The Reluctant Alpha

by K. S. Martin

  “What’s that supposed to mean? That I can’t?” She couldn’t believe that he was implying that she couldn’t control herself just because of what happened last night. What an ass! She watched the muscles ripple under his shirt. Okay so maybe she might not be able to control herself, but she wouldn’t admit that to him.

  “I didn’t say that. I said if you don’t want to, we won’t. Now do you want a shower or not?” She shook her head. “I do.” He pulled his tee shirt over his head and shucked his jeans then put them all neatly folded on the floor in a pile. Dylan texted someone then went into the bathroom and closed the door. “If you want join me, you’re more than welcome.” He called to her. Cami flopped on the bed and picked up the remote to push the channel button as fast as she could. She was hungry. They never stopped for lunch or dinner and her stomach growled loudly. Fishing in her purse, she found some quarters, grabbed the key, and went out onto the walkway heading for the vending machines.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Pete had her by the waist and carried her back to her room. “You’re not running off on my watch.”

  “What?! Put me down!” Cami kicked and struggled. Mike stuck his head out of their room laughing.

  “Dylan that unappetizing? I told you before, I’d love to show you a good time.” Mike grinned at her. Pete stuck her back inside the room and pulled the door closed.

  Cami screamed a few choice words at the door and threw her handful of change at the door. She went back to the bed and sat against the headboard with her knees drawn up to her chest. “What the hell is going on out here?” Dylan came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Cami? Are you okay?” Her chin quivered.

  “No.” She turned her head away from him. Dylan saw the change lying all over the carpet and figured out what had occurred. Her stomach growled angrily. “I’m hungry and they won’t let me have anything.” She sniffled.

  “We’ll go for dinner as soon as I’m dressed. Okay?” He eased down on the bed next to her. “Cami.” She sniffled again. “I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped. I’m not used to thinking of others when I’m on the hunt.” She nodded, her stomach growled again and he laughed. “I’ll hurry. You can take these sweats off now if you want to.” He patted her leg and went back to the bathroom. He smelled so good. How was she supposed to control herself if he was going to smell that nice? Cami wet her lips and turned her head to watch him in the vanity mirror. The muscles bunched and flexed in his back and across his belly as he combed his hair. She knew what those muscles felt like jumping around under his warm smooth skin. How silky that skin was under her fingertips. How the muscles hardened and softened as she traced them and squeezed them. He folded the towel now and hung it on the rack. She watched him then saw him watching her in the mirror. She blushed and turned her face away. “You can look if you like Cami, I don’t mind. If it were you in the towel, I would watch you because I think you’re beautiful.” Her belly growled on cue. “Okay,” he chuckled. “I’ll hurry.” He picked up his phone and texted the boys then hurried into his fresh clothes. “Come on. Let’s eat.” He held his hand out to her. Cami hurried off of the bed to follow him. Mike and Pete were waiting on the walkway outside. “Cami, where is the best place to eat in town?” She pointed at the bar. “Do they have steak?” She nodded then gave Pete a nasty look.

  “Oh come on Cami. Don’t be angry at me, I was following orders.”

  “I don’t care what you were doing. I don’t like being manhandled and I don’t appreciate being convicted of a crime without being asked for an explanation first. So I am still mad at you and I’m staying that way.” She huffed and looked away.

  “You’re right. I could’ve handled it better. I’m sorry. I should’ve asked you where you were going.”

  “You didn’t even ask her?” Dylan turned to look at him. Pete shook his head.

  “No he didn’t. He just picked me up like a sack of potatoes and threw me in our room.” Cami marched ahead ignoring them until she heard the fight behind her. When she looked back, Dylan had Pete in a choke hold and was hitting him. “Stop it.” Cami grabbed for his hand. “Dylan, please?” Her voice was soft and cajoling. He stopped mid punch. “He didn’t hurt anything but my pride. “Please don’t hurt him.” Dylan let him go and faced her. “It’s okay. Really.” Dylan nodded. Pete was flexing his jaw but couldn’t keep the grin off of his face.

