by Alisa Woods
What do I need to know about her? the alpha asked. Other than she likes to run around without her pack? The alpha’s thoughts drew a round of yips and bobbed heads. Their cruel laughter made Lucas’s stance grow stiffer.
She’s been claimed already. He thought the lie with as much conviction as he could. The possibility alone should be enough to give them pause.
So she’s your mate? The alpha’s thoughts were reserved, as he took Lucas’s measure. Lucas was a strong wolf, but he certainly couldn’t take on an entire pack. The alpha knew this. Yet, it still might sway them, if they had any decency. I’m sure there’s someone here who would be happy fight you for the right to keep her.
Or maybe not.
Killing him would break the bond, and she would be released to mate again. And that was the hitch. If he said she was his mate, they would just kill him for it… for her. He needed more firepower than just himself.
I’m just a beta, he thought. She’s my alpha’s mate, and I was supposed to guard her while we’re here, but clearly… I’ve failed. He’ll probably have my throat for it. But I can tell you, if you take his mate, he’ll bring the whole pack to find her.
The alpha snarled at him, baring his teeth. It wasn’t just the threat of the pack retribution. If she had already been claimed… and it wasn’t him... that meant she was bonded to someone else. And as long as she was bonded, her body would reject the bite, the claiming. If they attempted it, at best, it wouldn’t take. At worst… it could kill her, as the magic of two males fought within her body to claim possession.
Lucas didn’t know their intentions, but it was unlikely that they just wanted Mia for sex. There were plenty of human females who responded to the were-pheromones of shifters and were happy to please a pack, individually or as a group. But female wolves were too rare to waste on mere sexual depredation. These wolves no doubt wanted to bring Mia into the pack and have her whelp for their strongest member, whoever could win the right to claim her. It was ancient and brutal and primal… and effective in making the pack strong.
Her death wouldn’t serve them in any way. They wouldn’t risk it. Maybe.
There was a rise in the snarling and pawing and general disagreement among the pack as they discussed it in their thoughts. Lucas stepped back and sat down, showing his patience for them to decide. If they sought to keep her and claim her, even though they thought it might risk her life… he wasn’t sure what he would do.
Probably die trying to prevent it.
The smarter thing would be to leave, get his father’s pack, then come back for her. The feral pack would claim her in the meantime. He would have to break the bond by killing the wolf who took her, something he really would have no trouble with. He just didn’t know if he could force himself to walk away, knowing what would happen to her. Knowing that another wolf would have her. Claim her.
The thought made him want to launch himself at the pack, regardless of the consequences. He stiffened every muscle in his body, holding himself back, waiting for the alpha to make his judgment.
When the grumblings finally settled, the alpha nodded to the wolf holding Mia to the ground. He released her. The relief was like a wash of warm water gushing through Lucas. She scrambled to her paws and ran over to him. He turned away before she reached him, afraid she might lick him or nuzzle him in front of the pack. But Mia was smarter than that: he could see her nose trembling, but she simply came alongside him. They trotted at a reasonable pace to the edge of the clearing, every step filled with tension. At any moment, Lucas expected the pack to change their minds and come after Mia. But none of them made a move, apparently content with their alpha’s decision.
As soon as Lucas and Mia were back in the forest, he thought, Run.
He didn’t have to tell her twice. Her trembling legs pounded the forest floor, and she shot ahead of him. But she was running blindly. He surged forward to take the lead and turn her in the direction that would bring them back to their dropped clothes and his car. They ran hard and fast and the panic in her thoughts tore at him, but they couldn’t stop. And it fueled her shaky legs to move faster, so he supposed that was good. He kept glancing back, but it appeared the pack had truly let them go.
When they reached the meadow where they had first shifted, they came to a stumbling stop where they had shed their clothes. She was shaking so badly, she could hardly stand in one place. All of her fur was standing on end. He rubbed his muzzle all over hers, under her chin and on top of her head, trying to calm her. He ached to reassure her by taking her in his arms, kissing her, holding her.
