by Alisa Woods
“Oh my god,” she panted, looking amazed.
He grinned. “I take it you liked that.”
Her eyes were wide, like he had just spoken in tongues. “Is that how it’s supposed to feel? Every time?”
His smile faltered. “You mean you’ve never…” He was stunned. Was it possible that was her first orgasm? The idea put him in awe… and flushed him with pleasure. Mace may have claimed her… he may have had her first… but Jak had pleasured her like she’d never been pleasured before.
And he was just getting started.
He withdrew his hand from her still pulsing body and slipped her off his lap, quickly laying her on her back and positioning himself between her legs. There was barely enough room on the seat for this, but he was going to work every inch of it.
“Yes, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel,” he said, grinning into her shocked expression. She was surprised but definitely pleased. And, if he had his way, he was about to pleasure her a whole lot more. “In fact, my sweet little Arianna, I am just getting started with you.”
Then she bit her lip, and he’ll be damned if she didn’t blush. He couldn’t wait to bury his cock inside her any longer, so he didn’t. Holding her shoulder tight to keep her from banging her head against the side door, he angled her hips and thrust deep inside. She gasped and arched up, hot and wet and oh so tight. He groaned and stilled for a moment, lost in the sheer pleasure of being in her.
“Oh my god, Jak,” she breathed. “You’re so big.”
Pleasure flushed him head to toe again. Take that, Mace, you asshole. But then he banished thoughts of Mace from his head—this was all about Arianna. Pleasuring her, making love to her. In that moment, he wanted to give her everything she never had, no matter what those things were, no matter how impossible they were to obtain. He would do literally anything for her. Anything.
He slowly withdrew almost all the way from her deliciously hot body then thrust hard again. Her whimper of pleasure was like a drug to him. He thrust again and again, quickly finding the rhythm that bumped her cries higher each time, spiraling tighter, building tension low in his belly with each stroke. She was grabbing at his shoulders and the cushions and wrapping her legs tight around his back. He kept going, holding back his own climax, which was rushing at him like a freight train.
“Come for me, Arianna,” he panted.
She moaned and arched… so close, but not quite there. His mouth watered, and he could feel his fangs come out. His wolf whined and growled and stomped, demanding that he claim her not just with his cock but with his bite. Jak clamped his mouth shut, knowing that would never be an option for him. Arianna had already been claimed… if Jak bit her, the magic in his saliva would wage a war in her blood with the magic from all of Mace’s previous bites. It would kill her, slowly and painfully. No… that was one part of Arianna that would always belong to Mace. He had claimed her first, and that was a magic only death could sever.
Arianna’s moans were turning to shrieks, but she still hadn’t come. Drawing it out would make it even better for her, and he wanted that: he wanted to bring her to heights she would never have with anyone else. But he was almost at the brink himself... he changed his angle, and that must have hit the spot because she screamed and bucked, and two thrusts later, he could feel her climax milking his cock. He groaned and couldn’t hold back any longer. He kept thrusting as he came, but his head was so light, so flushed with the high of being with her, of pleasuring her, of being her first, her true first, that he felt like he might pass out. He kept going until her small cries of pleasure stopped wrenching free with every motion. Even then, he took his time easing them to a stop. He didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want to return to the world where he knew she belonged to another wolf. Where he had just broken every pack law that ever existed.
He pushed all of that aside, propping himself up by the elbows and looking down at her flushed face. Her lips were parted, her chest still heaving. Small tremors of pleasure were still racing through her, by the way shudders kept running up and down her body, leaving goose bumps and hardened nipples behind. Which reminded him that he hadn’t lavished anywhere near enough attention on her gorgeous breasts. He slid his cock out and then trailed his kisses down her chest, giving each breast a few nips. He decided he would have to start there next time.
It amazed him that he thought there might be a next time.
He slid back up to look her in the face. The glow was still strong, but she had opened her eyes, and they peered back at him, crinkling at the edges. Worried.