  “What the hell is so funny?” Dylan asked. Pete pointed to Junior’s truck. They hurried across the road to the bar. Pete and Mike took the back door entrance, Cami went in the front.

  “Cami, damn girl is that you?” She stepped up beside Hank and let him wrap his arm around her shoulders. “Where have you been?”

  “Fern Valley of course. Hank it was everything that you said it would be. It’s lovely. I got a job at Frankie’s, Turner’s, Betty’s and at the library.” He gave her a squeeze and ordered her a soda. Melanie brought her soda and gave her a hug.

  “There’s a last check for you hon, let me get it. Are you ready to come back to work?” Cami shook her head. “That’s too bad, we could use the help.”

  “I’m only here for the night, I wanted to pick up my check and speak to you Hank.” He sipped his beer.

  “Oh, why me?” He turned on the stool and patted the one beside him for her to climb onto.

  “I wanted to thank you. I found out a few things in your hometown and I wanted to share.” Melanie moved down the bar to fill glasses. Cami looked up into the toffee flecked hazel eyes. Hank was a wolf. It was easy to recognize now that she knew things. “I met a man, a wonderful man. He’s…” She grinned.

  “Who has lit your face up like that darling?” Hank grinned back at her.

  “His name is Dylan. He says that I’m his mate.” Hank nodded. “I just met him a few days ago but…well, you know.” He nodded again. “Anyway, as it turns out, he’s looking for you, he and his two friends have been scouring the country for you, and when I mentioned that I knew you well they…”

  “We hurried right over to see you Junior.” Dylan drawled from behind her. He towered over her with his commanding dominant tone that made her tingle. Hank didn’t flinch though. Several large men in the room suddenly stood and Dylan recognized them for what they were. “Sit them down Junior.” He turned and nodded at his pack. They sat but all eyes watched Dylan closely. “I know that you’ve been avoiding us but I’ve got to say, thank god we found you when we did.” Dylan sat on a stool behind Cami with his legs stretched out on each side of her possessively, one hand rested lightly on her hip. “Henry wants to talk to you pup. He found out that he has an aggressive cancer right after you left and we’ve been looking for you ever since. We want you to come back to Fern Valley and take your place as alpha. Before we go though, I want you to talk to Henry. It’s bad and I’m not sure that he’ll make it until you get there. There are things that he needs to say to you before he dies.” Dylan handed Junior his cell phone.

  “I can’t go back Dyl. I can’t take over as your alpha.” He pushed send on the cell and spoke to his father for quite some time. Dylan ordered dinner for their group after sitting Cami in a corner booth and calling the boys inside. Junior joined them at their table and another very large wolf walked over to stand at his side. Cami didn’t know him but he was huge and unfriendly looking. Funny, he looked a lot like Dylan that first night, all broad and mountainously big with bushy hair and a bushy beard. Did these guys think it was a good look? It was not sexy and it was not frightening to Cami. She gulped anyway because he was still gigantic and scary.

  “Is everything okay sir?” The big dark wolf grumbled looking Cami over. She would swear that he had to be as wide as he was tall. Dylan growled low in his throat when the wolf’s eyes appraised his mate.

  “Fine, if I need you, I’ll call.” Junior dismissed him not looking up. “Look, I’m the alpha here now. I have been for the past eighteen months. When I rolled into town, the alpha was old. I know the rules, I challenged him, and
well, here I am. I sent Cami to you guys so that you would protect her. She was drawing a lot of attention here so I took her under my wing but there was a lot of interest in claiming her whether she knew she was wolf or not. This pack is still a little backwoods and they were not going to give her a choice in the matter. Cami’s a nice girl and I didn’t want to see her raped and dominated like that, it wasn’t how Pop raised us.” He was talking to Dylan who was nodding. His thumb stroked her hand under the table. “He’s always preached putting your mate on a pedestal.” Hank chuckled. “He was always real sweet to my mama. I knew that Cami would be safer at home. I knew that Pop would protect her.” He finished his beer and held the empty glass up to Melanie.

