The Billionaire Shifter's True Alpha: Billionaire Shifters Club #5

by Diana Seere

  The vibration that rocked him as she uttered his name, the press of her fingernails against his scalp as she urged him on, made every hair on his body stand tall, the wildfire ripple ringing through him, making his erection even harder. A ripping sound, muted by her thighs, came with her hands on his shoulders as she tore the shreds of his shirt open, spreading it over his broad shoulders.

  Slipping one finger, then two, inside her gloriously hot, wet pussy, Zach continued the perfectly timed thrumming with his tongue, playing her until she screamed his name, her fingernails scratching his shoulders, her clit pushing against him with abandon.

  He was over her, kissing her with lips that tasted like ambrosia, her hands scrambling for his pants button, unleashing him fast. He paused, clothing in tatters along his limbs but not because of an unexpected shift.

  Because of passion.

  “In me. Now,” she ordered, making him grin. He licked his lips as he looked down at her, Sophia’s eyes glazed in the half-aware state of a woman who’s just orgasmed, her skin lightly coated with sweat, her hands grabby and insistent.

  For the first time since the lab accident, Zach possessed something novel.

  Control.

  “Have you lost your mind?” she asked, half irritated, half joking as she shoved his pants and boxer briefs down, moving on the bed closer to him, ready to be filled.

  “No,” he answered, his hands going to her shoulders as he backed up, away from her, knees bent down against the mattress. He looked her over, the spill of dark hair tickling the backs of his hands, her chest rising and falling with impatience. Exertion.

  Frustration.

  “No? Why aren’t you in me?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  Her lips parted, jaw dropping slightly in astonishment, eyes going wide with a strangely erotic reproach. “I have never been shy about stating my sexual needs, Zach. If I say I want you in me, I mean it.”

  He took his finger and slid it from her shoulder, down her collarbone, lightly tracing a path to her nipple. She jerked, then closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, opening them again.

  “How does it feel?” he asked, sliding slowly out of his torn shirt, knowing she watched. As he looked back at her while he pulled his pants off, he knew the agony his procrastination was causing.

  He grinned.

  This was going to be fun.

  “How does what feel?”

  “Wanting sex and not being able to have it.” As he spoke the words, he moved onto his knees, cock standing tall like a sentry, full and ready before her. He crossed his arms over his broad, naked chest and smirked.

  “You wouldn’t,” she said in a low voice that got louder toward the end, a whimper that quickly became a roar.

  “I might.”

  She sat up, mimicking his stance, her back arched so her big, voluptuous breasts nearly grazed his pecs. The tip of his erection began to ache. If she did that again, he was going to explode. But if he moved away, she won.

  Zach wasn’t about to let that happen.

  Heedless of the fabric, Sophia tore her dress off, flinging it to the ground, and turned with a saucy grin, eyebrows up, brown eyes blazing with a challenge. Her nipples were tighter than rosebuds, like pink diamonds hardened by desire. He knew she was throbbing, her clit ready, his cock more than capable of taking her up on her invitation and make himself at home. Becoming her body’s houseguest would be an honor, and if she let him bring her coffee in bed, let him make her breakfast—literally, make her his breakfast—so much the better.

  But first he needed to get a little revenge.

  “You know, your lessons really made a difference,” he murmured as he kept her gaze and drew his right thumb to his mouth, his tongue poking between his lips and licking the pad. Her breath quickened as he reached forward and cupped one full breast in his big palm, moving the wet thumb in lazy circles around her hard nipple. The areola tightened in response, her gasp assuring him that other pink, wet parts of her had just clenched too.

  “This is really, really—unfair,” she said, her words interrupted by a hitched sound as her voice grew breathy. In retaliation, she boldly wrapped her fingers around his cock and stroked up, letting her grip loosen at the last section, the featherlight touch at his cap making him suck in air between his teeth.

  He bent to take her other nipple into his mouth, teasing it with the lightest of bites, continuing to stroke the other breast as her hand froze on his erection, her body consumed by his attentions.