“Are you okay?” he asked, frowning. He should have made sure she had recovered completely from the dart before tossing her into the throes of her first orgasm… or two.
Her smile settled his heart. She reached up to touch his face, like she did before, with just her fingertips. “I feel like I’m floating. Like I’m actually on a cloud made of pleasure on some distant planet.” She shook her head, her gaze roaming his face and then falling to look at their bodies where they touched, chest to chest. “I had no idea it could be like this, Jak. That I could feel like this.” She looked back to his face. “Be honest with me. Is it like this every time? Is this what you feel with every girl?”
“With every girl?” he asked, eyes widening a little.
A shy smile crept onto her face. “Word gets around, Jak. I know what the Red pack wolves do when they go out. Mace comes home with another girl’s scent on him all the time.”
Mace’s name on her lips made his stomach clench.
Her hands were on his face again. “I know I’m not your first. Or your last. I just… I just want to know if—”
“It’s not the same,” he said hastily, cutting her off with more force than he meant to. Here he was, lying on top of her, having just made love to her—and that’s what it was, lovemaking, not having sex or a one-time screw—yet he had no idea what he was doing or how to put his feelings into words. “It’s different with you, Arianna. You don’t know how often I’ve… I’ve thought about you.”
Her shy smile grew stronger. “Did you think of me like this?” She trailed her fingers along his back, just short of being ticklish, just strong enough to send heat to his groin.
He bent to kiss her, lightly, on the lips. “I definitely thought of you like this. Again and again.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “And in other ways, too.”
She bit her lip. “This is the first time I’ve…” Her eyes grew wide as she looked up into his. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way before.”
He grinned. “Arianna Stefan, I promise you’ll feel this way each and every time with me. I’ll make you come any time you like. All you have to do is ask.”
She laughed, lightly, and it warmed his heart. Then she reached up and pulled him down for a kiss, which he didn’t object to in the slightest.
But when they parted, her voice was hushed. “I didn’t mean that. Although that was amazing. I mean… I’ve never felt this way about anyone else before. I feel… different when I’m with you. Alive. Like the world has possibility again.”
His heart both swelled and felt like it might burst with her words. He bent to kiss her again, then whispered, “Me too.”
Her shy smile made his heart break. Because while his feelings were real, he knew what the difference was for her: she was away from Mace. As soon as she returned to the house, his domain, anywhere near his presence, the magic of the submission and mating bonds would amplify and any feelings she had for Jak would vaporize like so much morning mist. Whatever tender, professed whispers or shrieks of passion she had with him, they could only exist here, far away from her alpha, and only for a few stolen moments.
When she returned to Mace, she would once again belong only to him—body, mind, and soul.
Jak gritted his teeth and eased back, helping Arianna up from where she lay on the cushion. Her hair was mussed, and her entire body was flushed from their lovemaking. Sitting next to him, her hand in his
, naked and smiling… he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life.
But she didn’t belong to him. And she never would.
“We should get dressed,” he said quietly.
She nodded and solemnly took the articles of clothing, one by one, as he fished them out of the bag and handed them to her. He would have to tell the pack about the bounty hunters and their attempt to snatch Arianna. Somehow, someone had figured out who and what she was… and that mystery had to be solved before they came back for another attempt. Not only did Jak want to keep her safe, he knew Mace would never allow her to attend school, or even leave the house for that matter, if he thought there was any chance of losing her.
In fact, there was a good chance, the moment she and Jak returned, that Mace would lock her away inside his house… forever.
Jak’s wolf howled and snorted his objection to that thought. And Jak had to agree.
Completely unacceptable.
First, Jak would track down the bounty hunters and find out who had set them hunting for Arianna. And then… Jak had no idea how, or if it was even possible, but somehow, he would find a way to break an unbreakable magic bond and free Arianna from Mace.
Forever.
Jak had scrubbed every last bit of Arianna’s scent from his body, but he couldn’t erase what happened between them from his mind.
Nor did he want to.
