Alpha’s Mate: Dire Wolves of London, Book One

by Wilder, Carina

  Her body seized around both men’s cocks as they thrust one final time, deep, deep, so deep that a flash of light stole away her vision and the world went white. She shut her eyes, arching herself backwards into Laird’s chest when she felt the explosion of heat inside her.

  In that moment, she and her lovers shared one mind, one body. They became one being.

  She’d never known a sensation like it.

  This was raw, pure eroticism.

  They were animals, her lovers, and so was she. Animals with needs, wants, and cravings that went far beyond any human’s.

  Emma collapsed forward onto Roth’s torso as their shudders subsided, breathing hard, and Laird wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chest resting against her back. Both men were still inside her, and she wasn’t sure she ever wanted them to pull away. She felt whole, for the first time in her life.

  “Nothing will ever be the same,” she whispered. “Nothing.”

  “No,” said Roth. “Not for us, it won’t.”

  “Good,” Emma replied. “Good.”

  14

  On Monday morning, after spending almost thirty-six hours straight in bed with her two lovers, Emma called in to her lab’s answering service at seven a.m.

  “I won’t be coming in today, as I’m not feeling well,” she lied to the recording device on the other end, a giant grin on her face as she lay on her stomach, Roth’s hand between her legs stroking her, while Laird peppered her back with soft kisses. “I think I’ve got the flu.” She let out a few pathetic-sounding coughs to seal the deal and hung up before flipping onto her back.

  “How is this possible?” she asked. “How can this be my life now?”

  Roth pulled her thighs apart, burying his tongue inside her to elicit a happy yelp of pleasure.

  “Since he’s busy down there, I’ll answer your question,” said Laird, who’d rolled onto his back and turned his face towards hers. He was so sexy, so naked, and by some miracle, his cock was still hard. Always ready to play, that one. “This is your life because you deserve it, Emma,” he said earnestly. “This is your life because we’ve found one another. Roth and I are very fortunate to have you.”

  “As am I to have found you,” she said, rolling onto her side and slipping a hand down to wrap it around his shaft, whose girth hadn’t yet ceased to amaze her, even after having it inside her at least ten times. “Very lucky.”

  She kissed him, pulling her knees even further apart to give Roth ample room to draw her towards yet another orgasm.

  “This is the strangest, dirtiest, best fairy tale in the history of the world,” she moaned.

  “Beauty and the Beasts,” replied Laird, his voice tight as she stroked him towards ecstasy.

  “Beauty and the Bliss is more like it.”

  * * *

  It was nine p.m. when Roth finally rose from the bed and dressed. He watched Emma drift in and out of sleep for a few minutes before he signalled silently to Laird, who was still lying next to her. “We need to go on patrol tonight,” he said when the other shifter had sat up. “We’ve shirked our duties long enough. Our absence will give Emma a chance to rest, besides.”

  “Fair enough,” Laird replied, sighing. He pulled himself to his feet, leaving their mate alone in the bed, which was enough to stir her to life.

  “What’s happening?” she muttered when she’d popped her eyes open and pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Where are you two going?”

  “We’ve got to go on the lookout for bad guys for a few hours, sexy Em,” said Roth. “We’ve taken the weekend off, which is all well and good, but the fact is that we have duties to the Guild. Murders to prevent and all that.”

  Emma covered her mouth as a yawn made its way out. “My furry superheroes,” she said. “I suppose I shouldn’t fuss, given that you’re being good little guardian angels and all. But when will you be back?” She raised herself up to a sitting position, drawing the white sheets around her body. Sweet thing, she was trying to keep her chin up, but Roth could feel her disappointment on the air.

  “Morning, most likely. Though if things look calm and if you’d like, perhaps we’ll pop back here in a couple of hours. You know, for a wee break, to recharge our batteries.” With that, he winked.

  “By that, he means a quick, passionate three-way wild shag,” said Laird, “in case it wasn’t entirely clear.”