  Good.

  He was, indeed, in control.

  A wave of heat rushed over him from behind, fluttering up from his ass to the crown of his scalp like a million burning butterflies chasing a ghost. Sophia’s hand began to move again, and this time she mimicked him, her palm going to her mouth as he pulled away from her breast, her tongue tantalizing as she licked the skin, then returned to her place at the root of his shaft.

  That single pull was electric, all wet friction and surge. Growling, he pushed her back and entered her in one fluid movement that had no beginning, no end, no strategy, no hesitation.

  “Oh, Sophia, you,” he said, the words his last as she tightened around him at the same time he was pulled into her body, the pure, primal beauty of her naked skin against his making him pause. As she hooked her ankles across his back, calves tightening like a pleasure drawstring, he looked down at her.

  And stopped.

  She was luminous, her eyes closed, the pulse at her throat beating so hard against her long, graceful neck that it was performance art. For eight months he’d been so lonely, so broken, slowly coming out of a physical hell that turned emotional and psychological as recovery stretched into weeks and months, his body forever altered in ways he didn’t know were biologically possible.

  He was a freak.

  But he wanted to be Sophia’s freak.

  “Zach,” she whispered, pulling him down for a kiss without opening her eyes, the thick drumbeat that he’d felt before a quiet, distant pulse, like slow rain on a tin roof. As her tongue took its time against his, her lips kissing the corner of his mouth, his chin, the tip of her teeth scratching against his jawbone stubble, the beat intensified. His ears rushed like oceans were inside him, his heart slamming hard to find hers, their bodies slick with sweat and oil and spit and a deep, abiding togetherness that made him tense.

  Because now that he had this, he could never live without it.

  Her fingers went down the slope from his back to his ass, her palms widening as she grabbed him and dug in, his thrust so hard, so complete he felt like he drilled through the earth. She moved against him in rhythm, setting a pace he quickly matched, moving faster and faster as she tremored, a violent shiver that told him she was close.

  “Not yet,” she said, her voice guarded.

  “Is this part of the training?” he rasped, pressing his forehead against her neck, his body about to become even more foreign as his climax rose, ready to take him to oblivion.

  “No. This is just me.”

  Without an explanation, he sensed she needed more, his hand going to her hip, tracing her ass, moving under her. A teasing touch between her pussy and ass made her groan, a sound of contentment that urged him on, his finger moving in circles around her tight hole.

  And that was enough, it seemed, for she came with a quivering intensity that made her pull the pillow from the head of the bed and bite it, one hand clenching the sheets and comforter in a twisting desperation, yanking the sheet off the bed, her body humming under him. Zach kept the pace and lost himself in her, the moment he orgasmed blending with her body until they clenched and released together like a heartbeat, every muscle a sensual feast of movement.

  He collapsed on top of her, lost.

  Yet profoundly found.

  “That was marvelous,” she said, brushing sweat-soaked hair off his brow with a low chuckle.

  “Why, thank you,” he muttered, proud.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean the sex.” />
  “What?” If she’d thrown a bucket full of ice on him, he’d have been less shocked.

  “You didn’t shift. You controlled yourself.”

  “Back up. What’s this about the sex not being marvelous?”

  She laughed, her voice unfurling like a line of flags flapping in the wind on a sunny day. She looked down at their still-joined bodies and gave him an arch look. “That was perfectly fine.”

  “‘Perfectly fine’? ‘Perfectly fine’? ‘Perfectly fine’ is an eight-dollar bottle of pinot noir, Sophia. ‘Perfectly fine’ is the third sequel in a sci-fi franchise. Sex like that is more than perfectly fine.” Separating their bodies slowly, he found his heart was skipping beats, rushing to catch up to the implications of her words.

  She stopped him, her grasp on his shoulders firm and unyielding. “Don’t let ego get in the way. I mean it when I say the sex was perfectly fine. What was even better was your control.”

  “I want the sex to be better than my control.”

