by Victoria Sue
She shrank back and ignored the careful look Riley gave her.
Just then the door opened, and two kids walked into the room. Cassie immediately grabbed them for a hug. The little one, a boy who looked to be about six or seven, just smiled quietly, but the older one, possibly a teenager, swaggered into the room and stood patiently through the hug. He had a resigned what are you gonna do look on his face, and Zack chuckled as Alex made a beeline for him. Something stabbed at Lisa again when she saw his eager acceptance of Zack ruffling his hair.
Lisa gulped at the loaded plate Cassie put down in front of her. Eggs, bacon, waffles, mushrooms were all balanced on what looked like two rounds of toast. Lisa couldn’t remember seeing that much food on her plate ever before, and she certainly wasn’t capable of eating it all.
Lisa, uncomfortably aware she hadn’t said one thing, looked up at Cassie. “Thank you.”
Mac squeezed her leg under the table, and she was suddenly very glad he was there.
Lisa nibbled on some bacon and pushed her toast around a bit, her throat closing at the sight of all that food. Hoping no one was looking at her, she raised her eyes and came face to face with the teenager’s dark ones.
Alex, Zack had called him, was staring at her with a puzzled look on his tanned face and then he grinned. “Come on you have to eat—us alpha’s got to stick together. Ow.” Alex whined as he had clearly got a kick under the table from Zack. “What? I’m just saying.”
“That’ll do, Alex,” Mac said emphatically.
Lisa looked at Mac, her chest tightening. His face was closed, tight, hard. Something she’d done had upset him. And what is an alpha?
“I was just trying to be friendly,” Alex said sulkily and glared at Lisa like it was her fault.
Lisa could feel the burning inside her start. No, not here. She couldn’t lose her temper here. She fisted her hands by her sides.
“Well, cool it for now, okay?” Cassie ruffled Alex’s hair.
“Forget it,” shouted Alex and stood and turned.
“Sit down,” barked Zack. “You will treat Cassie with respect.”
Alex angrily shoved the table, and that was it. The tenuous thread on her control broke, and she roared and pushed the table back at Alex. Temper swirled about her, she couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t feel anything. Flames of red hot anger burned through her. Her vision went red. Just as she grabbed the edge of the table, two powerful arms surrounded her and lifted her back into Mac’s hard chest.
“Stop. Stop right now.” The powerful voice echoed around her and zeroed on her inside. A feeling of peace washed over her, and she urgently needed to comply. Just as her anger had so quickly ignited in her, it was gone. Her strength left as well, and if Mac hadn’t been holding her, she would have been on the floor. She heard an agonized cry and realized it was her. Strong arms lifted her, folding her to him.
She gave one gulp, and her eyes flooded with tears. No, she didn’t cry. Not anymore. With utter and complete despair, she curled into the big arms that were holding her. She’d lost her temper. They would drug her. They would drug her, and they would send her back. Wicked.
* * * *
Mac wanted to cut his own throat. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What on earth had he been thinking, dragging her into breakfast with them all? He tended to forget his large, boisterous family could make even the most outgoing people nervous, let alone some poor kid that had probably only seen the same four walls for a long time.
She was going through her mating cycle, too, which made everything ten times worse. Riley had warned him, but he thought he knew better. Striding out of the kitchen, he took the stairs two at a time. Quickly going into her room, Mac sat down on the bed. Lisa kept crying. She was trying to heave in huge lungs-full of air as if there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room, and she shook all over.
He laid her gently down on the bed and curled her into him tight. Rubbing his hand up and down her back, he feathered little kisses on her face while he waited for her crying to ease. She was mumbling something to him, and he caught a soft sorry.
“Babes, don’t you dare apologize. This is my fault, not yours. I didn’t think. I just wanted my family to see how beautiful you are. I’m so sorry I put you in that situation. Here, water?”
Lisa focused as he held the water bottle out to her, and she took a couple of sips.
“There, that better?” He smiled and tucked her into him again.
