Half-Blooded: The Alpha's Mate (BBW Shifter Romance)

by Bethany Rousseau

  After days of enduring the intensified symptoms, feeling lightheaded from struggling to get enough calories just to keep her body working, Mia found Jack’s card. She had her phone in one hand and was staring at the card held in the other. She could call Caleb—but her pride wouldn’t allow it. He had used her; at the very least, even if he had been lying about not being personally invested in her, about having no feelings for her, Mia thought that the lie was every bit as bad as the truth would be—worse in some respects. The fact that he would want her to believe that he had no feelings for her was more painful than if he hadn’t had feelings for her in the first place. But she couldn’t possibly live much longer if her symptoms continued the way that they were. She had to do something about it, and her doctor had no idea what to do to treat her. Mia called Jack, cringing and wishing that there was something else she could do to treat the disease that was making her steadily more miserable.

  To her surprise, Jack didn’t lord over her the fact that she was begging him for help. He became businesslike on the other end of the line. “How bad is it?” he asked her. Mia’s voice cracked and wavered with weakness as she recounted the intensification of the symptoms. “Are you able to drive? Would you be able to meet me somewhere? I’d offer to come over, but I don’t think you’d be comfortable with that.” Mia appreciated his consideration and said that she thought she could just manage to get somewhere, provided that it wasn’t too far from her house. Jack gave her directions to a restaurant close to her, and Mia thought as she hung up after agreeing to meet him there that Caleb must have told Jack everything about her, for him to know where she lived.

  She managed to get to the restaurant, the smell turning her stomach slightly; Mia was almost delirious, and suspected that she was running a high fever, in addition to the aches and pains. The birthmark on her shoulder gnawed at her with constant, low-level pain, cresting to an abrupt stabbing sensation right in the middle at random. She found the table where Jack was already sitting and sat down heavily, trying to keep her sense of nausea suppressed with slow, deep breaths. She thought to herself as she took in the sight of him that she had been motivated not only by her own desperation, but because he was attractive; for the nice restaurant he had chosen to meet her at, Jack was dressed in a button-down shirt, a pair of slacks, a silky-looking tie with a vivid print and a black vest. It was a different look, but it suited the tall, lean man well. “I know it’s difficult,” Jack said quietly, giving her a sympathetic smile. “But this is actually the best place for you to be, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now.” Mia shrugged, her long nausea and pain making her apathetic.

  “I would probably feel nauseated no matter where I was,” Mia said with a sigh.

  “I know that I sprung a lot of information on you really quickly,” Jack said, reaching across the table and taking her hand. The contact gave her a tingle, and she found herself blushing in spite of her sense of how miserable she felt. Mia remembered the way he had been subtly flirting with her before, touching her and smiling at her throughout his explanation of her status, of the world she had unwittingly been a part of. “It’s a lot to come to terms with—and I don’t blame you if you don’t believe what I said.” Mia smiled slightly, responding to his charm. “What if I told you that I could prove that even if you don’t entirely understand what’s going on, I do, and I can help you?” Mia looked down at the tablecloth and sighed once more.

  “I guess I’m willing to try anything,” she said with a weak smile. Jack let go of her hand and reached into a pocket in his blazer, withdrawing what looked like a glass flask. “It’s not going to taste particularly pleasant, but I promise you it will help.” Mia looked at the dark liquid in the flask, took a deep breath, and accepted the container from Jack. She really was willing to try anything that might make her feel better; she was in such intense pain, so much misery, that even if it didn’t work, she would be glad to have done something proactive to treat her condition—whatever it was. She opened the flask and took a long sip of it. “You have to drink it all,” Jack said firmly. As the first gush of the liquid flowed across her tongue Mia almost gagged; it had a cloying sweetness and deep bitterness that made her stomach turn and made her throat want to close up. But she forced the entire contents of the flask down, swallowing determinedly, closing her eyes and breathing slowly and steadily to keep from throwing it up once more. The medicine, whatever it was made of, started a deep burn in her stomach, creeping up the back of her throat, and Mia swallowed convulsively, trying to keep it down.

