The Alpha's Mate (8 Sexy, Powerful Shifters and Their Fated Mates)

by Lynn Red

  "Stop."

  Damien's voice was clear. Amid the hubbub, he had shifted back into human form and he now stood naked, stepping forward slowly with his arm clutching his chest in pain. Everyone stopped in their place. He addressed the female wolf directly.

  "Your leader is dead. Join our pack."

  She rolled over in a gesture of pure submission, exposing her belly. The other wolves retreated and Damien stood among them in the middle of the clearing, the light of the bonfire playing over his wounds. He turned his head to Julia, who stood naked along with him in the light of the flame.

  "Julia," he said, and held his uninjured hand out to her. With Dee following in wolf form, she walked forward to him, her broken arm hugged close to her chest. When she reached him, he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. His voice, still in pain, was deep and low.

  "Join my pack. Be my mate."

  Julia looked up at Damien, his chest smeared with blood, his eyes golden in the light of the fire. She had never loved him so much.

  "I already am," she said.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Damien

  “Ow! Could you not do that?”

  “I don’t know, could you stop being such a baby about a couple of stitches?”

  On top of Julia’s bed, Damien leaned his head back onto the pillow. Jordan pulled the last of the stitches tight and Damien winced.

  “There, was that so bad?”

  “Horrible,” Damien said, unclenching his jaw. “How is the rest of the pack?”

  “They’re all recuperating downstairs.” Jordan put the suturing tools back into his bag and snapped the clasp shut. “I think Kyle is trying to convince Katherine that part of his recovery requires sexual therapy.”

  “I didn’t think Kyle was hurt in the fight,” Damien said, lifting his arm so that Jordan could finish bandaging up his ribcage.

  “He wasn’t.”

  Damien chuckled. A knock came on the door.

  “Go away, we’re busy making pups!” Jordan called.

  The door opened slightly and Kyle eased himself inside, the scent of guilt on him. Damien’s smile quickly faded.

  “Can I talk with you, sir?” Kyle asked. His voice was quiet, contrite.

  “Yes,” Damien said.

  “I just need to finish bandaging this up,” Jordan said apologetically.

  “It’s alright,” Damien said. “You can stay. This won’t take long.”

  Kyle entered the room and stood in front of the bed. His breaths were shallow.

  “Sir, I—”

  Damien held up his hand.

  “Before you start to explain, I know that you are on my side. You and Katherine both. But there are a lot of questions that need answers. The pack needs answers.”

  Damien tried not to wince as Jordan tightened a bandage on his side. Kyle shifted his weight on his feet.

  “I betrayed you, sir.”

  Damien waited. After a moment, Kyle continued.

  “I lied. I—I betrayed the pack. But Katherine had nothing to do with it. Please. Even if you exile me, don’t force her out.”

  Damien raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think she could let you leave without coming with you.”

  Kyle exhaled, a long, deep sigh. A crack of guilt worked its way into his voice.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I thought I could fight them off before they got to Julia.”

  “Your old pack? The ones you told about Julia?” A growl came into Damien’s throat.

  “I contacted them before I ever knew she was your mate!” he said. “I thought she was just a shifter.”

  “One you could throw to the wolves?” Damien snapped. Kyle choked on his words, and Damien waited for him to calm down before going on. “Kyle, that doesn’t sound like you.”

  “I didn’t know what they were planning to do! I thought they just wanted her to join the pack,” he said.

  “Why would she want to join a pack like that? Why would you?”

  “When I was a pup...I don’t know, it seemed different,” Kyle said, speaking quickly. “It seemed more like a game. And the wolves were so strong, and I—I was so weak. I wanted to be like them. And then my leg got more twisted, and I knew I couldn’t stay, but...but I always wanted to go back.”

  He sounded so young, and Damien could hear the pain in his voice.

