Alpha Enticing

by Rebecca Royce

  She sat up a bit, leaning against the headboard, and he let her. “I never went to school, except at home, and I’ve always known my education was mediocrely done at best.”

  “Go to school. We can make it happen. Easy.” He snapped his fingers. “Done.”

  Sydney pinched him, which made him laugh.

  “What’s the problem with the house?”

  “I’m afraid to touch anything.”

  He scrunched up next to her. “I’ve never really lived here. I mean, I own it. I’ve never had a reason to spend much time at home except for sleeping four hours, if that, at night. I thought it was pretty. The bay. Alcatraz. And the other side of the house gives city views. I think what you’re reacting to is the lack of it feeling like a home. I agree. Make it that way for me, would you? I’d love to come home to it being more like ours.”

  “You haven’t slept in almost two days.”

  Savage blinked. “What?”

  “I’m carrying on like such a little girl.” She sat up. “And you’re saying all the right things. It’s making me realize I’m really overwhelmed, and ultimately that’s what my mood can be blamed on.”

  “Grief, too. Come here. I want to kiss you.”

  She did. Her body, warming up and pressed to his told him everything was going to be okay. Kissing Sydney was like breathing. He didn’t push for more. She’d had a long day stuck on the porch. They’d both been through hell. It was nice to simply be with her.

  Warmth spread around him, and, although there was no doubt his cock had woken up to take notice of their make-out session, he didn’t feel compelled to push forward. Only to kiss her. Over and over again.

  It was so…easy.

  ****

  Sydney supposed she should have been surprised her mate had fallen asleep in the middle of kissing her, with mouth still pressed to hers. One second he’d been awake, the next out. She leaned up on her elbow to look at him. She would have loved to have fed him something before he conked out. Some day she would have to thank Hayden for alerting her to his habit of not eating.

  He’d fought so hard against the Garto, would have died for her. Maybe the Moon had thought death was the direction where things should have gone.

  She stared upwards. Sydney couldn’t see the Moon through the ceiling, and thick blinds closed the windows tightly. Still, she supposed the Moon could hear her.

  “You can’t have him. Get that idea out of your head. I’m saying no.”

  Morning came fast, and her Alpha mate hadn’t moved. She got out of bed yawning and made her way downstairs to the fridge. He had little in the way of food. Going to a store would be priority number one. Small tasks. She’d start with those and not obsess over things which would likely work themselves out over time.

  Easier said than done. Since he had no milk or eggs, she quickly melted some cheese on bread. There were some tomatoes in the fresh drawer, and she placed them on top of the cheese. Lunch for breakfast. And then to the store.

  Two suitcases which she imagined held their clothes were in the front hallway. Someone must have dropped them off in the middle of the night, unless Savage had brought them home with him from doing pack business.

  Things happened around Savage without anyone having to ask. Like a well-oiled machine.

  She’d have to get into them and see about clearing herself out some closet and drawer space in their bedroom. First step in making it their space instead of his untouchable home.

  A knock sounded, catching her attention. Was someone at the front door? She looked down at herself. Still dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before and then slept in, she supposed whoever was out there was going to have to be okay with seeing her look rumpled.

  Sydney looked through the peep hole, only noticing afterward the small screen to the left of the door which provided the same view. There was a woman, an older female, with graying hair and wrinkles. She smelled werewolf. And that meant the woman was really very old. Werewolves didn’t show their age until they were well over one hundred.

  She cracked the door. Was it okay for her to let people in? She hated to disturb Savage, but she didn’t want to make a mistake. What was pack protocol?

  “Yes?”

  “Hello.” The woman smiled. “Are you the Alpha’s mate?”

  “I am.” She’d never had a conversation through a crack in the door before.

  “My name is Freda. I wanted to welcome you.” She smiled again. “Can I come in? The Alpha usually lets us visit whenever we want. I understand things will change, as they should with a mate. If you’d rather I made an appointment.”

  “No.” She answered fast. Sydney wouldn’t have a clue how to manage appointments, not yet. “Come in.”

  “Thank you. I wasn’t sure if everyone had started coming yet. Maybe the schedule went out over email. I’m really not good with the computer. Am I the last to come?”

  “No. You’re the first, actually.”

  “Oh.” Freda gasped. “Then maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t be here yet.”