  “Thank you for the translation,” Emma laughed. “I would like that very much. I can’t fathom the idea of going the entire night without the two of you by my side…or inside me, as it were.”

  “Neither can we, gorgeous,” Roth replied. “You’ve turned us into quite the addicts.” He slid onto the bed, pulled the sheets away and kissed one nipple, then the other, teasing them into tight, eager peaks that made him seriously reconsider his decision to head out. “I’d hate to have you suffer withdrawal symptoms, or ourselves for that matter,” he added, planting another soft kiss on her lips. She was such an unbelievable beauty, with those dark eyes and high cheekbones. Patrol tonight would be dull, knowing that he wouldn’t find her wandering alone through the park as he had so many times in the last weeks.

  “Then come back soon,” she said, stretching her arms over her head, which only rendered her naked torso all the more appetizing. “Meanwhile I think I’ll get up and have a bite. I’m a little hungry.”

  “Hunger is good,” said Laird, who waited for her to climb out of bed before pulling her towards him to kiss her neck. “For example, I’m hungry for you right now, and I feel strangely healthy for it.”

  She pushed him away with mock force, smiling at him when their eyes met. “Naughty boys. You’d best go quickly, before I force you two to change your minds.”

  “Right, then.”

  But as the men turned to step out of the room, Emma pulled their eyes back to her when she spoke again.

  “Hey, wait a minute—aren’t I meant to have new super powers or some such?” she asked. “I thought that incredible sex with Dire Wolves did that to a girl. Don’t get me wrong; I’m feeling awfully good. But aside from a sort of constant state of euphoria, I feel the same as I always did, really.”

  “The effects of the Ritual aren’t always immediate, as I understand it,” Roth replied. “Though of course it’s been centuries since anyone spoke of their own experiences. I suspect they’ll hit us soon enough, though, in ways that we don’t entirely expect. Patience, my beautiful naked goddess.”

  “All right. I suppose I’ll survive as I am,” Emma sighed. “Anyhow, the only thing I’m really impatient for is your return. I couldn’t care less if I develop the power to open jars easily, or can suddenly lift the fridge and hurl it across the room like a frisbee.”

  Roth registered the words, but the growing erection inside his boxer shorts was making it awfully hard to focus. “I’d like to see that,” he said. “But now we’re really off. The sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be back, though if you keep prancing around in the altogether like that, we just may have to throw you onto the bed and ravage you.”

  “That would be just awful,” said Emma, covering her breasts minimally with her fingers so that her nipples were still mostly visible, and all the more enticing for it. “Just terrible.”

  “You know, I do believe this is the first time I’ve ever headed out on patrol with a raging hard-on,” said Laird, raising an eyebrow, “and it’s all your fault, lover.”

  “I do apologize,” she replied, not at all remorsefully.

  “Same goes for me,” said Roth, turning his back on her at last. “See you in a little, beauty.”

  “See you, hot men of mine.”

  They left her standing in her bedroom, smelling like sex and heaven. Neither man spoke a word, but each knew what the other was thinking.

  It had been a perfect couple of days, and it was bloody hard to see them come to an end.

  * * *

  For over an hour, the two shifters focused their energy on patrolling the area around Notting
Hill, keeping to their human forms as they walked the streets. It was too early yet to shift; too many Londoners were still making their way home from the pub or from work.

  “I’m not picking up much in the way of scents,” Laird said after a time. “A few Wolves, a Cat or two. But no Bears. I don’t suppose there’s going to be any violence around here tonight.”

  “No, said Roth a little absent-mindedly, “I suppose not.

  “Listen, I’ve been wondering, do you suppose there’s a chance that the Grizzlies’ attacks have been organized? I mean, they’re usually pretty solitary, those guys. But the man who tried to get Emma the other night—what if he was part of a larger group?”

  “I tried to ask him after I let my Dire Wolf have a go at him, but he didn’t give me much to go on, I’m afraid. He was pretty disoriented after I clawed his face to shreds. Anyhow, things have been quiet around here for a couple of days, which means that perhaps they’ve given up.”

