Alyssia opened her eyes and the blues and greens of the room stood out in sharp intensity. She made a whine, sitting on her rump as she watched him make his own transformation much the same, but the red wolf was larger than her coyote. She stood before he could finish and ducked through the small door they’d installed for that purpose.
You ready to be whipped already? he spoke in her mind, startling her.
She darted across the wet grounds, her paws cold but not too uncomfortable to run. How are you in my head? Behind her, she heard the vinyl covering the door flap as he exited the house.
I thought you realized I marked you as my consort.
She enjoyed the rush of using her animal form, relishing the wind ruffling her fur, the bright greens of the long leaf pine and the searing blues of the morning sky. She sniffed the air and caught whiffs of nutria and deeper in far off swamp musky alligators and moccasins. She altered her course, not wishing to tread in the bogs. No. I figured I’d marked you.
He laughed and she felt his amusement through her core. Funny, he said. Women don’ get the best of me. You’ll see.
I’m full of surprises. Don’t discount me because I’m female. I did choose to come to you. You haven’t done much more to keep me other than screw my brains out. She kept her head low, darting beneath prickly honey locust in the hopes he’d be deterred by the thorns and take another route. She planned on tracing back and heading him off. She’d never been as fast as her brothers, but she was smarter and trickier.
You need more than that? He had the grace to sound affronted.
She snickered and pricked her ears, listening to him run smoothly behind her. She didn’t have much of a head start, but she sensed he was holding back on his full potential. It’s nice, but not that nice. I’m sure I’ll get bored without some decent conversation. Or maybe you aren’t up to the tas?
Killian woofed angrily in the distance.
She yipped gleefully.
You tease me, he said.
You mean you don’t like a challenge? Alyssia’s amusement swelled.
Better pick up your pace. You won’ outrun me in my woods.
His growly warning was enough to quicken her stride. Maybe not. Maybe I can outsmart you though, she thought.
Good luck with that, he told her wryly.
She was enough ahead she could backtrack on her path and looped in a circle, hoping to throw him off her scent. She plunged through puddles, leaping across spaces to befuddle him in different spots. He’d hung back far enough that she knew he was only biding his time before leaping on her. His notion that he had only to push a little harder to catch her would be his undoing.
After making several loops through the underbrush, she retraced her path and hid behind a particularly spiny honey locust to wait for him to pass. She held her breath, hoping he didn’t catch wind of her. The moment his large, sleek form rushed by in a blur, she counted off the seconds and headed back towards his house.
We playing hide and seek, chère?
She snorted her mirth, running like her paws were on fire.
You not talkin’ now?
She wasn’t if it was going to give her away. A thorn caught her, snagging in her fur as she ran. The soft wet ground began to gnaw at her feet, turning her clumsy. Her flanks heaved as she bolted to the path, listening for sounds of his approach. He realized she’d outwitted him and turned around.
A thrill raced through her, surging in her blood as she dashed faster and harder. His longer stride was too much for her to outrun. These were his woods. He was going to catch her, she realized.
Killian burst out of the underbrush, making yipping and growling sounds right behind her. She could practically feel his breath on the back of her neck. She didn’t glance back. She knew he was almost on her heels. She wasn’t quite ready to give up. Adrenaline heaved inside her. Her haunches launched her incrementally faster, but it wasn’t enough. His teeth nipped at her backside.
She whined, seeing the house just ahead—sanctuary. Her steam began to wane. He pulled alongside her, head down as he rushed just before her, powerful legs eating the ground.
Dammit! she snarled within, cursing him but laughing at the same time as his great form pushed through the door and she closed in just behind him.
He rippled back into human form, standing over her in victory. She barely had time to shift back before he hauled her to her feet and crushed her against the back door. His herculean strength surprised her.
“Told you I’d win, beb,” he said with a heated look and growly voice that made places low in her belly clench with desire.
“Stop gloating you ass.” She writhed against him, unable to deny the raw attraction to him. His hot body compressed against hers like two halves of a mold.
“My reward,” he said quietly, nipping her chin before pressing his lips against hers in a hungry kiss. “I wasn’ gonna lose and risk it.”
The run had excited him and winning more so. She could feel his pulse beat in his chest beneath her palms. He hiked one of her legs up, splaying her open to his engorged cock. His tongue plunged into her mouth, stimulating her in a whirling rush of pleasure. She suckled his rough tongue, whimpering as his rubbed the head of his cock against her wet center.
He tore from her mouth, scoring her jawline up to her ear. “Seems you like bein’ chased.”
“Maybe,” she said breathily. “Just don’t get used to it.”
He grinned against her ear, sending goosebumps down her neck as he breathed hotly against the shell of her ear. “What if I do?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that. In her mind, this was only a temporary situation that she was trying to enjoy it to the fullest. She wasn’t ready to commit to more. Was that what he was hinting at or was she reading too much into it? Wild attraction couldn’t last forever, could it? And she couldn’t see someone like him making a deep connection with someone like her. He could have any woman he wanted. It made her physically ache just looking at him. As her father had reminded her more times than she could count—why would anyone want someone as big as her when there were better options around?
