Alphas for the Holidays

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Are you ready to go back to the room?” He looked around at the other people in the lobby. It wasn’t unusual for people under duress to start to congregate together. That was one factor that made his military missions so difficult at times. People—good and bad—came together during a conflict and there was no way to tell them apart. Until they tipped their hand.

  Just like the man who had flirted with Julie was doing. Tipping his hand that his wolf needed to tear his fucking throat out.

  “If you are.”

  “I’m more than ready.” He helped her on with her coat and took her elbow to guide her out of the building. The cold was still bitter, probably more of an issue now than the snow. The sidewalk wasn’t as difficult to navigate as it had been last night, having been packed down by the guests making their way to the lobby. It did have some slick spots and Hunter kept a strong hand on Julie’s arm so she wouldn’t fall.

  Once inside their room, he put the plastic bag on the small table. “The man at the store said the owner of the diner should be in tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we can get something hot to eat.”

  Julie hung up her coat and pulled her sweater down as she walked towards him. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss her hello. Why did just being in her presence feel like he was coming home? “I did get us some sandwiches.” He put the cellophane wrapped fare on the tabletop along with a bag of chips and two bottles of water. He stood there waiting for her to join him. As she passed, his hand reached out to touch her ponytail. “You didn’t dry your hair.” He stopped her and pulled the blue scrunchie from her hair, letting the still slightly damp hair fall around her shoulders.

  “It takes forever to dry.”

  “It’s not good to go out with wet hair. You’ll catch a cold.”

  “Okay, mother-wolf, that’s an old wives’ tale. You catch a cold because of a virus, not because you go out in the cold with wet hair.” Her eyes wanted to roll back in her head as he ran his fingers through her hair and gently massaged her scalp.

  “Maybe, but don’t do it again. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Julie pulled away from his touch, not knowing how to respond. No one who looked like Hunter had ever flirted with her. She knew she shouldn’t let that throw her, but it did. He could have any woman he wanted, and she found it hard to believe he wanted her. Except maybe to pass the time away. And after last night’s rejection… Despite her internal bravado, she was not the type of woman who invited men to her bed for a casual interlude. More’s the pity.

  She picked up a sandwich and started to eat. Her stomach growled in appreciation, and she hoped Hunter didn’t hear it. After eating half her sandwich, she slowed down. They ate in almost total silence and for once, Julie didn’t feel the need to try and fill it. Even though he ate two sandwiches to her one, they were both done at the same time. Tidying up the table, she asked, “So what are we going to do the rest of the day?”

  Hunter’s lower half came up with more than half a dozen ideas of how they could pass the time. They all included Julie and him—naked—and on the bed. Or the table, the chair, the shower. Oh, the possibilities were endless.

  “How about a movie?” Julie climbed on the bed and grabbed a piece of brightly colored paper. “They have HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and—”

  “And?” The catch in her voice snared his attention.

  “Um, they have a few pay-for-view movies.” She didn’t look up, just flipped the cardboard flyer in her hand, studying the back of it. The blush on her face intrigued him, and he moved from his seat on the hard backed chair. Grabbing the remote, he clicked on the big-screen television before taking a seat on the bed beside her. She automatically made room for his big body. Adjusting the volume, he started flipping through the channels.

  As he did, he realized what pay-for-view movies Julie had discovered on the television guide.

  The racy ones. Pay-for-view soft porn. He stopped on the guide, flipping through the titles they had for rent. His grin turned into a smile than a low rumble of laughter as he read the titles of some of the movies offered.

  “See anything you like?” He chuckled and immediately realized she had grown still and silent. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  “Nothing.” She leaned forward, the dark swath of hair hiding her face.

  “Do you want to watch one?” He knew it was a totally inappropriate question to ask a woman he’d pulled from the snow. But not necessarily something he shouldn’t ask his mate. Mates should be able to talk about anything. Did she want to watch a racy movie? He had no desire to look at another woman’s body now that he’d found Julie. He sure as hell didn’t want her looking at another man’s dick, even if it was on television. He assumed from her behavior that she hadn’t experienced much in the way of sexual adventure. Would it be easier for her if she—

  “No, no. Turn it off.”

  He realized he’d left the television on the preview guide, and it was showing clips of the movies available. Nothing that wouldn’t be shown on HBO or Showtime late at night, but was making her blush. A pretty pink color that she’d probably become as he fucked her.

  Laying down the remote on the bedside table, he turned toward her, propping his head on his hand. “Julie?”

  “I am so embarrassed,” she whispered, covering her face with her hands.

  “Why?” he asked, drawing her hands back down. When she tried to move them away, he clasped them tighter.

  She simply shook her head. He’d thought this might be the time to confess what had happened between them—was going to happen between them. How the hell did you tell your human mate that as soon as you stuck your dick inside her, you were going to knot her?

  He wished he’d taken the time to call Logan before he’d returned to the room. Not that his brother had any more experience than he did in taking a mate for the first time, but he might know something Hunter didn’t. Hunter was willing to embarrass himself in front of his brother if he learned something that would make this easier for Julie.