  “Either that,” said Laird, “or they’re holding out for something big. This could just be the calm before the storm. After all, they’ve already wreaked some serious havoc; perhaps there’s a bigger plan to set in motion yet.”

  Something inside Roth clenched as his friend spoke the words. Alarm bells began to sound inside his head, a toxic concern lacing his thoughts.

  He stopped walking for a moment, pressing his hand against the wall next to him.

  “What is it?” asked Laird.

  “I don’t know. It’s my head. Perhaps it’s the bonding—some sort of post-Ritual symptom. I feel like—like there’s a dark shadow rising up, threatening…”

  “Threatening? You mean something is coming for us?”

  Roth shook his head, unable to provide a specific answer. “I can’t say. The problem is that it’s fuzzy. I can’t clearly make out what it is that’s coming. It’s like there’s someone—a shadow, blurry, unidentifiable—coming towards us. Something that wants to hurt the pack…or maybe it just wants to hurt you and me.” He turned to Laird, his face beading with sweat. “Fuck, I don’t know.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” Laird looked at his watch. It was 10:51 by now. “Listen, maybe this would be a good time for that break we were talking about,” he said, putting a hand on Roth’s shoulder. “Emma’s place is about twenty minutes away on foot. If we wander over there, it’ll give you a chance to put your feet up, or something far more enjoyable, even. You need to stop worrying and remember that we now have a mate to go home to. A very, very sexy mate.”

  The mere mention of Emma’s name was enough to send a rush of blood towards Roth’s dick, which hardened like a steel rod at the thought of finding his way inside her again. Her body was the place where he felt at home, at peace, and in this moment he wanted nothing more than to see her face, that smile of hers, those sweet, beautiful eyes, reassuring him with their warmth.

  “I think that’s an excellent idea,” he said, turning on his heel to march back towards her flat. “For us and for her. Maybe it will give my mind a chance to figure out what’s going on. If nothing else, it’ll make for a nice distraction.”

  “You’re right about that. She’s insatiable, that one,” Laird replied. “She’ll be on the lookout for us, I’ll bet.”

  “Good,” Roth replied. “I like to think of her on the lookout, given that we’re not around to protect her.”

  The darkness that swirled in his mind had begun to dissipate, though it hadn’t yet disappeared entirely. He just couldn’t shake this feeling, for some bloody reason, that something awful was about to happen somewhere far away, yet very close at the same time. It made no sense.

  Ah, well. Maybe Laird was right; a good dose of Emma would relieve his stress. Whatever was looming over his thoughts, their lover would offer an hour or two of respite.

  There was nothing like a good old-fashioned orgasm to take one’s mind off of murderous Grizzlies.

  15

  Emma had been sitting upstairs in her study, contemplating the strange new life that she and her lovers had carved out for themselves. A satisfied smile was plastered to her lips, a warmth churning inside her chest that made her feel as though all was right with the world for the first time that she could ever recall.

  When she heard the distinct sound of a fist colliding with her thick wooden front door, she leapt up, wrapped her silk robe around the thin white cotton pyjamas that she was wearing and hurried down the stairs. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t even have considered cracking the door open for anyone at this hour. But these were no normal circumstances. She was, after all, expecting a couple of very appealing visitors.

  Visitors who didn’t yet have keys to her place, much as they possessed the key to her heart. Not to mention her knickers.

  She couldn’t wait to pull the door open, tear their clothes off in the stairwell and take them both before they’d so much as climbed to her bedroom on the second floor. She felt like she could already smell them on the air, that masculine musk of theirs blending with her own scent. Eau de Sensualité, she’d call the aroma if she could ever bottle it. A perfect aphrodisiac.

  It was possible, of course, that she was imagining the appealing bouquet. She hadn’t showered since the men had left, and she could simply be picking up their aroma on her own skin. Anyhow, it didn’t matter. She’d be wrapped up in their arms soon enough, a new set of scents permeating the air, arousing her senses.