  “I’ll do anything to make it right. And if you tell me to go, I’ll go. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  Jordan stood silently and began to gather the rest of his medical equipment. That was what good friends did; they talked when you needed it, and stayed out of the way when you needed it. Damien lay quietly, thinking. On a gut level, he’d wanted to throw Kyle out of the pack the instant he read the letter. The kid was right. He had betrayed the pack. And when Damien thought of what might have happened to Julia, his blood ran cold through his body.

  And yet...he sensed that Kyle had matured after seeing Julia and the pack being threatened. There was no longer the brash certainty that he’d come with when Damien had first met him. While it was certain he had a long way to go, Damien thought that he could be trusted. At the very least, given another chance. Damien hated to think of the kid out on his own, with no pack to look after him.

  “You can stay in the pack,” Damien said flatly. “But if you ever lie to me again, you’re gone.”

  Kyle swallowed hard.

  “Thank you. I can’t—I...Thank you so much.”

  “Can you tell Julia we’re almost done here?” Damien said.

  “Yes! Yes, yes, I’ll go find her right away.” Kyle nearly tripped on his way out of the room.

  “You’re going soft in your old age,” Jordan said.

  “Yeah, well, what could I do? The kid saved my life and Dee’s.”

  “Is she coming into the pack, too?” Jordan asked.

  “Why? You don’t think she’ll want to join?”

  “Join?” Jordan laughed. “I think she’ll challenge you for alpha status.”

  Julia came into the room, her perfume wafting through the air ahead of her. Damien inhaled her scent, calming down as she came to sit next to him.

  “How’s he doing, doctor?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid I have bad news,” Jordan said. “I was able to fix the cracked rib, but he’s still blind.”

  Julia’s worry vanished into good humor.

  “Oh, no!” She squeezed Damien’s arm in mock horror.

  “Don’t worry,” Damien said. “The rest of me is in perfect health. And I do mean perfect.” He slid his hand around Julia’s waist, and she leaned over to kiss him.

  “Well, I’ll just take my leave then,” Jordan said.

  “Thank you,” Julia said, a smile in her voice.

  “Just doing my duty,” Jordan said, clicking his heels together and closing the door behind him.

  Damien kissed Julia again, pulling her in more closely.

  “Thank you for letting Kyle stay,” Julia said, her breath warm on his cheek. “He and Katherine are off celebrating. They’re adorable together.”

  “Good. I was worried what you would think. He did sell you into slavery, after all.”

  “And then rescued me.”

  “I would think you’d be more upset.”

  Damien felt a mix of emotions flowing from Julia. He caressed her cheek and she kissed his hand softly.

  “Truth be told,” she said, “I’m happy that I learned about my past.”

  “Well of course you are. You didn’t crack any ribs.” Damien grinned.

  “I’ll crack another one if you keep sassing me,” Julia said.

  Damien pressed his hand on hers, turning serious. “What did your grandmother tell you? About, you know...”

  “About shifting? She says she doesn’t know if I’ll ever be able to shift again,” Julia said. “It didn’t work, you know, when I tried it during the fight. Dee says it’s the procedure they did.”

  “She doesn’t know how to reverse the
process?”

  “No,” Julia said. “But she thinks we will be able to have children. Shifter children.”

  “Children? Isn’t that a little presumptuous?” Damien teased, arching his eyebrow.

  “Hey, I said no sass!”

  “What if I want you to break another one of my ribs?” Damien said, pulling Julia completely down onto the bed next to him.

  She laughed and ran one hand down his chest.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I can be gentle.”

  Damien breathed in as Julia’s hand moved down to unzip his pants. Her fingers slid under the fabric of his underwear and wrapped around his already growing member.

  “Julia—”

  “Shh,” she whispered, moving herself down to where his pants were bulging. His heart beat faster as she pulled down his pants and exposed him. Her breath felt deliciously hot against his head, and he twitched in anticipation. Softly at first, her tongue darted out and licked the tip of his head. Immediately he became entirely stiff.