Mac breathed slowly. He knew she was feeling the connection between them, and when her fingers innocently brushed his skin, tiny needles pierced him, and his eyes zeroed on those full lips. His whole body tightened in response, and he let out a long breath, willing himself to calm down.
“Mac?” The tremulous voice wobbled. Lisa fixed her eyes on his shirt. “Mac, why am I here?”
Mac paused. He wanted to slap his head. Duh! He’d been so fixed on getting her safe and well, and with the whole mate thing throwing him for a loop, he hadn’t given any thought to answering her questions. He couldn’t exactly blurt out about her being a shifter. She’d probably think they were all ready for locking up.
“Lisa, Raleigh Point is a group home. You’ve been in one of those?”
She nodded hesitantly.
“Well, a doctor friend of ours visited the place you were in and, thankfully, saw you.” He let out another long sigh, and Lisa shivered. He tucked her in closer. “You shouldn’t have been there. You’re obviously too old for a regular group home, but he thought this place would be good for you.” Lame, Mac, so lame.
A soft knock had Riley appearing around the door. Lisa immediately changed and nearly tried to climb inside him.
Mac looked at his brother, bewildered. She knew Riley, and she hadn’t been this frightened of him earlier. What had changed?
“I just got off the phone with Brett.” Riley spoke quietly, but made no move to come toward them. Lisa quieted slightly at the sound of Riley’s voice. Mac knew he wanted to come closer as he needed touch to be able to calm her down.
“Honey, let Riley check on you. I’m not going anywhere.” He continued to rub soothingly on her back, as Riley fully came into the room.
“Hey, Lisa? Don’t mind the kids. They get a bit full of themselves. Especially Alex, huh?” Riley continued to talk nonsense, and Mac brushed a hair out of her eyes. She blinked slowly. Mac studied the long lashes that fanned her cheek for a second before they pulled up again. She would be stunning when the bruises were gone. He lightly traced one finger along her cheekbone, carefully, gently. Her lashes swept up again at his touch, but not all the way. He just caught her pupils widen and her eyes glaze slightly. Her breaths slowed. Riley edged nearer.
All of a sudden, she sighed against Mac and shut her eyes. His bear nudged at his insides, and a wild possessive urge flowed around him. She was his, dammit. Nothing would ever hurt her again. Mac murmured quietly to her as her body shuddered once and then stilled. He wrapped his big arms around her and willed her to feel safe.
“She’s asleep, Mac.” Riley removed his outstretched hand and sat on the chair next to the bed. “I don’t think she’s fallen asleep naturally in a long time.”
“Well, yeah, but didn’t you do that?”
“No, I was just trying to calm her down. It kind of wasn’t necessary.” Riley smiled. “Think you had it all under control. As soon as she relaxed, her body decided it needed the rest.”
Riley moved to the chair. “I wanted to tell you what Brett said.” Riley shook his head at Mac’s look. “Nothing on the nurse yet.” He sighed. “Lisa’s mating cycle is complicating everything. Alpha females are different to even female wolves.”
“And female bears,” Mac put in sardonically.
“Yeah, apparently even Brett had to make some calls as he hasn’t been in a wolf pack for a long time.”
They both knew Brett’s story. Brett was a wolf shifter and had grown up in a very traditional pack. He was in a bad car accident when he was a kid, and because he
was trapped for a long time before help got there, unable to shift and heal himself, his leg was permanently damaged. The Alpha had told him, in no uncertain terms, that he wasn’t welcome as he could no longer hunt, and he had ended up at Raleigh Point. He got about okay, but he couldn’t run. It was worse when he shifted. Every year, their mom and dad held a party for shifters who had been brought up at Raleigh Point, and last year Brett met Angie. They mated, but because Brett knew he wouldn’t be accepted into her pack with his injury, Angie had agreed to live with him at Raleigh Point.
Riley grinned at Mac’s startled expression. “What do you know of alpha female mating cycles?”
“Well, up to yesterday, I would have said I didn’t want to know anything.” God, he could feel the blush starting in his neck. How old was he, fifteen?