  In a matter of moments, the pain began to abate—starting from her scar, traveling outward through her body. The nausea began to go away a heartbeat after, fading and then was gone, as the pain that made it feel as though there were shards of glass in all of her joints dissolved, her muscles relaxing, her body slowly feeling as if it were coming back to normal. Mia put the flask down and stared at Jack in surprise. She hadn’t had any real hope of the medicine working, even if she had been desperate. She looked at the empty flask and the man who had provided it to her, and Mia’s eyes stung with grateful tears.

  “I guess,” she said, laughing with relief, “I can’t really doubt your story anymore. This sort of proves it, doesn’t it?” Jack smiled broadly at her, the expression warming the depths of his dark eyes.

  “In a moment you are going to be incredibly hungry,” he told her. As if on cue, as the last of her pain disappeared, Mia felt a gnawing in her stomach that had nothing to do with nausea. Suddenly, the revolting, stomach-churning smells she had been trying to ignore became the appealing, delicious smells of food she absolutely had to have. Jack had chosen a steakhouse for their rendezvous, and the scent of grilling meat on the air made Mia’s mouth water. “As an awakened half-wolf, you’ll need more meat in your diet than you’re probably used to. But that can be a lot of fun.” Jack’s dark eyes were dancing with mischief.

  “Oh my god. I can’t believe I actually feel hungry. I can’t thank you enough, Jack!” He reached across the table once more and took her hand, bringing it to his lips.

  “I’m just glad you came to me and let me help you.”

  Jack ordered a huge dinner for both of them, and Mia’s sense of gratitude, along with a lingering awareness of her attraction to him, persuaded Mia to stay. Jack was delighted at her appetite, encouraging to eat more of the steak, to devour the lobster tail, to drink the wine he ordered until her head begun to spin. She worried briefly that so much rich food after several days of nausea and throwing up would only make her sick, but Jack assured her that one of the few upsides to her half-wolf status was a quick recovery.

  He guided the conversation away from the unpleasant topic of her health and its precarious state, and instead asked Mia about herself. In spite of herself, Mia found herself opening up to him. She told him about the breakup with Gary that had led to her meeting Caleb—and then backed off of the subject of her erstwhile lover, instead talking about her studies in school, her career and interests. She tried to get Jack to open up as well, but whenever the topic came to his personal life, he sidestepped, saying that there was a lot that he couldn’t discuss in a public venue and that he hoped Mia understood. His reticence added a layer of mystery over his charismatic demeanor, and Mia found herself growing more and more attracted to him as he told her about pranks he had pulled as a younger member of the community, about how he had come to be the Alpha—carefully choosing his words to avoid the potentially prying ears of the others in the restaurant.

  Mia was fascinated by the more fleshed-out version of the pack history that Jack gave her, carefully hedging away from specifically mentioning the fact that they were werewolves because of the public venue. She learned that because she was only half a wolf, she wouldn’t have to worry about transforming—it wasn’t something she could be capable of—but she would have some advantages due to the werewolf blood that was part of her genetics. “Apart from the illness, and of course, the infertility,” Jack said at one point, “
You might notice that you’ve got more endurance than you had before. Of course,” he added with a faint grin, “You’ve already noticed the changes in your senses.” Mia blushed at the reminder of her enhanced sense of smell and hearing, and Jack cajoled her into telling him about some of her misadventures since gaining her improved senses, in turn telling about his own early troubles as he came into his full abilities as a wolf and transformed for the first time.

  By the time they had finished eating, Jack invited her back to his place, and Mia found herself agreeing; not only was Jack attractive and attentive, but part of her wanted to spite Caleb for using her, for toying with her emotions the way he had and then dropping her abruptly. Mia discovered that Jack lived in a richer part of town than Caleb, though his house was not ostentatiously luxurious; he guided her quickly through the living room and to his bedroom, and Mia couldn’t quite take in the surroundings, but everything seemed to have an air of lived-in comfort.