They had returned early from the University when the bounty hunters’ attack cut short their plans on campus. Even with the brief delay due to their frantic lovemaking in the back seat, Jak and Arianna were still the only ones at the Red pack estate when he dropped her off at Mace’s house. Which was fortunate: she had to eliminate Jak’s scent before Mace returned, or they would both be dead. Or worse.
The idea of dying didn’t bother Jak as much as the knowledge that Mace wouldn’t kill Arianna… he would only make her suffer. And for a wolf, there was a lot of suffering that could happen before the mercy of death arrived. The mere thought of that chastened and enraged him all at once: his wolf was on a constant low growl that filled his ears and rushed his veins.
If Mace hurt Arianna in any way… Jak wasn’t sure if he could stop himself from killing her alpha. Or at least attempting to. The only thing that could possibly stop him would be the magic in Jak’s own blood: he was bound to Gage, Mace’s brother, and no matter what, Gage wouldn’t allow his beta to kill his brother. And Jak couldn’t disobey his alpha—his submission bond wasn’t as strong as Arianna’s mating bond, but it was still powerful magic. It would at least slow him down, make him weak… and doom him in a fight with Mace.
Which was seriously unfortunate: a dead Mace would solve more than one problem.
Jak climbed into fresh clothes after his shower. The soap and new clothes should safely hide his tryst with Arianna, although her scent was still strong in his mind… along with the way she moaned and flushed while she writhed underneath him. Just thinking about it was going to give him a hard-on, so he shoved that memory aside. Besides… finding the bounty hunters who attacked them was now his number one priority.
Jak sent a vague message to his alpha about urgent pack business back at the estate then logged onto the pack’s WiFi—but there wasn’t much to be found online. Of course, shifter hunters didn’t hang a shingle out on bountyhunterforhire.com. But even the darknet sites that shifters used to communicate away from the prying eyes of the Feds didn’t have any chatter about recent bounties or the hunters who answered them. Jak posted a description of the two men—mid-twenties, brown hair, gray hoodies, dart gun model—on a thread titled Hunters, Witches, and Other Black Arts.
Their attackers were pros, and even if they bumbled today’s attempt at bagging a wolf, this wasn’t their first time. Someone else on the net might recognize them. If Jak was very lucky, he’d score a lead on their base of operations, although that was information hunters kept very down low, for obvious reasons. Jak left off any identifying details about the place and time of the attack, just in case the hunters were lurking. He scouted around the other threads for possible leads on similar hits but came up dry.
Jak shoved away from the computer desk and paced the house’s main gathering room, checking his phone for thread updates and scouring his mind for ideas about how to track the hunters. A crunching of tires from out front signaled several cars pulling into the estate. It was still early, and Jak prayed Arianna had already showered. He sprinted to the front door—maybe he could occupy Mace a little longer and buy her a few more minutes.
The three pack cars held a dozen wolves, including Gage and Mace, who were out of their respective cars and stalking across the red pavers of the drive almost before the vehicles stopped moving.
“What’s the status, Jak?” Gage demanded in his usual no-nonsense approach.
“We had a run-in at the University,” Jak filled his alpha in quickly.
Mace’s face went from glower to livid in half a second. “What the hell!”
Jak threw his hands up. “Arianna is fine,” he said, all while noting that Mace hadn’t actually asked about her. Jak turned to Gage. “We were attacked by bounty hunters. Arianna was hit by a tranq dart of some kind, but she’s all right now.”
Mace seemed ready to choke on his own spit. “Some beta you have,” he growled to Gage.
“My beta kept your mate safe,” Gage spit back. “Care to wager where your mate would be now, if Alric was in charge?”
Jak lifted his chin, daring Mace to question him, but his stomach was chewing itself to pieces.
Mace growled at them both but didn’t argue. “I don’t care what father says, she should never have gone back.” It was more a pathetic grumble than an actual threat. At least Jak hoped. He knew school was the only thing that shone any light in Arianna’s life—although he couldn’t help hoping that maybe he was part of that light now, especially since he’d brought her alive in a whole new-to-her, steamy-hot kind of way. Regardless, Jak had to quickly find a way to put the attack behind them, so she could keep going to class.
