Claiming His Mate
By Savannah Stuart
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Copyright © 2013 by Savannah Stuart
Cover Art by Sweet ‘n Spicy Designs
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Preview of Taming the Alpha
Complete Booklist
About the Author
Chapter 1
Lauren Hayes shoved a wayward strand of hair under the knit cap she wore as she slid up to the outside back wall of the quiet, two-story house. The black cover over her hair had nothing to do with the chilly October weather. Right now she was all about blending into the shadows this cold fall night. Which meant dressing in all black, like a sneaky burglar.
Because she was about to do something stupid. Incredibly stupid. She inwardly berated herself.
There was no turning back now. Shifters were notorious gossips and word had spread through the grapevine that Grant Kincaid, alpha of the Kincaid wolf pack in Gulf Shores, Alabama was on a honeymoon.
With his new human mate.
That by itself had shocked the shifter world. Kincaid’s father had been a brutal bastard—before he’d died. A shitty alpha who’d hated anyone who wasn’t supernatural. Or at least that’s what Lauren had heard.
The current alpha was two hundred years old and she was twenty-five so it wasn’t as if they’d ever run in the same circles. She’d also heard Grant wasn’t like his father and from the brief meeting she and her pride had with him six months ago, she had to agree that he seemed pretty decent.
Even if he was a stubborn ass who refused to give her family back what was rightfully theirs. Now that the alpha was out of town, she and some of her pridemates had decided to break into his house.
To steal from him.
Maybe steal was a bit of a stretch, she thought as she moved against the side of the house. Wind whipped around her, sending another shiver racing through her. She was simply taking back something that belonged to her family’s pride. She had to remind herself of that. Her sister was getting married in two weeks and the broach the elder Kincaid had taken from her family almost a hundred years ago was supposed to have been a wedding gift when the oldest Hayes daughter got married. The piece of jewelry had been in their family for centuries. Well, the jewels had been. Three, four-carat—colorless—diamonds and a handful of emeralds had been passed down from oldest daughter to oldest daughter in some form of jewelry ever since. When Lauren’s mother had received a necklace from her mother, she’d had the jewels put into a broach instead.
And Lauren desperately wanted to give it to her sister Stacia as a wedding gift. She deserved it.
Since Lauren was one of the few shifters on the planet who could mask their scent from other shifters, vampires and pretty much all supernatural beings, she’d been more or less volunteered for the job by her cousins. She also had a knack for breaking into places. Not that she was normally a thief. Her cousin Tommy, however, was. When she’d been twelve he’d taught her a lot of tricks, including picking locks and hotwiring cars. Her parents had been so pissed when they’d found out. After she stole back what was rightfully theirs, she bet they’d be glad she had those extra skills. Of course they’d be angry at her for doing this, but she’d known if she told them they would have ordered her not to. She figured it was better to do this then beg forgiveness later.
She had a few pridemates waiting a mile away in case she ran into trouble, but they had to stay out of sight unless she called them.
Right now they were all on Kincaid territory. Didn’t matter that it was a touristy beach town right on the Gulf Coast and that humans had no idea a shifter pack had carved out an area to live here. As a jaguar shifter, she knew she shouldn’t be here without permission so if she got caught she was so screwed. Wolves weren’t known for being forgiving. And stealing from an alpha? She shoved those thoughts out of her head. If she was scared, she couldn’t work.
Here goes nothing.
The two story house was raised like most houses on the beach but he also had an upstairs patio that she planned to use to her full advantage. She shimmied up one of the columns with a preternatural speed and hoisted herself up and over the lattice style barrier. Being a cat, she was nimble and quick on her feet, but it still took strength to do this in human form.
Crouching low to the ground, she carefully looked around the large patio at the closed French doors and then back at the beach. The waves sounded softly about a hundred yards away, the calm methodic rhythm doing little to soothe the nerves punching through her. She was about to break into an alpha’s home. So, so, so stupid. But it would make her mother and sister happy.
Thankfully the quarter moon was hidden by clouds, further helping her cover. She’d been watching the Kincaid pack’s comings and goings for the last week in preparation for tonight. It was midnight so almost every one of them was at one of the many bars or the hotel Kincaid owned. They all worked together as a big family. Their hours were more like vampires’ than shifters’, but clearly it worked for the pack because they were ridiculously wealthy.
Owning beach front property anywhere could be pricey, but they also owned an entire condominium building next door to Kincaid’s personal residence. At least almost everyone was at work. And even though she knew for a fact they had a security system, she’d thrown a giant boulder through the back French doors a couple days ago in preparation.
Lauren had felt like a total jerk doing it, but she’d needed them to replace the doors. Which they’d done this morning. The chances of them having already replaced the security contact that would be standard with the system on the new doors was about five percent. More like zero percent considering she’d been watching the house practically ever since she’d ruined the doors. And when she hadn’t been spying, one of her pridemates had.