It’s all right, Mia. You’re safe now. Safe.
Slowly, her heaving breaths tempered. His need to touch her didn’t, though.
Mia, honey, shift for me.
He kept contact as her body responded to his command, lengthening and narrowing under his touch. He shifted with her, slowly, as she figured out how to overcome her primal fear and transform into a vulnerable human again. A moment later she was shivering and naked in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. Then his hands roamed her body, touching her everywhere—over her back, up and down her arms, over her shoulders and into her hair—trying to reassure her, cover her with his presence, calm the tremors that had possessed her. It was working. Her hands moved from their tightly fisted spots at the small of his back: she went from holding onto him like her life depended on it to roaming his back and then to sliding up his arms to reach around the back of his neck. The shaking had stopped, and she was melting into him.
Only he was rock hard for her.
With the high voltage tension of freeing her from the pack, and now with her naked in his arms, clinging to him, needing him, his wolf wanted nothing more than to claim her for his own. The length of her soft body was pressed to his, and his erection strained against it, pressing into the silky skin of her belly.
“Lucas.” Her breath was hot, and his cock pulsed as her lips brushed the skin of his chest.
God, he wanted her so badly.
He gathered her hair in his hands, burying his face in it and inhaling her scent. “Mia.” It was as much a moan as a word. “I can’t resist you like this.”
She threaded her fingers up into his hair, urging him to bend down and kiss her.
He nuzzled her instead, telling himself he was just reassuring her, that was all it was, after a moment she wouldn’t need it anymore, and he would stop… he didn’t have to take her hard against the meadow grass like his body, mind, and soul were aching to do.
“Make me yours,” she whispered, and her words caused a literal ache deep in his belly. It was a primal need for her that he couldn’t believe he would survive without fulfilling.
“God, Mia, don’t torment me like this.”
“You can have me. You can take me. Right here. Right now. Lucas, I want you to.” Her words were like small prayers whispered against his skin followed by kisses that she dropped up and down his chest, branding his heart with every single one. She lifted up on her toes to reach his neck, dragging the hard tips of her breasts against him and stabbing more deeply into that ache inside him.
“I can’t. We shouldn’t. It’s not fair to you.” His protests fell from his lips, but they were useless against the wandering of her hands on his skin, pulling his body tighter against her. God help him, her fingers were trailing hot lines against his skin… he reached down to grab her wrists and stop her hands from burrowing between their bodies and seeking out his cock. If she started with that, they wouldn’t stop. And he couldn’t do that to her again. She deserved someone whole, someone who could truly make her his own. Someone who didn’t almost lose her to a pack of dark wolves because he played with her in all the wrong ways. Lucas dragged her wrists up to the safety of his shoulders, but she moaned in protest, and that was like a shot of adrenaline directly to his cock anyway.
Then she pressed her hands flat against his chest and shoved him away.
He was so startled by the insta
nt loss of contact, the afternoon breeze suddenly coming between them, that he didn’t realize at first what she was doing. But she held his gaze with a scorching hot look and said, “I want you to be my alpha.”
Then she shifted.
It wasn’t as fast this time, and he watched in awe as the beautiful curves of her body shifted slowly into her wolf form, and the satiny black curtain of her hair grew and transformed into a glistening coat of fur. She held his gaze until she was completely transformed, then she lowered her eyes, bowed her head, arched her back, and dropped her tail.
Submission.
He felt it like a punch to the gut. She bowed before him, giving herself to him, pledging herself, and the alpha inside him raged so hard against his skin that he couldn’t help but transform. He fell to all fours as he shifted, then lunged for her, tackling her sideways into the soft grasses of the meadow. He pinned her. Anger and fear and a nameless emotion that put him on the verge of panic gripped him, and he growled in her ear.
Do not submit to me! he thought.