  Mia yelped in instinctive surprise as Jack propelled her directly onto his bed, sending her sprawling on her back. He launched himself at her, covering her body with his own and kissing her aggressively—much more passionately than Caleb had, and Mia had found her own passion ignited by her lover’s enthusiasm. Jack growled lowly as his tongue probed her mouth, his hands making quick, devastating surveys of the curves of her body, stopping to squeeze and massage her breasts and knead her hips. Mia was startled but not unwilling by the other man’s feverish desire—she thought, and almost laughed at the comparison, that he was like an animal; but of course he was, she thought, running her hands over the slim lines of his body. He was not as broad in the shoulder as Caleb, or as muscular, but seemed just as strong, and less restrained. Mia was swept up by his aggressive pawing, his teeth nipping less carefully at her lips and then her neck. He let out a low growl, his mouth pressed to the base of her throat. “Submit to me,” she heard him murmur.

  “Yes,” Mia gasped, tilting her head back and arching into him, her pussy quickly becoming soaking wet under the impetus of his dominant ways. In spite of Caleb’s roughness, there had always been a sense of restraint, of playfulness, that was missing almost entirely from Jack’s demeanor as he pulled and tugged at her blouse, almost ripping it in his haste to get it off of her. He nuzzled against her breasts, and Mia became aware of the scent of a sharp musk permeating the air; breathing in, she recognized it as quintessentially Jack, a smell attached to his more wolf-like nature—and it turned her on even more. Jack slid down along her body, lifting her up off of the bed and pawing impatiently at the clasp of her bra. He groaned with frustration and Mia gasped as he broke away from her abruptly, reaching across the bed and grabbing for a knife that was on his bedside table; the appearance of the knife sent a sharp jolt of fear through Mia, almost interrupting her rising lust as Jack looked at her with lust-darkened eyes.

  He quickly slipped the knife up underneath the gore of her bra, and Mia let out an involuntary cry as the fabric made a ripping sound, parting at the center of her breasts under the sharp blade. She trembled involuntarily as Jack brought the knife up to the straps of the bra, severing them in quick, deft movements and pulling the tatters of the undergarment away from her body. He put the knife aside, but Mia’s mouth had gone dry, and she stared at him, wondering briefly what she had gotten herself into. “I will never hurt you,” Jack told her, seeing her dismay. “I’ll replace the bra,” he added with a faint smile curving his full lips. He kissed her hungrily, pressing the length of his body against hers, his hands firm along her waist, her breasts, up to her arms.

  Jack broke away from her lips to travel down to her breasts, immediately going for her nipples. Mia cried out and writhed in a mixture of pleasure and pain as his sucking lips and flickering tongue gave way occasionally to sharp, nipping teeth that sent jolts of sensation through her body from her breasts almost straight to her already-soaking pussy. She heard herself whimpering, torn between faint, lingering fear and intense desire. Jack was tugging at her skirt, gradually getting it down over her hips. He moved off of her, pulling it the rest of the way off and leaving Mia in nothing more than the thin protection of her soaking panties. He looked down at her with unmistakable lust, panting slightly as he admired her, his hands wandering over her slowly. “Do you still submit?” he asked her, his gaze turning up to her face. Mia nodded, even though she wasn’t sure exactly what she was submitting to. Jack smiled broadly, reaching up to tweak one of her nipples firmly, making Mia gasp.

  He pinned her down once more, straddling her hips; Mia could feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her, tantalizingly close to where she wanted it most. Jack untied his tie, pulling it quickly free of his collar and snapping it slightly between his hands. He smirked as he looked down at her again. “Good. You trust me that I will never hurt you?” Mia nodded, her heart pounding too much to allow her to speak. Jack grabbed for her wrists, collecting them in one of his large hands and thrusting them up over her head. Mia tried not to let herself feel the instinctive fear that came as she felt the silken fabric coiled and twined around her wrists. She felt it tighten down, holding her wrists together more and more firmly, rendering her helpless. There was a slight tugging, and Mia realized that Jack was attaching her wrists to the headboard of his bed, trapping them over her head.

  Mia pulled instinctively at the bindings, her shoulders tightening from the unnatural position but not yet hurting, her body less than certain about the wisdom of being tied up. Jack kissed her on the lips, rocking his body against hers, his hands leaving her wrists to trail over her breasts and waist, down to the waistband of her panties, caressing and tickling slightly. Jack’s lips left hers and he began kissing and nipping along her neck, down along her collar bones, to her breasts. “These are gorgeous,” he told her in a low, approving voice, cupping and squeezing them in his hands, bringing them up to his lips. Mia was once more reduced to needy whimpers, writhing underneath Jack as he lavished attention on her sensitive nipples and the undersides of her breasts.

