Hexing the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #1)

by Talina Perkins

  And another thing she never asked was why he insisted on staying until closing time every night this past month.

  All the hot fantasies she’d dreamed about with him flitted across her mind, causing another wave of desire to flood her system. Long showers featuring him lathering her body, caressing her until she had no choice but to scream from all the pleasure he infused her with. Then making love to her against the steam heated tiles. Or there were the nights of waking up from wet dreams, her pussy pulsating from the need for him and him there to care for her.

  But they were just her fantasies.

  They’d flirted, he’d teased, and they even shared a world-altering kiss. Then something had happened and he’d peeled out of there as if the devil chased his soul, leaving her to dream about his dark blue eyes and sizzling lips.

  Her nerves twisted into a bundle of knots. “Listen, Jake, I’m sorry about the mix up. Please don’t be mad.” She rested her palms on his chest and slightly pushed. He leaned closer to rub his nose on the tips of hers, ignoring her.

  “Mad? Do I look mad to you?” His masculine yet gorgeous face a whisper away from hers.

  No. He looked horny and as though she was the only thing that could satisfy the craving, and his tousled dark hair begging for her to run her fingers through.

  It was uncanny, really, how she could read him so well tonight, but that was all due to her inability to follow rules.

  “Umm. I just cast a spell over you, Jake. That can’t make you too happy.”

  Jake wrapped a thick arm around her waist and scooted her bottom over the edge of the table until she was flush against his bulging pants. “Imagine that. Will it be permanent?”

  She gasped and let it out on a harsh groan of delight. Goddess, she wished for a hunky drool-worthy alpha to call her own. Having a man who knew what she was as much as who she was and didn’t tuck tail and run from her magical side felt good for a change. Yeah, permanent sounded nice.

  But she couldn’t do that to him no matter what she wanted. “No, Jake. In fact, if I could nix the spell I would. Unfortunately, you have a witch with a penchant for trouble on your hands and this kind of spell has to wear off by itself. It should only take a few hours—given the dosage you swallowed.” She plucked at some imaginary lint on her blouse unable to look him in the eye.

  Jake stared down at her. The heat from his gaze all but searing her skin.

  “Or we can finish what we started a few nights ago.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jake didn’t wait for her answer. Not that she had one. Her mouth hung open too far for her to form any words. He was talking about their kiss. Their heart-searing single kiss that had seemed to last forever and was over just as fast. Then he’d pinned her against her bar, his fingers working her into a wet, mushy mess of want. His mouth devouring every exposed inch of her body. She couldn’t think about it without feeling the same rush of raw possessive need.

  And before she could find her bearings, he’d stopped. Pulled back from her with a guilty, yet wistful, look in his eye and left her exposed in more ways than one.

  Jake scrunched the ends of her halter-top in his hands and lifted the soft material over her head in one tug, his fingers brushing along the soft skin of her sides. Dark tendrils of her hair fell to cover her bare breasts. “Delicious. And just the way I like them. Ample and firm. I plan to feast. Lie back.” His words were a low command.

  He guided her down, slowly revealing her extended nipples from beneath her thick hair one at a time. Cold wood against her naked back had her arching off the surface. The motion pushed her aching breasts up and straight into the hands and mouth of her hot alpha.

  Bent over her, his groin cradled between her thighs, his bulge pressed against her center. She instinctively rocked her hips, enjoying the rumbling growl of appreciation rising from deep inside him. She licked her lips and sighed from the double pleasure. Unable to resist, she buried her fingers in the length of his hair and held him to her if only for one more borrowed second.

  “Jake, you have to stop. Please.” Who was she kidding with such a weak plea? Need for him tugged at her center, but she had to make him see what was going on. And honestly, did she want to give him another chance to walk away again?

  Her head rocked from side to side and her eyes fluttered shut.

  Teeth scraped along the underside of her breasts, then his soft lips encased a dusky tip. He hollowed his cheeks, rolled her nipple in the confines of his mouth, lashing the bud into a tight peak with his tongue. Goddess, that should be illegal.