But I want to be yours. I want—
Shift, Mia! Shift now! He put every ounce of command he had into those thoughts. Surprise seized her face as her body shifted without her intending it. It happened so fast that it snapped the magic bond just as it was forming between them. He could feel it, like his heart breaking. Then he shifted quickly back into human form, still pinning her to the ground with his hands on her wrists and his body covering hers.
She squirmed underneath him, still finishing her shift, but he had managed to stop the submission from taking hold. A breath of relief escaped him, even as his chest heaved against hers. If that had happened… if she had submitted to him… he wouldn’t have been able to stop. He knew it. That bond, even if only until the next moon, would have been a constant pull to claim her, even more so than he felt already. There was no way he could have resisted it. In fact, he was certain they wouldn’t have left the meadow without him taking her from behind and biting her to complete the claim… and then regretting that act for the rest of his life. Mia was a true alpha herself. She deserved a whole, strong alpha to mate with. Someone who could keep her safe. Someone who wouldn’t let her run off in a forest by herself to be captured and enslaved by a rogue pack.
That, if nothing else, proved beyond any doubt that he wasn’t worthy of her. Claiming her now, no matter how much she thought she wanted it, was the worst thing he could do.
When she had fully shifted, her body stilled. She stared up into his eyes. His cock still dug into her tender flesh, and her body still molded against him, but now he could see her eyes were glassing over with tears. Her wrists were still trapped by his hands to the meadow floor.
“You don’t want me.” The pain in her voice gutted him.
“No, no.” He released one wrist to bring his fingertips to her lips, to stop any more words like those from coming out. “Mia, I want you so badly, I think I might die if I don’t have you.” The words were out before he realized what he was saying. They stayed her tears, but he instantly wished he could pull them back in. She would think he meant something he couldn’t give.
She slipped her free hand around his neck and stared up into his eyes.
“Prove it,” she said, and then moved underneath him. A shooting streak of pleasure reminded him that his cock was still wedged between their bodies. She was purposely grinding against him, bucking her hips against his, all while staring into his eyes and daring him to stop her. He dragged her hand from his neck and held both on the ground above her head.
Her eyes widened slightly. His mouth watered for her. Suddenly it was too much for him. He needed her too much. His body was overriding any sense in his head. And hers was swimming in arousal so intense it was drowning him. He would have to sate both their bodies to have any chance of clearing their minds. Then he could explain to her how it had to be. How she had to find someone else to mate with. And soon, or he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back any longer. Even as he thought those words, he couldn’t picture actually saying them to her. Not without dying inside.
Instead, he edged forward and leaned down to whisper his lips against hers. “You’re going to regret saying that, Miss Fiore.”
Then he crashed his lips into hers.
When Lucas kissed her, it was like a dam had broken inside Mia: relief that he had finally given in to her, a literal gush of wetness between her legs, and an ache as her mouth opened to his devouring tongue. His kiss was so hard, so insistent and deep, that her head sunk into the cushion of the meadow grasses beneath her.
At the same time his kiss tipped her head, arching her back with the force of it, his hand slipped between her legs. She gasped with the sudden contact she had been aching for, but his mouth was commanding hers, filling it and controlling it, so she could barely draw in that surprised breath. His circling fingertips sent shocks of pleasure racing through her core, but then he plunged his fingers inside her, and she had to wrench her head away from his to cry out. She was already drenched with wetness, so his fingers easily slid deep, but the sudden and fierce pumping, working her with his hand, made her back lift off the ground, arching in pleasure. His other hand held her head, pulling it back to expose her neck to the small nips he was making along it. She couldn’t catch her breath, her whimpers racing to catch up with the mounting pleasure coiling tight inside her. Then she came, suddenly, like she had hurtled over the top of a hill and soared free. She gripped him, holding on, even as her body bucked and writhed against him, riding his hand as he kept working every last shock wave out of her.