  “Shit.” Dylan finished his beer. “That means that I have to tell Henry…”

  “It means that you need to challenge your alpha and take over Dylan.” Hank’s eyes flashed amber and his tone was full of authority like Dylan’s was sometimes. Cami nibbled her lip wondering if this was going to turn into a fight. There were a lot of wolves in here that would be on Hank’s side.

  “I won’t challenge Henry. He’s dying for shit’s sake.” Dylan’s hand tightened on hers for a moment. Did he need reassurance that she was still there? Cami squeezed his back and rested her other hand on his too.

  “Let him go out with some pride. If you challenge him, he will be seen as a strong alpha that needed to be challenged but you as a stronger one. It’s not like he’s handing down the place in the pack to me. It’s not the same, it doesn’t matter that you grew up in the same house. You aren’t blood so he can’t just hand it over. You have to challenge him Dylan, besides, just think how great it will make him feel if a strong beta like you bothers to challenge him instead of just hovering like a vulture. He can die a proud wolf.” Melanie brought a round of beers and told them that their food would be right out. She handed Cami a check. “I can’t go back tonight, I have some matters to attend to, but I will set out first thing tomorrow. Me and Pop have said our peace. We have worked it out if he can’t hold on until I get there. I told him that I forgave him and that I never stopped loving him. He sounded pretty weak guys so we can’t take too long.” Junior leaned over and hugged Dylan then shook Pete and Mike’s hands. “I’ll hurry, you guys do the same.” He got up and left the bar. Cami wiped her tears and sniffled. Dylan put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to him.

  “Eat your dinner. I don’t want to hear your belly growling all night.” He kissed her temple. They ate in somber silence. Cami cleared her plate while Dylan watched amused. She really was starving. He would keep in mind that she needed a decent sized meal at least once a day, she was not a grazer. He liked that, there was nothing worse than a woman who always said she wasn’t hungry and picked at a salad while her gut rumbled.

  The boys clinked glasses again. They were done chasing Junior all over the countryside. Finally, they could get back to their lives. Mike was thinking that he’d start looking for his mate while Pete was pretty convinced that the she-wolf he was dancing with was his. Dylan wondered for a moment if the betas would share her later, they’d done it before. He didn’t care what the hell they did. His belly was full and he had a lush female cuddled into his side. “Dylan, I’m kind of tired. Would you mind if I went back to the room?” He gave her a squeeze.

  “My thoughts exactly, it’s been a long day.” He finished his beer and leveled a look at Mike. “Cami and I are going to turn in, be ready to go at five.” Mike nodded and turned his mug up as well. It was after eleven. He stifled a yawn and motioned to Pete that they were leaving. Cami followed Dylan out of the booth and took his hand when he offered it. She hugged Melanie good bye then followed Dylan across the street to the hotel.

  Chapter 6

  She was biting her lip and staring at the bed when he came out of the bathroom. “Get in bed Cami, five comes early, and we have a long ride tomorrow.” He was laying his clothes out for tomorrow, his watch, and wallet were placed on top of the pile of neatly stacked clothes. He went to her suitcase and did the same with her clothes. “Since you aren’t in bed, were you going to shower first?” Her head shook. “Then get in bed.” There was that tone that made her muscles clench low in her belly, the tone that made her want to obey, the one that made her want to do all kinds of things to him. God he was sexy. Would they have sex? Would they have sex every night from now on? Was this going to be her life now? Not that she was complaining about having sex with Dylan but it just seemed like it was all so sudden. This mate business, and now that he’d found Junior, all of his concentration would be on her wouldn’t it? They needed to figure some things out, set some rules and talk. Cami squealed as he lifted her from the floor and put her on the bed. He pulled the covers over her and turned her bedside light off. She watched his shadow form walk around the bed in the dark, his eyes flashed and her breath hitched. “I assume all that thinking that you were doing was about what was going to happen next. I told you that if you didn’t want to have sex, we won’t. It’s up to you. If you want to, I’m over here, if not, goodnight Darlin’.” Cami inhaled sharply. Darlin’. Every muscle in her core went hot and wet all at once. God that was arousing, the way he said that word all low and smooth. The way that he drew it out and left off the ‘g’, wow! Dylan chuckled. Did he know? How could he? He must be thinking about something, she decided. He had her hand now and pressed a warm kiss to the center of her palm and her traitorous muscles clenched again sweetly. Oh god, she was going to lose control of herself if this kept up. His teeth pressed into her thumb pad and the pleasure shot straight into her core. How could those two points be connected, warm lips pressed to her wrist and fire raced through her veins zinging into her core. Her breath hitched and her heart beat frantically. “It’s up to you Darlin’.” Smooth warm caramel oozed over her nerves bringing heat with it. He knew exactly what he was doing to her and right now, she didn’t care to get angry about it. She wanted him and there was no sense in denying it or repressing it. She wanted Dylan and she was going to have him. Cami threw herself across the small space separating them, and onto him. He chuckled low in his throat whipping her clothes off of her while she kissed him anywhere she found skin. Her frantic hands pulled his briefs off of him and she straddled him. “Easy Darlin’.” Her wetness rubbed along his hardness coating him in her juices and Cami was no longer in control of what she was doing. “Someday soon I’m going to take my time at this and make love to you properly if I can get you to behave.”