  He dropped down to her abdomen, nipping sharply at her skin, making Mia gasp and tremble with lust, excitement, and a little fear. She moaned out as Jack reached down between her legs, cupping her pussy and rubbing her through the fabric of her panties with the heel of his palm, sending tingles of sensation through her. She squirmed as his lips came closer to the waistband of her panties, impatient in her own turn to have him where she wanted him most. She startled when he stopped rubbing her, his hand reaching out for the knife. “I’ll replace these too,” he said with a faint glimmer of a grin, slipping the sharp blade underneath the fabric and pulling up. Her panties gave way like tissue, parting at the seam he had found at her hip, and Mia forced herself to relax as he moved to the other hip, holding the fabric taut as he drew the blade along it.

  Jack tugged the thin, flimsy fabric away from her body and tossed it aside, parting Mia’s legs and spreading them wide. She felt his hot breath against her sensitive skin as he slipped down between her legs, nuzzling against her inner thighs. “Mmm, Caleb was right, you smell delicious,” Jack murmured, and Mia blushed at the reminder of her former lover. Jack brought his lips up to her soaking wet pussy, immediately darting his tongue out to lap at her slick folds thoroughly. She heard him moaning, felt the vibration of the sound against her sensitized anatomy; Mia let out a cry, pulling at the bindings around her wrists in an instinct to try and touch him. Jack went immediately for her clit, bringing his tongue up and lapping at it aggressively.

  “Oh! Oh god—Jack!” Mia cried out, twisting underneath him as his attacks on her pussy sent overwhelming sensation through her body. Jack murmured something Mia couldn’t quite hear and she gasped as his arms came around and down across her hips and thighs, pinning her down completely, making it impossible for her to move. He flickered his tongue across and against her clit, sucking it between his lips, barely grazing it with his teeth, while Mia made noises she never would have recognized from herself before—whimpers, moans
, growls, her whole body shaking with the need to move and participate. She felt the silk of the necktie biting into her wrists as she pulled and tried to shift her hips free of Jack’s grip, the helplessness of her situation somehow only turning her on even more.

  Jack’s assaults with lips and tongue brought her to a swift orgasm that Mia couldn’t hold back, even for a moment; she was almost screaming with the pleasure that crashed through her body, her muscles tensing and relaxing, her heart pounding, her nerves lit up more thoroughly than a Christmas tree with ricocheting jolts and spasms of pleasure. She trembled and shook, squirmed and writhed as the pleasure hit its crest inside of her, wringing her out and becoming so intense that it might as well have been pain. Jack didn’t let up even as she went from one climactic height to the next, almost becoming alarmed at how much she was feeling, how intensely the sensations danced through her body. He kept up the action of his tongue against her clit until Mia was almost begging him to stop, moaning out “Please, please…” with no ability to form the words to express what it was she really wanted.

  He backed off finally when Mia’s spasms abated completely, her pussy absolutely soaked. Mia’s arms were aching, the muscles in her legs jumping and jerking under the skin as he dipped down away from her clit, lapping at the fluids that had gathered at the base of her pussy. Mia was panting, almost mindless with the pleasure he had given her, her head thrown back amongst the pillows, her whole body lax with complete and utter submission to his will. Jack was careful not to brush against her sensitized clit, probably knowing that any attentions there so soon would be more painful than pleasurable; instead he licked her slick folds until he had lapped up all evidence of her orgasm, before beginning to make his way slowly up along her body. Mia tugged instinctively at the bindings on her wrists, moaning in frustration as she remembered they were trapped; she wanted the feeling of his body pressed completely against hers, the closeness of holding him, and was irritated at the fact that her wish was denied. “Mmm, you take pleasure so well,” Jack murmured, bringing his lips down on hers. Mia could taste herself on him, the slightly salty, sharp flavor mingling with the sweetness of his lips, the heat of his tongue probing her mouth.