She hadn’t even begun to come down, when he quickly pulled his fingers free of her body’s grip. He reached under her with that hand and lifted her hips slightly away from the grass. She didn’t have time to ask or think or move before he thrust his cock inside her. He was so large and filled her so completely, just like that night she spent in his bed, but this time he angled her just right so that his cock buried deeper inside her than it had ever been. She cried out and held onto his shoulders. His growls rumbled through his chest while it slid against hers, his face nuzzling against her cheek, his breath panting against her neck with every thrust. Each pound went deeper and slammed his body harder, hitting her right above her entrance, where the tight nub of her sex screamed pleasure with every touch. Her ankles banged against his back, and the grass burned underneath her with each slam, but she clung to him, urging him on with an incoherent mixture of mumbled words, cries of pleasure, and his name.
His muscular grunts gave way to reverent whispers of her name. He thrust faster, begging her to come, but she was already there: she gasped in a ragged breath as her entire body rocked with it, wave after wave, head to toe, a massive sweep of pleasure that pulled her under and buried her. His long growl and the way he gripped her even harder said he had reached his climax too, but she was still lost in her own orgasm, swimming in a haze that disconnected her from every sound or sensation other than the rocking of his body into hers.
The completeness of it filled her. This was how they were meant to be. Always. His body possessing hers. His fingers digging into her flesh as he milked the last of both their climaxes. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, clinging to him as though he were the entirety of her world.
He was kissing her now, and it was the kisses that brought her back to earth. Tender nibbles of her throat and ears. Soft sweeps across her cheeks and eyelids. And finally, his lips found her mouth, eager for him, but in a hazy, love-soaked way, like they had all the time in the world to touch their lips to one another. Her body was humming with so much pleasure that even when he withdrew and put a small space between them, it was as if he was still deep inside.
She lazily opened her eyes. The bright afternoon sun had move enough to put them in the shadows. Lucas lay next to her, his head propped on his arm. His fingers trailed a ticklish line across her belly but she didn’t stop him, enjoying even that sweet torment. She took a deep breath, all the oxygen she had
n’t been able to pull in while writhing and gasping underneath him, then skimmed her hand along the muscular ridges and valleys of his arm, taking it all the way up to his shoulder, and then his face. She touched his lips with her fingertips and wanted to say something. Anything. But she couldn’t think of the words that would express how she felt.
Complete. Whole. Belonging to him.
He was looking at her, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze, instead letting his focus wander over her body, as if memorizing it. His lips were pressed together, and his brow had furrowed, as if he was thinking some great, ponderous thought—although she couldn’t imagine what. Her mind was still awash in aftermath of their lovemaking. And it had been lovemaking, even if it was rough and sudden and an urgent release for bodies too stressed by all the events that had plagued them since they met. She could tell by the tender way he held her now, and the way he gave her body just what it needed before. Even his holding back showed his love for her, because she knew it was out of concern for her, no matter how misplaced.
He wasn’t a bad wolf or a dark wolf or whatever he seemed to think. It was wolves like the ones who captured her, who fought over who could claim her without a second thought or any regard for her wishes on the matter… they were the evil ones in the world, the ones who didn’t deserve a mate. Not the kind and gentle wolf she was falling in love with.
She blinked, shocked to stillness with that thought. Her inner wolf had been driving Mia to want Lucas to claim her… she knew that. It was a primal instinct, but like Lucas said, her wolf was part of her, not some separate thing that existed independent of her. Her desire to belong was based on that primal need… and Mia was all right with that. But the idea that the human part of her was falling in love as well… it made tears well in her eyes. It was the perfect pairing of her human and wolf sides, complete in every way in being with him.
His hand had come to a stop, resting on her belly. He still had that ponderous look, biting his lip as he stared at his hand. The torrent of emotions inside her—love, lust, wonder—finally cooled enough for her brain to engage. She remembered he had still refused to claim her. Had actively prevented it by forcing her to shift with the command in his voice, something she didn’t even know was possible. That both thrilled and terrified her. He still didn’t want to acknowledge they were meant to be together, but maybe now, after their frantic coupling in the grass… maybe he was feeling the same things she was.