Riley laughed and stood up. “To give you the shortened version, it lasts up to two weeks, comes every six months or so, and we don’t know when she started. It’s magnified about fifty to one hundred times what other female wolves go through. Apparently once she hit twenty, it would have gotten worse.”
“Why? What’s so special about being twenty?”
“It’s traditionally the age of maturity for female wolves. Female alphas are in a constant state of err… arousal.” Riley blushed. “Apparently it’s quite serious. I mean bad health wise. Err… you’ve seen the other effects.”
Mac glowered.
“Most females take painkillers when they get bad cramps, but that’s the problem here. I don’t want any drugs in her system. Human painkillers aren’t strong enough to have any effect anyway, and she’s still got a lot of crap swirling around in there. We can’t give her anything else.”
“But you can help surely?”
“Actually no, not this time.” Mac watched in surprise as Riley looked at the floor.
“Brett said the only way to help was to relieve her, and I think you would have my balls if I so much as looked at her.”
Mac was dumbstruck. He was so surprised, his bear wasn’t even territorial about the thought of Riley getting anywhere near her.
“Riley, I can’t, not when—”
“I don’t mean full penetration, idiot. Christ, Mac, you have a girl usually on each arm, don’t tell me you can’t be inventive.”
Mate.
Mac’s face heated. He wanted to say so much to Riley, but there was no way he was having this conversation. “I’ll figure something out.” And he nearly growled at Riley’s delighted grin as he strode to the door.
“If it’s any consolation, her mind seemed pretty clear. I don’t think you’ve got that to worry about.”
Riley stopped at the door. “It reduces dramatically once you two mate.”
Well, hell.
Lisa chose that moment to rub herself up and down Mac in her sleep like a little cat, and eased herself closer to him if that were even possible.
Mac’s jaw hardened, and damn if his dick didn’t too.
Shit, it was going to be a long week.
Chapter Four
Mac read throughout the day while Lisa slept. He took a phone call from Miranda, the F.B.I. agent he worked with, giving him an update on a missing kid he’d helped find two weeks ago. He’d shuffled awkwardly at the sound of her flirting with him down the phone during an uncomfortable conversation. The woman was like a jellyfish on a piece of driftwood, all suction and hard corners.
It was his fault though. Miranda had made good arm-candy at first. When he’d realized, belatedly, the candy was an empty shell, he’d tried to distance himself unsuccessfully. He’d even spoken to Daniel about getting a new contact to work with. To be honest, he preferred to work with only Daniel. It was sometimes difficult working with humans. Certain secrets needed to be kept, but Daniel had a whole department to look after and couldn’t always find the time for his smaller cases. At least, the kid was doing great. Mac left a message with Daniel to give him a call.
Cassie came in a couple of times to help Lisa to the bathroom. She just seemed groggy. Her temperature was higher, but Riley wasn’t worried, so Mac wasn’t either. In fact, he was just thinking maybe they’d luck out, and she was nearly through this. All he’d done was hold her tight and make her sip cool water.
Cassie had just been in with food for them both, and Mac had tried to get Lisa to eat something, but Lisa turned her face away. Mac had given it up for now.
He was managing to hold it together just. Lisa kept rubbing herself up and down him. He stripped his T-shirt off as lying next to Lisa was like sleeping beside a furnace. But that had made it harder. She seemed to want to suckle him every time her lips met bare skin. His dick was so hard, he thought it was gonna explode.
When she had calmed slightly, he slid out of bed carefully, and headed for the shower. He couldn’t do what Riley said. What would he say if she woke up and he was doing God knows what? Their relationship would be over before it started. No, she would be fine, she seemed better already, and hell, this was what showers were for, weren’t they?
Mac had an image of those pink lips around the straw on the water bottle. Groaning, he caught his rock hard length in his fist as he thought about those lips fastened on something else. Already leaking pre-cum and wet from the shower, he worked his cock.
All it took was an image of Lisa kneeling in front of him and burning shot down his spine and straight into his balls. Jets of cum hit the shower tiles, and he leaned his head on the cool tile in front of him, panting.
He stepped out and toweled himself quickly. He was just pulling his shorts on, when a crash came from the bedroom. He got in there a split second faster than Riley and bent to the prone figure on the floor.