  With deft fingers, Jake trailed a blazing path along her midriff to flick the button on her jeans open. The hiss of her zipper opening followed.

  Honor pressed a hand on his shoulder and nudged him away. “Jake.” He pulled back but only far enough to lock their gazes. Warm eyes filled with patience and a barely banked fire stared back at her. Flames reached down into her and licked along the sensitive nerves of her clitoris. She shivered. How could he stir a fire so hot in her with just a look?

  “Do you have any idea how erotically delicious you taste?”

  She was starting to get an idea.

  She titled her head toward him, his lips a breath away from hers. Honor raked her fingers through his thick hair and tightened her grip.

  Their heated breath mixed and she didn’t need his heightened senses to feel the raw carnal need coursing in the air between them. She circled her hips and almost melted into a puddled mess of desire from the overload of sensations that hit her core.

  Her bare breasts nestled against the warm material of his shirt, the soft friction heavenly. “Why did it have to be you?” She moaned. Her magick hummed just beneath the surface, boosting her awareness of him.

  Jake wrapped his arms around her back and thumbed the band of her jeans. In one smooth motion he had her stripped bare except for the small material of her black panties. A cold breeze brushed against her fevered skin, but did little to squelch the burn he stoked to life in her.

  A predatory smile split his lips, and for a fleeting moment she caught a glimpse of the beast that lurked inside. “Sometimes we don’t choose. Sometimes something magical brings people together. Wouldn’t you say, Honor?” His words struck a chord and she froze. He was right.

  “Or some things are just meant to be,” he added in another breath.

  Before she responded, he fell to his knees between her thighs and clasped her ankles in a firm grip. In a slow movement, he eased her knees apart until she was on full display for him.

  He inhaled softly. A stunning smile of pure enchantment brightened his features a second before he dipped his face from her view.

  She sucked back a gulp of air as sharp teeth grazed the insides of her legs. First her right, then left. With one pull he shed her of the last bit of cloth covering her. She pushed up on her elbows. Could his eyes be any more intense? They were pure red now, any trace of blue gone. A long moment of silence settled between them. His gaze filled with a savage hunger she’d never witnessed before in him or any other man. It sent a strange thrill through her to think he was that desperate for her, the troublesome witch of Sweet Briar Hollow.

  “I... uh... I mean we—” Dammit, grow a backbone already and be bold for once. Warm moisture swept across her bare folds. Any hopes of control were discarded by the wayside.

  “Look at me.” She did and the man she saw kneeling before her stilled her heart. “You want me, Honor. I can sense it like your magick senses there’s something different about me. Us. It feels the pull of my energy and recognizes an unclaimed bond between us.” He tilted his head and placed butterfly kisses where he’d licked her wet folds just seconds ago.

  “Don’t you think we need to fix that, baby?”

  Her pussy tensed, ready with his answer.

  Warm liquid trickled down her seam.

  Goddess, he was more right than he even knew. Her magick crackled and intensified with every touch. The sensation like a thousand volts of
electricity bursting through her.

  “But Jake—” she managed a wistful reply. Barely.

  He stood, locked her tight against his jean-clad thighs and melded their lips together before she could resist. His tongue pushed past her lips and she opened on an illicit groan.

  Wild need forced out any arguments. Who was she kidding? No sane woman could resist him. With her fingers tangled in his hair, she leaned deeper into the kiss, taking control. She stroked his tongue with hers, desperate for the wild molten urgency he spiked within her.

  Jake retreated, sucking the plumper bottom lip into the warm crevice of his mouth before releasing it to delve his tongue deep, claiming her.

  She broke away and gulped in air. Her chest rising and falling with the surge of desire that flooded her system. “Clothes. Ditch them.”

  He took two steps back, his ardent gaze never leaving hers. She reclined back on her elbows and spread her legs, gazing down the length of her body to see how much she affected him. A wolfish grin of her own tilted the edges of her lips as she watched pre-cum wet the tip of his cock.