The cold door kept her grounded in reality when she wanted to lose herself to fantasy. She arched her head back, closing her eyes against his masculine beauty, trying to hold onto every feeling and burning it into her memory. Soft and firm lips; rough hands squeezing her flesh; his brawny arms flexing as he lifted her to her tip toes.
“Don’t knot me,” she whispered as he pushed just inside her slick hole.
He leaned his forehead against hers, making her grateful for being tall just this once. “Chère, you can trust me.”
She looked into his eyes, feeling her hunger for him soar. Everything about him screamed danger and run, but she was helpless to control her lust for him. He’d marked her as his, entered her mind and body. She couldn’t shut him out and she sure as hell couldn’t push him away, not with this dizzying need burning inside her for his possession.
Blood thundered in her veins, throbbing in her core as his nudge became a determined push. She strangled on a moan, gasping as he stretched her pussy tight. No amount of cream could quench the fire he stoked in her. A muscle on his jaw ticked as he fought for control. She reveled in the idea that she made this hard for him. How heady and drunk to think he wanted her this much.
She whimpered as his lips closed over hers again, more possessive and hungry than she thought possible. She craved this—him. He seemed to relish the taste of her, taking his time to explore her mouth, as if carrying the weight of them both was insignificant and he had all the time in the world to savor this kiss. She sucked his tongue. Tasting him stoked the fiery need in her cunt until she half expected to set ablaze.
His hand tightened on her thigh, and she gripped his tight buttocks with her knee. She grasped his biceps, arching her body, but the way he crushed her to the wall kept her off balance and awkward. She was completely at his mercy and he damned well knew it.
With a
whimper, she broke from his lips. “I need to feel your hands on me.”
He made a grunt of approval and withdrew, but he didn’t release her. He hefted her other leg in his hand and carried her to the kitchen with her squealing half in fright and half elation. He planted her onto the counter, spreading her thighs wide. “This better?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
His hands moved over her back. Everywhere he roamed left achy trails of need. The roughness of his palms and fingers reminded her of his hard, wild nature. He dipped his head and took a pull on her breast, groaning with pleasure to have the weight of a breast in his mouth. He kneaded her other tit, making them feel swollen and overly sensitive. She bit her lip, wondering how much more she could take, and then he switched and gave equal measure to the other nipple with teeth and tongue until she thought she’d explode with pleasure.
His hips worked back between hers as he forged a path back up the valley of her breasts to rasp against the column of her throat. He made her feel cherished, a delicacy for the senses instead of a lumbering cow. He appreciated her soft roundness, a foil for the hard muscles that seemed carved of stone. A woman could get addicted to this treatment.
She trembled as he wrapped his arms around the base of her spine and tugged her in for his shaft’s penetration. She couldn’t be any wetter, and still, he swelled to the point she didn’t think he could get inside. Her breath caught in her throat. Her pulse throbbed in her clit.
“You excite me too much. You make it hard not to hurt you, beb.”
“I like when you hurt me,” she breathed.
“Don’ tempt me.”
She grabbed his hips, jerking him in up to the swollen gland at the base of his shaft. “That’s deep enough. Now move, lover boy.”
He smiled and growled possessively. She clenched on him as he kept his stroke short and slow, grinding against her clit with entry. Shockwaves of bliss skated along her nerves. His breath came hard from exertion. She shuddered, making small whimpers of arousal.
Her animalistic sounds spurred him on. He lost the fight for control and pumped into her. His cock jerked as he surged, and she crested the wave of arousal. She wrapped her legs around him, fighting for purchase, moving with him as the orgasm tightened her muscles and left her screaming with the sharp sensations of him possessing her core like it belonged to him.
She wouldn’t release him, clung to him with equal possession until her pussy had drunk every drop of his seed and he leaned against her in exhaustion.
“Do you have to leave,” she asked breathily, enjoying holding him warm and tight against her.
“Oui. You explore the house. Make yourself at home. Camila will be back and maybe show you a good time. Maybe not. Maybe best you don’ mess with her,” he said on a laugh.
Chapter 5
Killian spent the drive to the work site lost in thoughts about Alyssia. Why had the girl gotten under his skin? Was it because she met his passion stroke for stroke with equal enthusiasm—practically worshipping his body? He was lust drunk and needed a break from her before he fucked himself to death.
He pulled his truck up the drive and parked where the others had, choosing to walk the remainder of the trip. He tucked his keys into his back pocket and left his phone and wallet locked in the cab. The walk wasn’t long, and he was surprised at the progress the others had made in the time he’d been absent.
The pine burl was enormous and to keep from damaging the rare find, they had to dig the base out by hand rather than with the backhoe. They’d use that to dislodge the burl from the root system and drag it to the truck.
“Hey, mon ami,” Baptiste said as he stepped across the small trees they’d used in the temporary road through the boggy woods.
Killian grinned. “Hey. No trouble from the coyotes?”
Alessandra propped his hands on his shovel. “Naw. Been quiet out here. Maybe they took the truce for what it is.”