As she examined the French doors now she realized the lock was also new. And it wasn’t the cheap kind either. But, she was very good at getting into places she shouldn’t.
Less than sixty seconds later she was inside the master bedroom. After a quick perusal of the top part of the door frame she breathed a sigh of relief to see no new contacts in place. Carefully closing the door behind her, she paused and glanced around the giant room. With her supernatural eyesight she didn’t need to turn on a light to see everything—not that she would anyway. Might as well just put up a bright neon sign that she’d broken in.
The furniture was masculine, but there were definitely feminine touches. Not that Lauren cared about any of the décor. Now she was focused on looking for a safe. If he were going to hide diamonds and emeralds, it would definitely be in a safe. There was a slim chance he’d put it in a bank vault, but shifters and vamps, especially one as old as him, were weird about that stuff. No, they liked to keep their valuables close on hand.
For all she knew a silent alarm had gone off. There weren’t any visi
ble sensors in the bedroom, but that didn’t mean shit. She knew that by breaking in blind without knowing the complete layout of the security system she was taking a chance but almost no one had sensors in their bedrooms. It didn’t make sense. Living room areas and downstairs areas of course, but bedrooms and any upstairs saw too much foot traffic on a daily basis.
Moving quickly and quietly she went to the most obvious place to hide a safe. The closet. Nothing there. She searched behind picture frames next, then everywhere else she could think of before moving to the next room. The door was open to reveal an office.
Pausing, she could hear only the wind and waves outside. There were residual scents in the house but that made sense. She stepped inside the room, her boots silent against the rich hardwood floor. Two steps in, she realized she wasn’t alone. It was like an abrupt assault on her senses and her inner animal simply knew.
Before she could turn fully around, she was tackled to the ground by a huge male. Definitely supernatural.
Strong, muscular arms encircled her from behind, throwing her to the ground, the male on top of her. Somehow he managed to angle their fall so he took the brunt of the impact on his arms. All the air left her lungs in a whoosh as panic slammed through her. She hadn’t heard him, hadn’t even scented him. That alone told her how dangerous he was.
Though all her animal instinct told her to fight, she knew she was at a disadvantage. Going limp, she didn’t struggle. The second she was set free or her captor loosened his grip, she was running. Wolves might be strong, but jaguars were wicked fast. In human and shifter form.
“What the hell are you doing sneaking around in wolf territory in my alpha’s fucking house?” a familiar male voice said near her ear, a trickle of his fresh scent that reminded her of the beach in winter enveloping her.
She hadn’t scented him before, probably because of her own fear and panic at doing such a stupid thing—but now his scent covered her. She shivered at the sound of Max McCray’s voice. Kincaid’s second-in-command. He was supposed to be at the Crescent Moon Bar tonight working.
Lauren swallowed hard. “I want my family’s fucking jewels back,” she gritted out. There was no sense in lying. He’d be able to scent the bitter, acidic stench if she tried. She could normally cover her scent well, but right now she was nervous and couldn’t keep her gift under control. Blind panic hummed through her, her inner jaguar telling her to run, run, run.
But she couldn’t. Not with Max’s massive body on top of her, keeping her pinned in place.
She was ashamed to admit that she’d had more than a handful of fantasies about the dark-haired, muscular shifter with the piercing blue eyes. None like this, with her flat on her stomach and him behind her… Okay, that was a lie. She’d had those types of fantasies too. Of course they’d both been naked and she hadn’t been working as a thief.
“Such language,” he murmured, his mouth next to her ear before he lightly inhaled her scent. There was an almost sensual note in that voice.
She stiffened in his arms, worried about what the hell that meant. Yeah, she might have fantasized about the guy after meeting him once, but that was it.
He let out an angry curse. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled, as if he’d guessed her train of thought.
“How’d you know I was here?” she demanded even though she had no right to be making any sort of inquiry. Not when she was the intruder, the would-be thief.
“If I let you up, will you run?”
“What do you think?” she snapped, hating that she really liked the feel of him on top of her. She just wished she could turn around and see his face.
“I think you’re a fool to break into an alpha’s home right in the middle of wolf territory. Your fucking pride sent you? A child?”
Child? An unexpected surge of rage slammed through her. Acting on instinct, she reared back, butting her head right against his face. She didn’t hear anything break, but it hurt her head enough that she knew it affected him. Even if he didn’t loosen his grip.
He snarled low in his throat. “Damn it, woman. There are shifters outside posted all around the house. I’m letting you up. If you run, I’ll tackle you again. And if you manage to get away, another one of my packmates will catch you. They won’t be as gentle as me.” His voice was low, but it sounded as if he was speaking through clenched teeth.