“I was in the shower.” He gently picked a shaking Lisa up. Smoothing hair from her face, he sat on the bed and held her while Riley skimmed his hand over her arm.
Lisa’s eyes were open but unfocused, and Mac holding her didn’t seem to quiet her shaking as it had done through the day. Each shudder seemed to be getting worse, and her face was screwed up in pain. He could hear her mumbling words. Even with shifter hearing, all he could make out was, “Sorry” and then, “wicked.”
Riley’s eyes shot to his, and he lowered his arm.
Lisa wailed and grabbed for Mac.
“Mac, her temp’s too high, and she’s in a lot of pain. You need to get over yourself and sort this out.”
Mac’s mouth tightened, and he nodded as Riley left the room. Hell, there was nothing his body wanted more than to sort it out as Riley had put it. He was a total ass, getting off in the shower while she was in here burning up.
Lisa gave a low moan, and Mac settled into her and pulled her closer.
“Baby, I’m sorry it hurts. Gonna make it all better.” Mac grazed his hand over her side gently, shocked at the dampness of the T-shirt and shorts she’d had changed into.
“Let’s get these off you and make you comfy.” Mac continued to talk to her in his low easy voice, as he gently stripped the sodden clothing off her flushed skin. Mac stroked her skin up and down near her belly, desperately trying to not let his hand wander lower, but Lisa started thrashing her head and giving little keening cries as she shook. Her hands snatched desperately at him. Hazel eyes opened and fixed intently. One long breath and a small tongue flicked out and disappeared. Teeth tugged at her bottom lip. Mac felt them in his dick.
Stroking her wasn’t enough. Mac threw the sheet back and knelt down between her legs grabbing each ankle gently. Murmuring softly, he brought his hands up and down each leg. He bent his head and followed his hands with little kisses. He found her instep, then her ankle. He kissed the tiny pale freckles that dusted her knees, and pressed cool lips to the soft hot skin on the inside of her thigh.
God, she was beautiful. He almost laughed. Even her stubby fingernails were his. All his. His dick was pushing against his shorts, hard and throbbing. He moved restlessly trying to get some friction.
Lisa was gasping and writhing, frantically pushing her hips int
o his hands. He caught both her hands in one of his and pinned them over her head. She immediately stilled and fixed a desperate scorching gaze on him.
“Keep them there.” Push. Mac released a little of his alpha power to keep her still. Her pupils blew. He could feel her answering lust pulsing back at him. She needed to be still. He needed her to be still. She was gonna hurt herself. Liar. He could feel the answering heat of her and smell her arousal spike when he restrained her hands. He gazed at a droplet of sweat that rolled down her neck and between her breasts. Without thinking, he bent his head and followed it with his tongue.
“So, so hot.” Lisa whined.
“I know, honey, gonna make it good.” Mac bent and trailed kisses down her neck. He followed the side of her breasts. He ached to taste them, but this was about her today. He quickly lowered himself to where she writhed and pushed her hips. He thrust one finger between hot, slick folds, and Lisa nearly shot off the bed, convulsing. She’d clamped straight down on that finger, her cunt milking it for all she was worth. He parted her folds some more with his other hand and inserted another finger. Mac felt the contractions in his dick, and if he had a free hand, he’d have thumped it, hard. He bent his head, and her whole body stilled. Mac glanced up and was met with two deep pools that seemed to burn right inside him. She licked her lips and moved frantically, her body urging him lower.
“Need, I need—”
“I know what you need.” He bent his head, and she shrieked at his first taste. Fuck, she tasted amazing. His dick was pulsing, but he ignored it and focused on her. Over and over he licked and sucked, as she squirmed and moaned. It seemed like they were both stuck on some precipice. Finally his teeth nibbled on her clit, and they both launched of the cliff together. A huge shudder locked her body down, and he sucked at the gush of cream that followed. Fucking amazing. She tasted fucking amazing.
He barely registered teenage-like embarrassment at the wet patch in his shorts and shook at his body’s own reaction.