  He could feel her so well now that she was touching him. He could sense every emotion that flickered through her mind, and what he found there made him breathless.

  Love, and so much there that he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her and tell her that yes, he loved her too, he would always love her. But more than that now, was the pulsing, insistent desire. She wanted him, she wanted to make him happy, wanted to be with him in every conceivable way. And again, now, he heard words floating through the ether and into his thoughts, like a whisper on the wind that he could barely make out.

  You. You’re the one. My prince. You’re mine.

  Thoughts turned into blank explosions of sensation as Julia took him into her mouth, her tongue pressing up at the underside of his shaft. She slid herself down, then up along his cock. He regretted not being able to see just then. He wanted to watch her take him inside of her mouth. He wanted to see her beautiful eyes, meet them with his. Then she swirled her tongue around the tip of his head and he leaned back into the pillow, groaning. Well, at least blindness enhanced his other sensations.

  Her hands began to stroke his balls, softly at first, then cupping them. One hand gripped his shaft at the base. He bucked against the pressure, aching to have her take him again entirely, to feel her lips stroking the sensitive skin of his head. A shock of pain jolted through him from his rib, and he yelped softly. She pulled back and he moaned.

  “Please,” he said.

  “Hold still,” she said. “You’re going to mess up all of Jordan’s hard work.”

  “That’s nothing,” Damien said. “He can always sew me back up again.”

  “You are irredeemably naughty.”

  Damien had a retort in his mind, but he somehow lost the words when Julia’s mouth returned to his cock with a light lick.

  “Tell me what you want,” Julia said. “I don’t...I don’t quite know how to do this.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Damien said. He sensed her anxiousness and reached down, caressing her hair. If she wanted him to guide her, he would do it gladly.

  “Take me in your mouth,” he said. He guided her with his hand gently, arching his back slightly. Her tongue swirled over the tip of his head and when she sucked there, it sent thrills of delight through him.

  “Harder,” he whispered. The pressure increased and he moaned.

  “I wish you could feel what this does to me,” he said. “Oh, Julia—”

  The twisting ache of his desire built and built until he was ready to burst. He felt her lust rising along with his, and the emotion echoed through his body, building with each reverberation until every nerve of his was vibrating with unreleased pressure.

  “Wait,” he said. “I want to be inside of you.”

  “Damien, I have a broken arm and you have a broken rib. Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  Damien grinned.

  “You said you could be gentle.”

  Julia laughed and threw her leg across him, easing her body down onto his. He held her waist with both hands, guiding himself toward her.

  Her smell was delicious, her soft perfume mixing with the scent of her juices. He knew that she was wet with desire for him, and it made him glad to know that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Groaning, he thrust himself upward into her hot slick center.

  “Ohh!” she cried. He felt what she felt—the terrible hot longing, the sensation of being filled, of being completed. So that was what it was like for her.

  She began to rock slowly, working his hard cock deeper and deeper into her core. The pressure inside of him rose and rose, and still he held back, biting his lip to keep himself from letting go. He wanted to be with her when she found her pleasure, wanted to experience the feeling along with her. He could sense it already, the clenching of her body around him, and it drove him wild.

  Rocking with her, he thrust his hips slightly upward to meet her, and she moaned with each thrust. The pain in his rib did not matter, nothing else mattered but the seal between the two of them, this connection that made the rest of the world disappear. He slid one hand up her thigh and grabbed her hip tightly, guiding her in circles against his muscle, and tight unwindings of pleasure shot away from her, rolled over his body and met with his pleasure.

  “Damien, I’m going to—I’m going to—”

  “Yes,” Damien whispered, and thrust upwards again, hard, keeping the rhythm until he felt her pent-up tension explode outward, rolling over him in waves and waves of ecstasy.

  “Ohhhh!” She tightened around him and cried out softly, her moan stifled with her hand.