  The bite on his nipple was unexpected, shooting a zing into the root of his cock. “It will be. The next time. I couldn’t help myself. I was distracted.”

  “Distracted? The sex was bad because you were distracted?” He looked around the very minimalist guest room. “Did the fire sprinkler in the ceiling start talking to you?”

  “Zach.”

  He matched her tone. “Sophia.” As his bare ass hit the comforter, he raised his arms, threading his fingers behind his head, settling in. Crossing his feet at the ankles, he let the air chill his skin.

  “You’re taking this personally. It was me.”

  “Of course I’m taking this personally!” he nearly shouted. “How could I not take it personally! I just made love to you and—”

  Her fingers covered his lips, shushing him. “Stop. Listen. You’re being too reactive.”

  “I’m human.”

  “No, Zach. You’re not. That’s the whole point. We had sex…” Her voice trailed off and she restarted, eyes darting to sneak looks at him. “We made love without your shifting uncontrollably. I was marveling at it. Forgive me.”

  “Forgive you? I have no reason to forgive you.”

  “Forgive me for not explaining this well. I’m not accustomed to having to explain a damn thing to the men I bed.” So casual, those words that came from her mouth. So simple. So easy.

  So gutting.

  “The men you bed,” he repeated, knowing they’d just stepped into emotional land mine territory. She was tracing figure eights on his bicep but stopped at his words.

  “Yes. You know I have insatiable tastes. Is that a problem?”

  “What? No.” The only problem was that Zach didn’t know whether she’d really been disappointed by the sex just now. Maybe the distraction explanation was a cover to save his feelings? She’d slept with so many men. So, so many. Maybe he wasn’t making the cut?

  Her tone went cold, her hand moving off him. Shifting a few inches away from him, she made sure their bodies no longer touched. “Is that what this is about? Your fragile male ego immediately jumps there?”

  “What ego? And where?” The dizzying pace of topic change was killing him.

  “You think because I was distracted thinking about your amazing ability not to shift that I was comparing you to other lovers.”

  The words made him act before he thought, Sophia under him again, this time with her hands above her head, pinned in place by Zach. “No,” he barked, eyes on hers, his knees on either side of her hips, full weight holding her in place. “Absolutely not. I don’t give a rat’s ass who else you’ve fucked, because not a single one of them matters now.”

  Her eyes gleamed. “Now?”

  “Now that we’re… you know.”

  Sophia seemed to recognize the gravity of his words, one corner of her mouth crawling up with a sneaky look. “And you’ve mastered the controlled shift, Zach. Our ‘you knowing’ is working.”

  Clearly he’d given the right answer.

  Kissing her softly, he released her and resumed his spot next to her, strands of her hair mingling with the curly locks on his chest.

  “That wasn’t just perfectly fine,” she finally admitted. “It was fabulous.”

  “Now you’re playing to my ego.”

  “I never lie about sex.”

  “What do you lie about?”

  He was surprised by his own conversational tone, realizing this was their version of pillow talk.

  She laughed and answered, “How much I love Jess. Derry’s fian…cée.” The way she struggled with the term made her feelings clear.

  “You don’t like her?”

  “I had to fake it for a while.”

  “Were you successful?”

  “No. But I love her now. She’s wonderful.” Sophia grinned. “I never thought anyone would tame Derry. She did. Therefore, I have no choice but to accept her.”

  “Is that a shifter thing? Some sort of in-world rule?”

  Her face twisted with confusion. “No. It’s typical human behavior. Perhaps a touch of the pack is in there, but no. Standard sister-in-law dynamics. You know.”

  “No. I don’t.”

  “Don’t you have siblings?”

  “No. Only child.”

  “Oh! I am so sorry!”

  “Why are you sorry? It’s not like a disease.”

  Her laugh made him feel more comfortable, the conversation itself one he experienced with a split mind. Half of him loved the growing closeness of conversation that bonded them.

  The other half wondered where this was going.

  “I just can’t imagine not having my brothers.”