  Her mouth watered for a taste, but her pussy throbbed for the need to have him in her. Just by watching him reveal the male she craved more than her next breath sent her heart thudding against her chest.

  His shirt hit the floor, followed by his motorcycle boots and those sexy black jeans designed to show a man’s best assets.

  She drank in the alpha’s broad shoulders, flesh she’d love to sink her nails into, and strong, well defined arms she craved to have wrapped around her. What would they feel like holding her to him as she found release with him?

  She’d never wanted a man this way before. With such a raw hunger that consumed her. And never had a man made her feel the way he did with a single touch or kiss. She ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip. The way her magick responded amazed and delighted her, but what did it mean?

  Jake stood still wearing nothing but a devil-may-care grin and a smoldering glint in his eye that said he was going to eat her up from head to toe, his gaze already burning a trail over her exposed body.

  Honor took a deep soul-shuddering breath. She loved how he reacted to seeing her body, how he had no problems with her magick. Ironic, since it was the only reason for their little predicament in the first place.

  She could do this. Toss out all reason and take what she wanted. One time didn’t make her a bad person. Right?

  “You’re thinking too loud, baby.”

  Jake pushed forward and she opened farther for him. He palmed both bottom cheeks, lifted. She wrapped her legs around his thick waist. Goddess, they fit so well together. Her body molded around him like puzzle pieces interlocking.

  The length of his erection nestled between her wet folds. Her insides quivered from the zap of electricity their connection created. With a single swish of her hips she could have what she craved.

  Jake. Deep inside her, making her wildest fantasies come true.

  Instead, he held her against him, one hand keeping her hips still while the other supported her back.

  Her powers pulsed with each heartbeat, seeking out every place their skin touched, meshing their energy. Holy Hades. She squeezed her eyes closed to help still the room from spinning with all the desire her body exuded.

  As an apprentice, her mother and the Elders had warned her how a witch’s magick was her weakness as much as her strength. Is this what they had meant? Because if she didn’t know any better it felt as if she was the one under an unbreakable spell.

  Jake tightened his grip, peppering kisses along her collarbone, up her neck then retraced his path. She leaned back in his arms, thrusting her breasts up for the beast to taste. The movement ground her pussy against his shaft.

  A growl rumbled deep in his chest. In warning or appreciation? Warm lips surrounded first one nipple, then the next. He laved at her skin and devoured her as though she was exactly as he’d said—an erotic piece of fruit and he couldn’t get enough of. His light beard tickled her skin and sent a flush of fevered anticipation from head to toe.

  She rocked her core along the ridge of his shaft. His fingers flexed into the flesh of her hip. Desperate to finally have him, Honor let out a frustrated groan when he held her in place.

  His chest rumbled with a chuckle. “Something wrong, kitten?”

  Kitten? She’d show him her claws.

  Honor raked her nails down his shoulders and around his back. He arched, thrusting closer to her nirvana. So close. Hot liquid wet her folds and the delicious groan she received from him rocketed her closer to the edge of insanity. She didn’t know how much longer she could last without having him in her.

  She sank her teeth into the tender area of his neck and bit down with her blunt teeth. Little by little she nibbled her way up his neck only to latch onto his soft earlobe.

  “Damn, that feels beyond good, baby.” He locked her legs around him firmly then palmed the back of her head and pulled her closer into his embrace. “Honor, we do this and there’s no going back.” He fisted a hand in her hair, the ache as delicious as his kisses. She understood his hesitation and inability to stop.

  She reclined in his arms and met his gaze, her breath coming hard and fast. His gaze turned weary. “We’re not talking pure sex here, are we, Jake?”

  “Not by a longshot, baby. What I have to offer is a permanent thing.”

  Jake turned them around and strode over to the sofa a few feet from her dining table. The perks of having a small apartment.