“He’s never been amenable. I expect he’ll make some retaliation if we can’t get out of here today.”
“All the more reason to bust our asses,” Antony said.
Killian scrubbed his jaw thoughtfully, shrugged, then picked up a shovel. It took the rest of the day to dig down to the root system and free up the burl growing at the base of the pine. They were exhausted, but with the sunlight dwindling, Killian didn’t want to take a chance on anything happening to their haul by leaving it for the next day. He had plans on spending his time in bed tangled in arms and legs and dark blonde hair.
They hooked the chains around the base and managed to haul it out with the backhoe just as the sun sank above the trees. The SUV headlights helped them see to get the burl on the truck bed, and everyone cheered for a job well done as they tiredly climbed back into their vehicles to head back home. Luckily, the burl was whole and undamaged by rot or vermin.
“I’ll take this to the shop and deliver tomorrow,” Alessandro said, brushing dirt off his face. “Then we got not worries through Christmas and a fat payday.”
Killian nodded. “See you back home. Hopefully Alyssia will have us something good to eat. I better give her a call and see what she’s doing.” For once he was actually looking forward to going home. He couldn’t recall feeling that way before.
Alessandro and the others pulled out, leaving Killian alone as he unlocked his truck and crawled in the cab. He fished around for his phone and saw the battery was almost dead, and he had a dozen missed calls from Cyril’s number. Scowling, he was tempted to ignore the repeated attempts but decided to return the call and see what the old bastard wanted.
It rang twice before the old man answered. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all day.”
Killian clenched his jaw. How could this geezer spawn someone like Alyssia? She must get her good nature from her mother. “I been working, not like some people with nothin’ better to do. What do you want?”
Cyril laughed on the other end, a gloating sound that grated on his nerves. “Just thought you should know that we have your sister, Camila.”
Killian burst into laughter.
Cyril snarled on the line. “This isn’t a joke. Until you return my daughter, we’ll keep Camila.”
He was tempted to call the police and have done with it, but he rather thought they deserved the ire of his sister through the holidays. He kept his voice measured and neutral. “I tell you what. You give me five hundred dollars and I’ll come take her off your hands.”
Cyril snorted. “You’re a lunatic. I’m not paying you anything. You’ll be the one paying me.”
Killian scoffed. “I’m having doubts you have my sister now. If you’d spent any time with her you’d be begging me to come and get her back.”
“My eldest has her under control. I said what I said. We’ll make a trade tomorrow eve at my place.”
“You’re senile if you think I’m coming with my pack to your neck of the woods. The answer is no. Alyssia brokered this deal. We didn’t take her. She came willingly. What you’ve done is punishable by the law, and you can count yourself lucky if I don’t decide to send the cops over to you for what you’ve done.”
The line went dead.
Killian listened to the purr of the engine, contemplating his next move. What would Alyssia think? He didn’t want her to think he didn’t care about his sister, but she’d handled herself with worse. He needed to find out if they were going to have to go to war over this.
Alyssia greeted Killian with a smile and a stew pot full of jambalaya and spicy cornbread that made his eyes and mouth water in anticipation. His joy was overshadowed with bad news, however, but he had to come out to her with it.
Her smile faltered when he looked at her grimly. “Your father called. He’s taken Camila.”
She set the cornbread filled skillet back onto the stove top. She took a shuddering breath and pushed her hair back behind her ears. “Oh no. I have to call him.”
Killian shook his head. “You a
in’t gonna say anything to change his mind. He’s playin’ games, beb. He wants you back. It’s the principle of the thing now.”
She was quite for a long moment, absentmindedly stirring the simmering pot. The steam off the stew made the hair around her face curl, charming him. He knew in that moment of her indecision that he couldn’t allow her to go back to that asshole to be punished for daring to do something for herself.
“I want you to stay with me,” he said. “Through the holidays and beyond. Let’s do this.”
She looked at him, setting the spoon down. “Why? What about your sister?”
“Do I have to worry about him hurting her?” he emphasized every syllable, trying to get through to her.
She thought about it, chewing her bottom lip and making him hungry to bite it too. He ignored his carnal feelings to keep a level head. He’d had a lot to think about on the ride home, and seeing her here had solidified his decision to attempt a relationship with Alyssia. Not just fucking but more. He hadn’t had the chance to get to know her enough, and he wanted to more than anything else. She was real. Not fake. Sweet natured. He needed her to ground his life. It didn’t take much imagination to see she’d be a good mother to his pups, and a good woman in his pack. She’d struck a chord with them.
Finally, she said quietly, “No. Especially not if they think I’m a prisoner. We both know I’m not. I can’t stay here and let her be held though.”
He grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Will they hurt her?”
“No.” She sighed. “Daddy’s an asshole, but he would never hurt a woman or allow my brothers to do so. They’re not like that anyway. Even if the world flipped over, they wouldn’t take an order like that. They’re good men. Just stuck in another century where women are chattel.”
Killian pulled her into a hug. “Then stay with me. Through the holidays. It’s a peace. Maybe a little different than what we expected, but both sides got something to lose in this, oui?”
Alphas for the Holidays Page 195