  Taking pity on her, he said, “Let’s watch something a little more family oriented, shall we?”

  “Like what?”

  This time, he grabbed the brightly colored paper from the nightstand. He read it for a few minutes, then tossed it back down. “How about The Little Mermaid.”

  “What?” Julie looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Big, bad wolf shifter Hunter McCall wants to watch a Disney movie whose main character is a mermaid? That’s, um, that’s usually what little girls watch. Unless, of course, you have some kind of fetish you’ve never mentioned to anyone.” She thought it highly ironic he wanted to watch the movie with the villainess the storm continuing to batter them, and had made it necessary for her to be rescued by this wolf, had been named after.

  “No, baby. I like my women with two legs. I especially like what’s between those two legs.” His face hovered inches from hers. Just as she thought he was going to kiss her, his fingers touched her sides, tickling her until she was laughing and wiggling, trying to get away.

  He stopped, and Julie laughed up at him, a wide smile on her face. Damn, she was beautiful. Her round cheeks pink, her chest heaving from her exertion of trying to escape his maundering fingers. Her breasts rose and fell, making him want to reach out and touch her. He masked the expression in his eyes so she wouldn’t see it. Desire. Lust. Want.

  You couldn’t put a man and woman together in these circumstances without a little spark dancing in the air between them.

  Hell, the damn fire was about ready to roar out of control.

  “I’ll have you know I’ve seen this movie at least a half dozen times.”

  Julie relaxed on the mattress, completely at ease with Hunter’s hand spread across the sloped hill of her stomach. It felt so natural. No embarrassment even though he was touching the most jiggly part of her body. The part, more than any other on her body, that said she was carrying around a few extra pounds.

  “Why?”

  “Mm
m.”

  She could tell he wasn’t paying attention. “Why have you watched The Little Mermaid a half dozen times?”

  “Nieces. My older sister has two daughters. I use the movie as a bribe to make them behave when I babysit.”

  “You babysit?”

  He pulled back, his distracted expression dissolving. “Does that surprise you?”

  She couldn’t control the impulse to run her fingers through his black locks. They were soft beneath her touch. He didn’t pull away, and she did it again.

  “A little. You’re a tough marine.”

  He leaned forward a little bit more as if seeking her touch. “I’m also an uncle. A son. And a brother.”

  He didn’t add that more than anything he wanted to be a mate. A husband. A father. Imagining Julie’s body swollen with his child…Let’s just say it had his body ready to get her in that condition—and fast.

  “Do you have any more siblings?” She’d only ever heard of the two that worked in the city, and now she knew he had a sister.

  “Just the two brothers, which you apparently know.” He threw her a heated look. “And one sister. All older than me.”

  “Ah, you’re the baby of the family.”

  He growled playfully, and pounced again, tickling her sides until she cried uncle.

  “Come here.” He gathered her against him, placing his left arm around her shoulders. They leaned back against the headboard. She didn’t pull away, and he smiled to himself. He was making progress. “Let’s watch the movie.”

  He’d told her the truth about watching it several times with his nieces. He didn’t share that he usually had his laptop open and worked the whole way through. He didn’t today, watching right along with Julie. He smiled as she hummed along with the songs and laughed along with her at the antics of Ariel and her sidekick Flounder. About halfway through, he realized she had fallen asleep, her soft weight a pleasant sensation against his side. He lowered the volume on the television and simply stared at her for several minutes. The smell of her was overpowering his control. Just being this close to her, feeling the softness of her flesh under his fingers was going to his head like incense.

  Deciding what he needed was a run, he eased himself out of the bed. He’d wait until he was outside before he shifted. All he needed was for her to freak out and start screaming if she woke up and saw him in the middle of a shift. Even though she said she wanted to see his wolf, seeing him shift was another matter. Opening the desk drawer as quietly as he could, he wrote her a quick note and propped it against the lamp on the nightstand. He didn’t want her to wake up and not know where he was.

  He didn’t know how this curvy woman had gotten under his skin so quickly. Yeah, the mating urge might have been responsible for the hot flash that had engulfed him when he’d scented her for the first time.

  It ensured that a wolf mated. That the animal found the woman fate had chosen for it attractive and desirable. It didn’t, however, make a man like the way she tilted her head when he said something that obviously puzzled her. Find the contradictions in her perfect. Her shyness adorable and her sassiness just as appealing. It didn’t control how the huskiness of her voice affected his cock, making it ache and throb. Well, maybe it did do that.

  He felt like a voyeur as he watched her sleep, yet he couldn’t look away. She was out of his league. She was wholesome, nice. He clenched his hands by his sides. He didn’t do nice. He did sex. Hard and fast and rough. She wouldn’t know what to do with his sexual appetites, much less those of his wolf.

  She was so lovely he couldn’t seem to draw his gaze away. The sweater rode up on her hips, revealing that tantalizing strip of flesh that made a man want to see even more. He remembered her panties from the night before. White and utilitarian. Something functional and comfortable.

  They’d watched the movie on top of the covers, and he didn’t want to disturb her by moving her. Taking the extra blanket from the top of the closet, he laid it on her, resisting the urge to touch her again.