  On a whim, she stopped in front of the hallway’s mirror to tidy her hair and check her face for errant makeup splotches, unfastening the top two buttons of her pyjamas in hopes of tempting her lovers to take the not-so-subtle hint. She undid a third just for good measure, revealing a little more of her cleavage. “Good God, I’ve become a total harlot,” she laughed as she turned to step towards the door, her broad smile clinging to her lips. “I’ve turned into a randy, but very happy, little sex monster.”

  “Horny beastie, at your service,” she belted out as she yanked the door open, renewed excitement flooding her insides.

  But any feelings of euphoria deserted her immediately.

  Two strange men stood in the doorway before her, menacing smiles darkening their faces in an expression that somehow managed to remind Emma of the terrifying Grizzly who’d threatened her a few nights earlier. The men were enormous, their hulking frames making her feel suddenly very small.

  They were shifters, no doubt. But neither of them looked even remotely friendly. The first of them, who could have been handsome in other circumstances, had light hair, dark eyes, and a look of suppressed rage about him. The other had a vicious set of parallel red slashes across his cheek that looked like it had come from the claws of some large animal. Emma wondered if there was a chance that he could be the Grizzly shifter that Roth had attacked in the park. Are those the claw marks of a Dire Wolf?

  She found herself suddenly wishing that she could shift, could swipe at them herself. Something about them was so hostile that it sent her blood running cold, a hard shiver overtaking her body.

  “Evenin’, Miss,” the scarred man snarled, a set of snaggled teeth showing themselves beyond his dry, peeling lips.

  Before Emma could utter a word or slam the door in their faces, the light-haired man had reached out and grabbed her by the right arm, pulling her outside into the cold night air. She let out the beginnings of a shriek, but before it had a chance to crescendo the other man had wrapped his arm around her head, muzzling her with his palm.

  His companion pulled her front door shut then raced ahead to a waiting van and slid the rear door open. Together her two captors threw her inside, slammed the door and raced off into the night.

  * * *

  “She’s not here,” said Laird, turning towards Roth as he knocked a second time on Emma’s front door. It was 11:15 p.m. She should have been home. Where the devil could she possibly have gone at this hour?

  He sniffed the air, his brows knitting with concern and anger as he registered the scent.


  No doubt Roth could smell it too. The insidious odour of two Grizzly shifters. “Fucking hell,” he growled. “They’ve taken her. They walked up to her door and stole her away, the sodding bastards.”

  “So that was it,” Roth replied, his tone measured but strained. “This was what my instincts were trying to warn me about. But I didn’t decipher it; I didn’t understand what my own damned gut was trying to say to me, and now she’s gone. I’ve failed her.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Laird shot out. “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known, any more than I could. You’re not a fucking psychic, Roth.”

  The Alpha pinched the top of his nose with his thumb and index finger, a move he only made when he was on the brink of exploding into a rage. “But I did know,” he muttered. “I knew something was wrong. Something inside me told me there was danger…”

  “But not what sort. The Ritual hasn’t fully taken effect yet; you can’t blame yourself for not understanding everything that’s happening inside your head. You haven’t yet learned to read the deepest parts of your instincts.”

  “No matter,” Roth replied, pulling his hand away from his face, his eyes fixing on a distant point. “I’ll punish myself later. For now, all we know is that two men took her. Two shifters, in a vehicle. Not long ago, from the smell of things.”

  Laird let out a low, long growl. “No doubt they took her to get back at us.”

  “You may be right,” Roth replied. “But there are other reasons to take a woman like Emma, too. She may have something that they want; something more valuable, even, than her ties to us. Don’t forget that a Grizzly pursued her in the park the other night, before we’d been with her. He didn’t attack her; didn’t get particularly violent until you and I showed up. Maybe he was looking for something from her then.”

  “Well, I have no idea what that could be. Bloody hell, what do you think we ought to do? I don’t even know where to start.” Laird’s heart was sinking, his stomach churning with concern for their lover. Nothing mattered now but finding her and making sure she got home safely.