She knew when to pick her battles and right now she needed to see how much trouble she was in. “Fine. I won’t run.” At least not yet.
He paused for a moment, then sighed before letting go and moving off her. A very primal part of her actually missed the warmth and weight of his hold. Clearly she had issues. Before she could make a move to push up, he held her under her arms and hauled her up until she was on her feet as if she weighed nothing.
Swallowing hard, she turned to face him. And had to look up.
She’d forgotten how much taller he was than her. Though to be fair, most people were. At five feet, one inch, she hadn’t been blessed in the height department.
Captivated by those pale blue eyes, she almost forgot to breathe. Was it possible the giant wolf shifter had actually gotten sexier in six months? She’d convinced herself she’d remembered him wrong. That she’d built up all that raw, masculine sex appeal in her head.
Nope. Her memory wasn’t faulty.
A little over a foot taller than her, Max loomed over her, his eyes narrowed, his hard-looking lips pulled into a thin line. She wondered how soft they’d be when he was kissing. Would he be harsh and wild or sweet and gentle? Maybe a mix of both.
“Where’s the rest of your pride?” he finally asked, his voice strained.
Blinking, she forced her eyes to meet his, but took a step back. She didn’t care if it showed weakness; she needed some distance between them. He started to advance but she held out a hand as she leaned against the edge of the oversized rectangular desk and wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not going anywhere. And they’re not here. It’s just me. My sister is getting married in a couple weeks and those jewels should be passed on to her. It’s tradition in my pride. Neither my sister nor my mom are part of that stupid, ancient feud between Grant’s dead father and mine. That feud is old and buried and we want back what’s rightfully ours.”
“Why didn’t you set up a meeting with Grant?”
She snorted. “We tried that months ago. Or don’t you remember?” Lauren, her parents and two males from her pride had come to talk to Grant about getting the jewels back. They’d been shot down almost immediately. Max had been there to back Grant up. It was stupid, but it stung that their meeting hadn’t left an impression on Max. Especially since he’d made quite an impression on her. Even if he had been rude.
“Of course I remember,” Max murmured, taking on that low, sensual tone again as his gaze roved over her body with barely concealed appreciation.
She should be annoyed that he was checking her out, but part of her really liked it. Skintight black pants, black boots and a long-sleeved formfitting black T-shirt didn’t exactly scream sexy, but she was unintentionally showing off all her curves with the tight fit of her clothes.
He stared at her for a long moment and she could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Though what he was thinking about, she had no clue. “The last time I saw you, you were wearing a strapless green summer dress and gold sandals. And your last words were to tell me to ‘fuck off’. I masturbated that night while fantasizing about bending you over the nearest flat surface and fucking you until you were mindless with pleasure.”
Lauren blinked, beyond shocked by his crude words. Without thinking she blindly reached for the nearest object on the desk—a paperweight—and chucked it at his head.
With lightning quick reflexes Max caught the moon shaped globe with one hand, then set it on a bookshelf before stalking toward her with the slow, precise movements of a predator.
Out of the corner of her eye she measured the distance to the nearest window. She could
jump through the glass and shift mid jump. It would hurt being sliced up by the fragments but she’d heal quickly.
As if he read her mind, he crossed the rest of the distance in the blink of an eye, caging her in with both arms. He placed his hands on the desk on either side of her, but didn’t actually touch her.
She swallowed and tried not to let him know how intimidated she was. “How did you know I was here?” she asked quietly, needing to break the silence. She wasn’t sure if she should be terrified or turned on and her emotions were all out of whack. His scent made her crazy and the hungry look in his eyes was doing strange things to her insides.
“I scented you on that rock you used to break the French doors. Had a good idea why you did it—good plan by the way. And I knew you’d be back.”
“Bullshit. You didn’t scent me.” But…she didn’t scent a lie. It seemed as if he was telling the truth.
His pale eyes narrowed. “Yes. I did. Just like I can scent you now. Like amber and vanilla.”
Lauren swallowed hard. There was no way he could be able to scent her. Not with her gift. Unless…she frowned at the thought. No, no, no. That just wasn’t possible. She refused to even acknowledge the possibility. Though her gift was rare she knew a few other jaguar shifters with the same ability. The only other shifters able to scent them were their mates.
But there was no way in hell this obnoxious, sexy wolf was her mate.
Chapter 2
Max stared into the big brown eyes of the petite jaguar shifter in front of him. He wanted to kick his own ass for the way he’d just spoken to Lauren. In his pack he was known for being laid back, the one who everyone could come to with their problems if Grant wasn’t around. Right now he felt edgy and raw in a way he’d only experienced once before.
Claiming His Mate (A Werewolf Romance) Page 1