  Sydney liked Freda immediately. If Sydney was lost, so was Freda. Right then, she couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than having someone else equally as confused as she was. Freda hugged her, and Sydney didn’t even pull away.

  “Freda, do you have a car?” Sydney didn’t drive. She’d like to learn and suspected she would need to. Unless Savage wanted to get her a bus schedule.

  “I do.” The older woman brightened when she answered. “Since Savage took control, we’re all doing so well financially, we all have cars.”

  “Well. If people are going to be coming over, I need to get some food in the house. Can you help me? I can find Savage’s wallet and maybe you could take me to the grocery store. Unless you have somewhere to be. In which case, please forget I asked.”

  Freda placed a hand on her arm. “I’d love to take you. When I first came from Utah with my mate, I was so lost in this city. Don’t get the Alpha’s wallet. I’d love to treat you. I’ve never gotten to buy the Alpha groceries before. Is he already at work?”

  “No. He’s upstairs.” She didn’t want to say sleeping. So far so good with Freda, yet she would never show Savage to be vulnerable to anyone.

  “Then absolutely don’t bother him. Come on. We can get to know each other. You have the prettiest hair. I can’t believe I’m getting to go out with the Alpha mate alone, and first to boot.”

  No one had ever been excited to grocery shop with her before. Sydney smiled. The morning was off to a better start.

  By the time they’d gotten through the store, Sydney knew Freda’s life story. Everything from her birth to the recent death of her mate. They’d come to San Francisco because her parents hadn’t approved of her mating. Something about social status. Freda missed him and liked it when Sydney asked questions, which involved her late mate.

  “No one talks about him anymore. Like if they don’t bring him up, it’ll somehow make it better for me. Just the opposite though.”

  Sydney thought about her own father. She wasn’t ready to have conversations about him. Not yet.

  It took two hours to get through the store. Back in Freda’s car, she heard a loud beep, and Freda stopped before she turned on the engine. “Oh, my cell phone, I forgot it in the car. I’m not good about carrying it around. Feels like a leash. You know how we canines don’t like to be leashed.”

  Sydney laughed at the joke until she saw Freda’s face fall.

  “What’s wrong?” She reached out and touched the other woman’s arm.

  “I have thirty missed calls.” With a shaking hand, she pressed the phone to her ear to listen. Her eyes got wide. “Maybe we should have left the Alpha a note.”

  “Savage has called you thirty times?” Her heart fell. He must have woken up, not known where she was, smelled Freda and…called thirty times?

  “The Alpha twice. Then every dominant in the pack. Oh dear.” She handed Sydney the phone. “I think you’d better call hi
m.”

  “I don’t know his number.”

  Freda nodded. “Here, it’s this one.” She pressed the button and handed the phone to Sydney. It rang once, and Savage was on the line.

  “Freda Montgomery. Where is mate?”

  “It’s Sydney I’m sorry if we worried you. Freda left the phone in the car. We went to the grocery story.”

  There was noise in the background, male voices. Finally, Savage spoke. “Come home.”

  She knew an order when she heard one, and she could hear how he spoke through clenched teeth. “Right away.”

  Freda started the car.

  So much for her easy morning.

  ****

  They walked through the door carrying some of the groceries which were quickly taken out of her hands by a male she’d never met while several others rushed through the door to get the rest of the bags. Sydney did a quick headcount. Thirty men at least stood in Savage’s living room. Some she knew from Idaho, others were new. George and Max were both there.

  Good thing she’d gotten food in the house.

  Savage stood by the window and crossed the room to her before she could speak. He touched the side of her face. “Okay.”

  “My Alpha.” Freda’s voice shook. “It didn’t even occur to me you would worry. Please don’t be angry. I wanted to help, to know your mate….”

  Sydney wrapped her arms around the other woman. “No, it’s on me. I don’t know how to do things yet. I should have made sure you knew I was okay. I’m not used to having to worry I won’t be. The Garto was my only real fear growing up. I mean I got on a bus to San Francisco and didn’t warn anyone. They thought I was in Boise. I guess I am the type to simply go when I see fit.”

  Savage put his hands in his pockets, and no one in the room moved a muscle. Finally he raised his hand, opening his palm. “Archie, do you have it?”