  Maybe she has a bad girl inside her.

  He knew that was just his wolf talking. And him hoping.

  No. No. he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t seduce the innocence from her eyes, from her body.

  Yes. Yes, we can. Mate. Remember? She is our mate.

  Down boy. Pushing his animal back, he turned on his heel and headed out the door. He needed the run to cool down his libido more than he needed to let his wolf out. Again, he didn’t bother with a coat. Outside the snow had finally stopped falling. It was dark earlier than usual thanks to the still overcast sky filled with thick clouds. He knew there would be more snow by morning.

  Jogging past the small clearing at the back the hotel, he headed to the dense underbrush that gave way to a thicket of trees further back. It wasn’t the most ideal location to run, but concentrating on the unfamiliar terrain would take his mind of the woman sleeping in his bed.

  Damn, he sounded like one of the bears from the Goldilocks story. Stripping quickly, he shifted on the run, he got himself as far away from the tempting woman as he could.

  Chapter 9

  “Fuck.”

  Hunter cursed as soon as he walked into the hotel room. The smell of Julie’s apprehension hit him when he opened the door. It was completely dark outside. He’d been gone longer than he’d intended, trying to run off the sexual energy strumming through him and scouting out the surrounding buildings. She was sitting at the small table with the deck of cards she’d found earlier. Her hair was down, hiding her beautiful face once again.

  “Julie?”

  “You’re back.” She answered him but didn’t look up from the cards on the table.

  “Didn’t you see my note?”

  “Yes.”

  He sat on the end of the bed and pulled off his shoes and socks. “So what’s the problem?”

  She flipped her hair back over her shoulder. A gesture he’d come to realize she did when she was nervous. Or frightened.

  “Come here.” He reached behind his head and pulled the dark sweatshirt he wore over his head.

  She bit her lip, but ignored his command, her focus still on the cards on the table.

  “Julie.” His voice held a note of warning. Another shifter would have known instantly not to disobey.

  Julie wasn’t a shifter. She was human. And his mate. “Come here, baby.” He held out a hand.

  Maybe it was his eyes—those deep-set brown eyes that held so many emotions even though he might not be aware of how revealing his expression really was. Maybe it was the pull of attraction she’d felt the moment he’d slid his arms under her and picked her up, rescuing her.

  She didn’t know what it was, just that something drew her to him. That the deep growl in his voice made her pussy weep.

  He opened his legs, his gaze steady as she stepped closer. Her heart was beating wildly. Moving forward, she stopped when she stood between his spread legs.

  “Did you think I’d left you?” His voice was softer, but that note of steel ran through it.

  “No, not really.” She curled her hair back behind her ear. “Maybe.”

  “Why would you think that, baby?” He pulled her closer, his large hands covering the sides of her hips. “I would never leave you here by yourself.”

  She bit her lip. “I know, I just got…”

  His hands caressed her, moving from her hips to her thighs, then up the small of her back.

  “Do you want to know why I was gone so long?”

  The look in her eyes said she did. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”

  His hands stilled, cupping her backside. “Maybe I do. I went for a run. I needed to go for a run. Do you understand?”

  “No. Is it some kind of shifter thing?”

  He moaned and bowed his head, his forehead landing on her torso just below her breasts. “Yeah, it’s some kind of shifter thing,” he mumbled against her. When he looked up at her again, there was no doubt that his eyes were now a dark, swir
ling amber.

  “It’s a damn shifter thing because I was about to spread your legs while you were sleeping and shove my dick inside you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh.” They stared at each other for several minutes, then he saw that same look of disbelief wash back over her features.

  “Look, I practically threw myself in your arms last night, and you turned me down. Don’t play with me.”

  His anger soared. “I’m not.”

  “Then why are you saying all these things to me, doing all these things?”

  “What things?”

  “Touching me. Showing concern. Kissing me.”

  “Because I want to touch you. I am concerned. And you damn well taste like the sweetest candy I’ve ever had.”

  He tugged, and she fell into his lap, the hard muscles of his thighs felt like concrete beneath her buttocks. She moved self-consciously, her knee inadvertently touching another hard as a rock part of him. His cock.

  He grunted and wrapped his arms around her, settling her in his lap as he lifted her legs and brought his two legs together. Grabbing his shoulder, she wrapped her arm around his neck as he maneuvered her exactly how he wanted her.

  “You know I’m a wolf, right?”

  “Yes.” That got her to smile a little. “But you haven’t shown me your wolf yet, so technically, I’m taking your word for it.”

  “Baby, you are so about to see some of my wolf.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “But before we do this, there’s something I have to tell you.”

  Nothing good ever came out of a conversation with those words in it, Julie thought. Did having sex with a shifter involve something kinky? Not that she was against kink in the bedroom… she’d be the first to admit she was very naive when it came to sex. She did, however, trust this man explicitly. She looped her other arm around his neck. “What do you need to tell me?”

  Hunter looked into her trusting eyes. His conscience warred with his need to be inside her—anyway, he could. If he didn’t mark her, he could still walk away, give her the life she deserved with someone other than an absentee mate.