  With one more thrust he was there, and he groaned in pleasure as he shot his seed into her hot accepting core.

  “Julia! Julia!”

  The waves of her bliss continued to roll through his body, making him twitch with each shudder. The waves ebbed into ripples, and then into a calm peace, a desire quenched. Julia rolled off of him and lay her body down next to him on the bed. He turned his head and leaned to kiss her, her lips still hot with exertion.

  “So, children?” he asked. She laughed in delight.

  “We’ll see what happens,” she said, cuddling up with her injured arm resting softly on his chest.

  He had more questions than answers about what would happen next, but he did not want to break the moment with words. There was plenty of time to figure out their future.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Julia

  *** Three months later...***

  Julia walked through the forest at night with just a single candle to light her way. The trail of her white dress glided along the forest floor. The ceremony had been planned quickly, but Granny Dee had taken her aside at the start of it. She'd opened the trunk in her room and pulled out her dress from when she'd bonded with Charles.

  "You don't need to wear the same one," Dee had said, uncharacteristically hesitant. "If you'd rather get another dress..."

  "No!" Julia had cried. "I love it!"

  She did. After a few alterations, the dress had fit her perfectly, and now as she stepped through the forest alone towards the gathering she looked down to admire it. Gossamer fabric clung to her curves and fluttered as she moved. The dress had faux sleeves that left her shoulders bare, and the silky white fabric bustled together at the small of her back and hung down to the trailing hem. It was a simple dress, but the beauty of it was in the simplicity, and as she walked in soft slippers across the trail towards the ceremony she thought that perhaps these were the dresses that angels wore. It was like wearing air.

  The trail led through a dense forest, and although it was dark, Julia was careful not to let the skirt hem snag as she made her way through the brush. The trail opened up, and she knew that she was close. She could hear the low hum of chanting just ahead.

  She paused just then, looking up at the sky. The stars shone brilliantly here, so far away from the city. She could make out Cassiopeia on the western horizon, the bright twinkles of light
linked together indelibly by their closeness in the vast universe, at least from their perspective. A tingling sensation ran through her body. She was so small, just a tiny, insignificant part of the immense fabric of space, and her very insignificance gave her courage. She turned her attention back to the trail and smiled, taking a step forward toward the place where she would bond with Damien. Time was endless, but she would not make him wait.

  As she neared the clearing, the chanting grew clearer. Low bass notes mingled with high melody, and she could make out the Lycarin words that Damien had taught her.

  Elthier'a le tan riel ayale,

  E kine amelia, te karian marale.

  We come today to bond together,

  A family grows, two hearts become one.

  She stepped through the entryway and gasped at the sight. Each person held a candle above their white robes, the flames flickering softly and lighting their faces. The clearing opened out to a ridge line that dropped down into a steep canyon.

  Julia and Damien had picked out the spot themselves, but Julia had only ever seen it in the daylight. At night, under the light of the full moon, the canyon seemed to stretch out forever in the distance. The soft blue light flooded the canyon, filling it with a calm, ethereal beauty. Stars twinkled overhead and the band of the galaxy stretched across the canyon like a rainbow of light in the sky. The warm flames of the candles lit the faces of all the guests there as they sang the last verse and the voices disappeared into silence.

  Damien stood at the ridge line next to Granny Dee, the guests in two arcs around them both. He wore a suit, and Dee, like all of the other guests, was dressed in white robes. The effect was stunning. Dee had explained to her that for the bonding ceremony every person other than the two mates would be dressed alike, in white to represent the purity of the occasion and to show the tie between family members of the pack. Julia's heart swelled as she saw Jordan standing next to Kyle and Katherine, their faces bright with joy. This was the happiest moment of her life yet, and soon she would be bonded forever, joined to the pack as much as she was joined to Damien.

  Julia walked through the center of the clearing towards the man who she would spend the rest of her days with. She knew that he could read her heart, and she sent all of her love towards him. He smiled.