me on the shoulder. “Good luck with that pretty little mate of yours. No envy on my part.” He grinned and strode toward the porch.

  I liked the alpha of the Turner Lake Pack. I also knew he was brand-new to being an Alpha after his uncle stepped down when his son was killed in a rescue operation. Fergus had been the natural next choice, but several of the exiles challenged and he’d had a brutal start to his leadership.

  I was grateful my father and mother were still there, and still willing and able to lead the pack. I didn’t want challenges. Without a mate, I would absolutely have to face them.

  I shook off the thoughts. I needed to be in the human world right now and get the cabin back to livable.

  Leaping up the stairs, I scented the faint marking of the coyote just off to the right of the door. He’d been very polite about his mark—there was no heavy stink that Brandy couldn’t remark.

  Human. Human world. Not supernatural.

  I found Jess and her friends in the kitchen, pouring over the color samples Vladimir had brought from the hardware store. He was good with colors and the man always showed up with just about his entire color palate when there were women involved.

  He was a tricky bastard that way. Men needed about ten colors. Women needed the entire Pantone line, and even then had trouble with the exact shade of eggplant—and he exploited that.

  Still, the women were standing there, chatting, dividing the colors into yeses and noes and filing them to the right rooms.

  Looking around I saw that my father and Patrick had decided to help in the living room while two of my regulars, Vinny and Rigger, were in the bathroom destroying it.

  That was more than I had planned on today, but hell. They were five hours ahead of me and had most of the bath out and broken down and trucked out to the dumpster someone had dragged up the hill.