by Mina Carter
The low sound of growling reached his ears before he could lay a hand on the door. Beyond it was the short service corridor leading to the kitchen and the restrooms. Danger hung in the air, verging on palpable, as a low voice growled.
“I told you before, stay away from him. He’s mine.”
The voice was familiar, the sound alone enough to raise his tension levels. Bethany Fowler. Max grimaced, wanting to lean his head against the wooden frame of the door. Bitten wolves looking for a pack, she and her no good, layabout cousin, Dale, had moved into town. After hearing their tale of woe—bitten and abandoned—he’d agreed to them joining the pack.
Since then they’d been nothing but fucking trouble. From Dale getting drunk and picking fights with the local humans to Bethany getting two of the younger wolves riled up and fighting over her…if he hadn’t had an ulcer from dealing with pack issues before, he certainly did now.
He sighed, starting to push open the door and deal with whatever shit Bethany was causing this time, but the voice that answered her stopped him dead in his tracks. Another familiar voice. Kelli’s.
“And I told you before. You’re welcome to him. Come midsummer, I’ll be gone.”
What the fuck? Max stilled as the snapped words penetrated his consciousness. For a moment he frowned, confusion reigning supreme, before what she meant sank in. All this…the flirtatious little glances, accepting and reveling in his kiss…it was all a lie.
She was leaving.
Anger roared through him like a freight train, his wolf almost at the limit of his control as it snapped and snarled to get free. His fingers curled, the wood of the door frame cracking under the pressure as the digits sank into the wood. No claws or shifting, but the wood gave under the pressure of his human fingers.
Holding onto sanity by a hairbreadth, he dragged a deep breath into his lungs and tried to steady himself. Pain lanced his heart, but not enough to kill the hopes of his dreams. Perhaps he’d heard wrong, heard the comment out of context. He shoved the door open and stepped through, his wolf just below the surface of his skin and power rolling off him in waves.
The two women in the corridor jumped apart at the sound, both turning to face him. Bethany paled at the look on his face, guilt written over her features as she backed up. Behind her, Kelli bristled with anger and indignation. If she’d been in wolf form, her hackles would be up. Any other time, he’d have found it cute but not now, not with the banked rage churning within him like a pit of snakes in his gut.
“Which one of you two ladies wants to tell me what this is about?”
His voice was low, and would have sounded reasonable, if not for the low-level growl. He was pissed, and it showed. Everything alpha about him was on high-alert as he watched the two women, his body taut with an anger he dare not let loose.
“None of your bu—” Kelli started to snap but didn’t get to finish her sentence.
With a snarl, Max cut her off. Striding forward he put himself between the two women. Kelli was feisty, and full of attitude, but he’d seen Bethany fight. The taller woman was vicious, with the lethal edge of a back-street brawler. A level of meanness he was sure his little wolf had never encountered before.
“It’s nuthin’, we were just talki—” Bethany started but stopped when he looked at her. A hard look to remind her, remind them both, who was alpha here.
“Let’s get one thing perfectly straight. I decide who I belong to, not you. Do I make myself clear?” he demanded, locking gazes with Bethany. She’d been dogging his steps since he’d spilt up her two would-be lovers and sent them packing before hauling her over the coals for such behavior. He didn’t know what cogs were loose in her head, but he didn’t do needy and possessive. Next thing he knew she’d turn bunny-boiler on him and that was so not what either he or the pack needed.
Her cheeks turned lobster and she dropped her gaze, refusing to look him in the eyes.
“Bethany, are we clear? I don’t want a repeat of this nonsense.” He knew he was being a pushy bastard but right at the moment he didn’t care. The woman he wanted had just let slip she was planning to leave.
“Hey, no need to upset her. We were just having a conversation.” Kelli slid between him and the other woman, as protective as a mother hen. Frustration and irritation welled up. Right instincts, but entirely the wrong moment to apply them. His anger transferred to the small woman in front of him, the snarl rolling from his lips before he could stop it.
“Let’s talk about you then, shall we?”
Chapter Five
Max backed Kelli up, using his bigger body to intimidate. Bethany slipped out from behind the smaller woman, making her escape through the door into the hall. He let her go, his focus on Kelli.
She knew what he wanted; he’d never lied about that. He wanted her as his mate, wanted to claim her as a wolf and marry her as a man. But she wasn’t even going to give him the choice, was she? Her words indicated that she was going to skip out on him regardless. Fury blistered his control, eating away at his determination to stay calm and feeding the frenzy in his gut.
Even though she backed away from him, the fire didn’t die in her eyes. Instead she tossed her hair back over her shoulders and glared at him. “Sure, as long as we talk about you being an asshole.”
Max’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
“Me being an asshole? Just how the fuck do you work that one out, lady? Since you’ve been back I’ve been nothing but damn civil. Helping you when you needed it—” He kept walking as he spoke, until he had her cornered by the door to the kitchens.
The room visible through the port-hole style window was empty and dark. The meal was long since over and the evening reception in full swing so the kitchen staff had already cleaned up and gone home.