  “Sometimes a girl needs to be in charge.” Cami shifted and placed his flesh inside of her, she rolled her hips sinking onto him a satisfied moan escaped her lips.

  “You feel so good.” Dylan grunted when she thrust herself down onto him again. He moved to roll her onto her back and she stopped him with a word.

  “No. Sit up.” He chuckled but did as she asked. Since when was he not in charge in bed? It didn’t matter he decided, there would be plenty of time for that later, as long as it felt like this, he didn’t care who took the lead. His eager fingers kneaded her haunches helping her keep her rhythm, the rhythm that felt so damned incredible right now. He was inside of her so deep and he didn’t ever want out. Cami kissed his chest and neck while her fingernails dug into his shoulders. He felt her teeth on his skin, her tongue on the pulse point at the base of his throat then teeth again on the claiming muscle that ran from his neck to shoulder. Oh, that’s interesting, he thought then she bit him, growling, and Dylan came with a roar. She’d claimed him! Cami just left her mark on his neck, was still biting him, and licking the wound. Dylan flipped her onto her belly and mounted her from behind, impaling her viciously. Cami moaned thrusting back onto him further, opening herself up to him, wanting him to take her, to claim her. His body covered hers, dominated hers, and filled hers. His canines extended and he growled sinking them into her neck gently. His objective was not to hurt her but to mark her as his. She snarled and thrust back onto him again, the orgasm hitting her hard making her body shake an
d tremble. She moaned and whimpered sinking into the mattress with Dylan still inside of her. White lights exploded behind her eyes and her body continued to convulse with it. Dylan nursed her wound as he rolled her onto her side still buried in her, he held her tightly against him, her back to his front. His arms wrapped around her trembling body like steel bands possessively. His lips left warm kisses on the back of her neck and shoulders, soothing her, caring for her. This must be what heaven feels like, she thought.

  “Mine.” He murmured into her neck and they both drifted off to sleep, she was smiling as she went.

  ***

  Dylan woke to banging on the door. “Come on Dylan, you said five, it’s nearly six. Get the hell up!” Pete was shouting through the door.

  “Yeah, yeah. Give me ten minutes. Go get us breakfast, coffee for both of us.”

  “And bacon.” Cami said sleepily.

  “Bacon, eggs, you know the drill.” Dylan was pulling his jeans up while Cami watched. “Don’t look at me like that, we won’t ever get home.” She blushed and searched for her clothes. He tossed her pile of clean ones onto the bed. Cami shimmied into her jeans and pulled a tee shirt over her head. When she popped her head through the hole he was there kissing her. “Good morning beautiful.” Cami blushed but said good morning. He bent to kiss his mark and she trembled. “Go brush your teeth and hopefully Pete will be back with breakfast by then. There was a knock on the door and Dylan opened it. Mike came in and tossed his and Pete’s duffle bags to the floor then sat on one of the yellow vinyl chairs at the small table by the window.

  “He’s bringing coffee right?” Mike’s head was back and his eyes were closed.