  He settled them onto the soft leather with her straddling him. A small silence hung over the room before he continued. “By pack law I have to mate by the end of this moon cycle or I open myself up to being challenged from neighboring pack alphas.” A haunted look fell over his expression. Past events weighed heavy on him and she wished like hell she could help ease his pain. “Honor, you know I can’t put my family through that kind of risk.” He let out a deep sigh and she could see the frustration eating at him. Her heart swelled and reached out to the man that obviously cared for those depending on him to make the right choice.

  Blinded by her own needs, she’d failed to notice the heavy burden that weighed on his shoulders. Her head had been so clouded with saving her own ass with the love potion and all the lusty dreams he stirred up. What kind of friend did that make her?

  “And I’m so close to taking you, claiming you and making you my mate, Honor. My wolf is hungry for you and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to hold back.”

  “So it’s not something you want? I’m just convenient?” She worked to keep the hurt from her tone.

  His features showed acute awareness of the trap her words built before him. Smart man.

  Honor moved to climb off his lap. He stilled her with a hand to her arm. “I didn’t say that, woman.”

  “Then what do you mean? Tell me. I’m a big girl. I can take it.”

  “I’ve waited too long. If I claim you now, it won’t be gentle and sweet. It will be pure instinct driving me and I don’t want that for you. And I sure the hell don’t want to do anything you might not want.”

  “Like what? Mating the alpha, and who said anything about sweet? Maybe I like it a little rough and wild.”

  His irises intensified with the otherworldly powers of his beast, but she saw past his wolf and into the heart of the man. “I know you won’t hurt me. And if I didn’t want this, I wouldn’t be here. With you. Right now,” she murmured softly, brushing the back of her knuckles along his jaw.

  But she couldn’t deny the spark of fear that skated down her spine. She’d come this far—there was no reason to hold back her true feelings now. Besides, if she didn’t lay her feelings out for him to see, she may never have another chance. “I’ve pined over you for a long time. Three years to be exact.” She drew in a long breath and let it out on a soft sigh. “Since the first time you walked in my bar and asked for a case of my Moon Lust with the sexiest grin and the sweetest words of welcome.”
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br />   His eyebrows turned up and a small smile touched his lips. “I remember. You had on a hot number that had me hard for a month, but it was also a difficult time for my pack.” A look of pain shot across his features before he tucked it away. “Tell me, Honor, have I waited too long?” His eyes burned with a fear she’d never seen in him before. Did her answer hold so much power? The thought had her mind racing with what it meant.

  “We’re breaking the rules, Jake. You know the potion I created could land me in trouble with the Elders. And what you’re saying, I have to ask, is it really what you want, Jake?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  He trailed a warm caress over her shoulders and settled his strong hands on her thighs. “Baby, your spell was a dud, if that counts for anything with your Council. I burned through it halfway up the stairs.” His lips quirked up in a playful smile. “Were metabolism is a bitch, but it got my ass moving and up here. Once I turned the lock and saw your pretty worried eyes my wolf wouldn’t back down and I couldn’t resist playing with my witch a little.”

  That took the air out of her argument.

  She worked her mouth a couple of times, but she had nothing.

  He massaged the flesh of her legs and worked his hands up her sides to her trim waist and with little effort pulled her back over him. He was good. Really good, the sneaky bastard, but she couldn’t argue with how right it all felt.

  She settled her legs on either side of his thighs, reached between them and guided the tip of his engorged cock to her opening. “One movement either direction and our futures are either intertwined or...”

  “There is no or about this, baby. If someone has a problem with us, they’ll know where to find me. I’m only sorry it took us this long.”

  Honor gasped. She struggled to keep her eyes open and locked on him. His warmth enveloped her, soothing her body, soul, and heart.

  Even in the dim lighting of her apartment she could read how the beautiful contours of his face defined what felt so natural between them. A friendship that kindled a soul-deep passion and raged on through long nights of sharing beers and long talks about anything and everything.