She flicked a glance over his shoulders, wariness shone in her eyes a second before anger chased it back again. A small part of him felt like a shit for intimidating her, but the rest of him, the part that roared in pain at her words, just didn’t care.
“Civil? You were civil when you dragged me out of the bar and pinned me against the wall to paw at me?”
God, she was unreal. “I dragged you? I think you’ll find I carried you. And as for pawing…”
His tight expression must have given him away because she squeaked and tried to slide past him as he moved. Catching her easily he pinned her back against the wall, their struggle lasting mere seconds. Breathing heavily, he trapped her with the weight of his body against hers. If she’d seriously put up a fight, he’d have let her go instantly, but within a heartbeat her body softened, yielding as he pressed into her. His cock was an iron bar straining against the fabric of his dress pants, desperate to be free, desperate to be buried deep within her.
All the needs and wants he’d been putting off to be a better man for her, to prove that he was worthy of her, came rushing to the fore. Her eyes were wide and dark, the scent of arousal and her wolf swirling around them even as dismay flitted across her face. She wanted him. That single thought expanded through him. She wanted him but still ran. She was lying to them both.
With a growl he dropped his head and claimed her lips. No gentle kiss this time, he stormed the citadel like some conquering invader, demanding that she yield to him. With a whimper, she surrendered, small hands curled around his upper arms, nails biting into the fine fabric of his shirt as he surged into her mouth. His male pride and everything that made him alpha urged him on, urged him to change his hold, gather her into his arms in a rustle of satin and skirts.
Her taste exploded on his tongue. The champagne she’d had earlier, the cheesecake he knew she loved and couldn’t resist, the taste of woman…his woman. The growl rumbled up, mingled with a groan of need as he ground his cock against her soft belly.
“See what you do to me?” he demanded, his voice harsh against her lips. “Paw you? You’re lucky I didn’t shove you over a goddamn table and claim you in front of the whole pack.”
She paled,
but his anger was running too high for him to feel bad. She should’ve told him the truth, told him that she didn’t plan to stay and given him chance to tell her how much she meant to him. How lonely he’d been in the years she’d been gone.
She trembled as he kissed her again, yet clung to him and parted her lips immediately. Trying to head off his anger with acquiescence? His thought processes were blown away as she started to respond, kissing him back with an eagerness he’d only ever dreamed about.
Another wave of heat exploded through his body as he crowded her, tongue thrusting within the sweet cavern of her mouth as his hips rocked against her soft belly. His cock ached and throbbed, desperate to be buried as deeply as his tongue in her welcoming warmth. Impaling her, taking her every way he could. He curled his fingers in the delicate strap of her dress, yanking it to the side to bare her shoulder for his lips. Sense fell away, the burning need to take her there and then, before she could run back to the big city and escape him, almost overwhelmed him.
Only the door and a muttered ‘Sorry man, didn’t know you were out here,’ brought him to his senses. With a snarled curse he put a couple of inches between them, sliding her strap back onto her shoulder. She staggered as he released her, hands out to catch her balance against him. The soft, unfocused look on her face was his undoing.
“Fuck it. You’re not leaving me. I’ll make you stay.” Bending, he scooped her up into his arms. Turning, he backed through the kitchen door and strode towards the back entrance. Determination and arousal raced through him. Three days to the midsummer moon, and he planned to make every one of them count.
* * *
Anger swirled around Max like a superhero’s cape as he bundled her through the kitchen and out of the back door before the heat and sensual lassitude of the kiss faded. The cool night air hit her like a slap in the face, wrapping her up in a cool blanket which lifted goose-flesh on her arms and jarred her back to reality.
Moonlight shone down, lighting the parking lot as brightly as day to her wolf vision. The lot was full, even though alcohol flowed freely at the festivities inside. Thanks to their increased metabolism, no wolf was at risk of being caught drunk driving, the alcohol burning out of their systems in minutes. As a result, wolves drank a lot to maintain the warm fuzzy feeling alcohol granted.
“What are you playing at? Max?” she demanded, her voice rising to a shrill pitch as he dropped her to her feet but kept a hard hold on her wrist. She tugged at it anyway, even though she knew it was pointless. “What do you mean, you’ll make me stay?”
He turned, as quick as a striking snake, and the hard look on his face made her catch her breath. Heat, danger and arousal drew his expression tight, his eyes glittering as he yanked her up against his hard body.
The thin satin of her sheath dress offered no protection against the heat of his body. She bit back a whimper. It had been so long since she’d felt the heated skin of her own kind sliding against hers during sex that she’d almost forgotten what it was like. Forgotten the feral need that rose and wrapped around her senses, demanding that she yield to the more powerful male.
“You lied to me,” he ground out, hand hard in her hair as its twin roamed freely, exploring her curves as though committing them to memory. She didn’t stop him. Couldn’t. Every hard touch and rough caress fed the desire which held her in its web. “Made me believe that I had a chance with you, but you were going to leave anyway. I waited ten years for this, so I’m taking what I want.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. What are you going to do? Tie me to the damn bed, keep me naked and pregnant?” She laughed, the sound strangled and nervous as his lips descended.
He paused, his mouth a hairs-breadth from hers, as if to consider her words.