“It wasn’t going to school that was the problem,” Jak threw into Mace’s face. He looked to his alpha for backup.
Gage’s face darkened. “Jak’s right. Being outside the compound just gave the hunters opportunity. But they shouldn’t have known Jak and Arianna were shifters in the first place.”
“Exactly,” Jak said. “Someone told them what we were and where we would be.”
Mace pulled back, his face darkening. “No one in my pack. Obviously.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Mace,” Gage said. Jak smirked. “It’s not anyone from Red pack. It has to be someone we’ve worked with: associates, other packs, the shifter community. We have more than a few enemies in the shifter world, and many know about your new mate. But regardless… someone sold out the pack, and I want to know who.”
Several of Gage’s pack members were gathered around their tight discussion, along with Mace’s two betas Alric and Beck. A growl of agreement went around the group, Jak along with them.
“It could be anyone,” Jak said. “Hell, maybe they were trying to stop my lab visit to Silver Quick. We don’t even know if Arianna was really the target—they may not have even known she was a wolf.”
Gage frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“She shifted during the attack—it seemed to catch them off guard.” Jak wasn’t sure that was entirely true. He had replayed the scene a dozen times in his head, and he suspected that when he dropped his phone he managed to avoid their first shot. They were aiming for Arianna as well, but they did seem unprepared for Arianna to ward off their dart, shift, and come after them.
“Of course she was the target,” Mace said with scorn. He gave Jak a look like he was pond scum, a revulsion Jak had no problem returning. “She’s a mated female.”
There was no question that mated females carried powerful magic in their blood, and especially in their hearts. But that wouldn’t mean anything, if the hunters didn’t know she w
as a shifter to begin with.
“Sure, witches could be after her… if they knew what she was,” Jak said. “She hasn’t been outside the compound in six months. Hardly anyone knows she’s here.” Jak turned back to Gage again. Mace was too much of a hot head; Gage was the only one with a chance of sorting this out. “It could be the Sparks pack. Maybe they’re out for revenge?”
Gage shook his head. “I doubt it. Things have been quiet too long on that front. Besides, their alphas aren’t the kind who initiate trouble.” He gave a pointed look to Mace.
He snarled in return. “They don’t have the balls to do what it takes. Not unlike some alphas in the Red pack.”
“Really?” Jak lurched forward to get in Mace’s face. “You want to be a little more specific about that?” Mace just insulted his alpha. Jak would be more than justified in tearing him into bloody strips… his mouth watered at the mere possibility.
“Your beta’s big on words,” Mace sneered to Gage. “Come on, beta. For once, I’d love to see your blood run instead of your mouth.”
Jak’s claws came out, and he was about to take a piece out of Mace when Gage yanked him back. Jak growled but obeyed his alpha and stayed back.
Gage jutted his chin at Mace. “Jak’s the only reason your mate is home safe right now. Show some respect, or I might have to teach you some… little brother.”
Jak snickered along with the rest of Gage’s pack. Their alpha had several inches and fifty pounds on his brother, and if it turned into a pack-on-pack brawl, Gage’s pack outnumbered Mace’s three to one. Those were only two of the many reasons why Gage was the dominant son in the hierarchy. That, and Mace was an asshole no one respected. Everyone knew it, even his own betas.
“So Arianna’s home safe now—is that right?” The gleam in Mace’s eye made Jak’s blood run cold.
“That was my job, and I did it.” Jak clenched his fists. The last thing he wanted was an enraged and frustrated Mace going home to Arianna and taking his impotent frustrations out on her. But Jak couldn’t object without bringing suspicion. He was already walking a fine line, trying not to let his ever-intensifying feelings for her show. Jak growled his own frustration. “Why don’t you run along home to your female, Mace? Let the big boys figure out who’s threatening her.”