  He shrugged. “I can’t imagine what I never had.”

  “I imagined about you,” she said, tossing off the comment with that imperial air she held. “When you turned me down in the elevator at the Plat. I imagined a thousand times what sex would be like with you.”

  “Me?” He looked down at himself. “Back then?”

  “Back then, now—you’re the same Zach.”

  “Hardly.”

  “I wouldn’t have made you an offer if I hadn’t been attracted to you, Zach. Then or now.”

  Women didn’t speak to him this way. She was direct and clear. Linear and rational. He found it arousing and fascinating. She was an enigma, a mystery.

  And he wanted to spend a lifetime understanding her.

  Sophia awoke the next morning in Zach’s bed. The long night had become a lingering, leisurely morning. She should have felt deliciously limp with pleasure.

  In truth, she was terrified.

  To the core.

  And when she was scared, she defended herself with a shell. “Perfectly fine” was the understatement of the millennium. She’d been with more than enough sexual partners to know, within less than a minute of physical contact, whether the sex would be amazing or pedestrian.

  What she’d experienced with Zach was unlike any other erotic contact with a person, human or shifter. She’d lost herself in his body, her soul seeking out a part of him to join a rhythm bigger than the two of them. An uneasy feeling crept into her bones as she revealed more of her heart to him. Being vulnerable was not in her nature.

  Yet he elicited it in her. She wanted to open her legs, her mouth, her hands, her heart to him.

  Which meant making poor choices along the way. She was deeply skilled in the art of casual sex, but a total rookie when it came to Zach.

  Sophia needed control.

  Being in his room wasn’t helping, the naked, raw feeling of being flayed and open too much, too sensitive. It had been over twelve hours since she’d arrived to “test him.” Too many hours on his borrowed turf. At the same time, she didn’t want to leave him. Couldn’t bear the thought.

  “Let’s go,” she said abruptly, climbing off the bed and searching for her discarded clothes. The dress was barely wearable, but she would wrap her coat around it.

  “Go where?” Zach scrambled to find his own c
lothes, hastily dressing.

  “To my place.”

  “You have a place? Here? Is it a room like this?”

  “What?” Her laugh burbled up, unable to be contained. “God, no.” Looking around the guest quarters, she made a mental note to chastise Asher for torturing visitors with such a boring room. “I have my own cabin on the grounds.”

  His face lit up, golden eyes fringed with those kissable lashes. “Sounds good to me. I feel like a prisoner in here.”

  “It is a cold room,” she said with a sniff. “And my shower has six heads.” A glance at the bathroom made her roll her eyes. “Yours is inadequate.”

  “For what?”

  Last night, they’d showered separately. Such a waste. She held his gaze and raised an eyebrow.

  “Oh,” he said in a low voice. “I do like the way you think.” His lips curled into a devious grin, hands reaching for her as she fast-walked out of there, taking him outside.

  As they walked, they both inhaled the crisp autumn air. Struck by the morning sun, the lake’s surface reflected the mountains behind them like a mirror. They turned onto the path to the Stantons’ private cabins. With each step, the woods thickened around them, enveloping them in privacy. The lake was now hidden behind the trees. Sophia strode ahead in her excitement, invigorated by the outdoors, the pleasurable memories of their night together, and the erotic anticipation of the future.

  Zach caught up to her and put one hand on the small of her back, a possession she rather enjoyed. After five minutes of hard walking, she stopped and pointed.

  “That’s my cabin, at the end of the path,” she said.

  “Behind the house?”

  “No, that’s it. That’s my cabin. I suppose it is a little large.” She was suddenly shy about sharing her private retreat with him. She didn’t live at the ranch full time, but she thought of her two-story cabin, with its personal hot springs, lake view, and sauna, as home.

  He snaked an arm around her waist. “It’s beautiful.” Pulling her toward him, he bent his head and caught her earlobe between his teeth. “Beautiful,” he groaned, sliding his hand up to her breast and squeezing, stroking, claiming.