“Don’t tempt me.”
His mouth crashed down on hers in a hard kiss filled with rage and need. Despite herself, despite her determination not to give him the satisfaction, she couldn’t help but respond. His anger tapped into and fuelled the feral need within her, one she normally kept well under wraps, aiding it to break through the chains of her self-control. Fear at this new side of him—darker and more dangerous than the charming Max she knew—hummed through her, the edge of danger pulling her in.
Like baiting the tiger’s tail, wolves couldn’t resist the rush of danger. It was why a lot went into the forces or took up high risk occupations like high-speed race driver. Others sought their thrills in dangerous sports, such as base jumping or diving with sharks.
She was no exception. Kissing him back, she teased and evaded, making him chase her rather than accept his kiss placidly. The closer they got to the full moon—the midsummer moon—the more she struggled to control the feral side of her nature.
He growled as she refused to surrender, turning her bodily and pressing her back against the side of his truck. His hands drove into her hair, holding her head still as he ravaged her mouth. His kiss was hard. Male. Primal. Dominant.
Finally yielding, the whimper broke from her throat before she could stop it. The feeling of his thick cock as it pressed against the softness of her stomach was her undoing. The satin caught and slipped against her skin, an erotic friction that had her breath catching in her throat as he plundered her lips.
Her breath came in hard pants as he tore his lips from hers to drag them across her jaw in rough, biting kisses. His hand moved to cup the back of her neck as the hard fingers of the other turned her jaw to bare her throat. Warm breath washed over her skin before he opened his mouth.
She froze, a whimper of distress held back as he grazed her skin with his teeth in a silent warning. He could bite her, leave the mark that would claim her in their world, in the eyes of the pack. Pressing harder with his teeth until he almost broke the skin, he forced the whimper from her lips. She dare not struggle, in case his blunt human teeth broke the skin. By design or accident, it didn’t matter. They’d still be bonded and no other wolf would take her on with an alpha’s mark on her neck.
Pain and misery chased shameful pleasure as she squeezed her eyes tight shut. She shouldn’t want this but a small part of her rejoiced, desperate for him to complete the bite. Desperate to become his, no matter the circumstances, but the thinking, independent woman rejected the idea. This had to be her choice, not his. But she couldn’t stop him, and they both knew it. As alpha of the pack, one she had never disavowed and left despite moving to the city, he could have his pick of the pack females. If he wanted to claim her, then it was his right.
He shoved her away from him, a rough curse dropping from his lips. She stumbled against the side of the truck as he backed up, running a hand through his hair.
“Get in the car, before I do something we’ll both regret.”
Without thinking, she did as she was told, opening the door of the truck and sliding into the passenger seat. For a moment she was alone, as Max stalked around the back of the vehicle, tension radiating from every line of his body. The smell of the leather seats and the lavender air freshener tucked into the air vent wrapped around her. She sniffed appreciatively, letting the aroma of the essential oil soothe her. It was the real deal, wolves didn’t do anything chemical if they could help it. It irritated their noses, and disrupted their sensitive sense of smell.
She managed a shaky breath, then another as Max yanked the driver’s door open and slid into the seat next to her. Without a word, he started the engine and threw the truck into drive. The tires sprayed gravel up as he spun the vehicle around and pulled out onto the road, his movements jerky and angry. Tension filled the interior of the car like a third passenger.
She couldn’t help but be aware of the silent man next to her. Of his lean, strong body and the lust that rolled off him in waves. Anger drew the wolf to the surface, his skin rippling with a shadow of fur. She swallowed. It was the nearest she’d ever seen him come to losing control.
She nibbled her lower lip, trying not to squirm on the seat. The nearly full moon beat down, its silvery light a siren call that
stirred the wolf within. Long without a pack nearby, she’d learnt to control the urges that all wolves felt as the full moon neared.
The urge to run and fuck filled her, to slough off the human skin and celebrate the creatures of nature that they were. The need to hunt and kill, chasing down small game to its end in a snap of her powerful jaws. The snick of her teeth as they sliced through fur and skin, the crunch of bone and the hot, metallic-sweetness of fresh blood as it flowed down her throat.
Each month she tried to avoid it. Each month as the moon rose she resorted to sleeping tablets to dull her senses and get her through the night. Most times it worked. Without other wolves around, and surrounded by the concrete jungle of the city, her wolf was lulled into a stupor. If it wasn’t, then she picked her nights and drove to the edge of the city to allow the creature within a few hours freedom.
But her sleeping tablets were back at home, too far away to do her any good. She caught Max’s glittering gaze and looked away quickly, the lust and intent in his eyes too much for her as anger shifted to something altogether more dangerous. They were beyond the tablets now, beyond talking and rationalizing the situation. Once they got where they were going, up into the mountains if the road he’d turned the big truck onto was any indication, then she was going to find out just how dangerous baiting an alpha could be.
The drive passed in silence. She watched out of the window as the scenery of her childhood sped by and then they were higher into the mountains. The trees crowded around the road like sentinels, only allowing thin slivers of moonlight through their guard. It made no difference; she could still feel its presence overhead, calling to her. Eroding her control.