  A tall man rushed forward and placed a phone in Savage’s hand which he in turn handed to her. “This is your phone. Keep it charged. If I call and you don’t pick up or text me right away to explain why you can’t talk, this is what’s going to happen. The males in this room will drop everything they are doing to find you. Maybe that seems excessive, but I am their Alpha, you are my mate, and there is nothing more important to their Alpha than you. That is how it works in pack. In the phone is my number, George’s number, and Archie’s. He’s the one who handed me the phone.”

  Sydney nodded. He was speaking slowly, and she could feel how on edge his temper was. Her wolf shifted inside of her. The Mate was angry. He was trying to cool it off, and he’d not raised his voice in front of his men. But she knew. He’d been scared, and that had changed to mad.

  “I want you to go out. Have a life. Enjoy yourself. You are not chained to me. But you are not to do so without George”—he pointed behind him without turning to look at the man—“knowing where you are. It may not be George with you at all times but he is in charge of your guards. He’ll assign someone to be with you. Even if they stay three cars behind and don’t bother you. They’ll be there. This morning, George was coming from Idaho, and we hadn’t set this all up properly yet. The oversight is mine—not on you—and we are settled.” He took his eyes off Sydney. “Good morning Freda, it’s been too long. You look well. I am so happy you met my mate.”

  Sydney needed some air. “Why do I have to be followed?”

  “Because these psychotic, werewolf-hating humans called the True Believers will make it their business to kill you. As my mate, you are high target. They’ve not managed to hit San Francisco yet because of the efforts of these males behind me.”

  Pride filled the room, a cozy scent.

  “They will try again. If they come for you, and I am not there, George will stop them.”

  “Or die,” George supplied. “I swear it.”

  She rocked on her heels. “Well then. Who’s hungry?”

  ****

  His mate had been chopping vegetables for hours. She’d fed everyone, including Archie’s mate, Rose, when she’d shown up, and was in the kitchen chopping again. Savage knew avoidance when he saw it. In her case, smelled it.

  She was upset.

  He wished he could make it better, but, unlike the night before, he couldn’t easily solve the problem. The True Believers were real, and, like it or not, she had to live like they were after her.

  Because they were.

  “How much food do you plan to prepare tonight?”

  “Well.” She chopped louder. “I get the impression there are going to be lots of people coming over. Better to have the stuff done in advance.”

  She wasn’t wrong. But neither was he. “And you get to ignore me. Barely spoke to me when everyone was here—although you charmed all of them.”

  Sydney stopped her task and turned around still wielding the knife in front of her. “Why would I want to ignore you, my Alpha?”

  “You’re pissed as hell.”

  She pointed the knife forward, as though it had become part of her hand. “I didn’t get mad at you when you put me in the cage without asking my permission. I actually understand you’re the kind of person with so much on your plate you sometimes have to make things happen, particularly when you don’t think the other person is going to be cooperative.”

  He nodded. The tragedy of the fight with the Garto had put off their discussing it. He’d never really believed he’d be off the hook. “The cage was fixed, and the ability to get out was always yours.”

  “Although you knocked me out and hoped I’d sleep through the whole thing.”

  Savage sighed. “I would have preferred it.”

  “I wasn’t even angry with you because, as much as it made me frustrated, I understood you did it from love. I don’t mind you telling me the rules in front of every dominant in your pack because, let’s face it, even if you had dragged me upstairs to explain the law of the land for my behavior everyone downstairs would have heard it anyway. They might as well have been in the room.”

  There he needed to interrupt. “That was strategic as much as anything else. Every one of them is going to go home tonight and tell their people how important your safety is. By the end of tonight, the whole pack will know. I am the Alpha. I care for the pack. In turn I expect the pack to care for you. Nothing more important than your safety.”

  She pointed the knife at him again. “I get it.”

  He walked toward her, the pointy weapon not concerning him. If she really went at him, he could take it away from her easily. Sydney had never shown a single tendency toward violence. He really didn’t think she was going to hurt him, not even as angry as she was.

  “Then why are you so mad at me, love?”

  She threw the knife, straight into the sink. It clanked as it hit the stainless steel bottom. “Because you’re in danger, and you never said a word. The True Believers? They’re going to try to kill you.”

  Savage couldn’t stand it anymore. He grabbed her and pulled her against him. “You’re mad at me because I’m in danger?”

  “And didn’t tell me. I left you upstairs asleep. You think I’d have done so if I thought for a second you weren’t perfectly safe.”

  He sucked in his breath. “What would you do, love? How would you defend me?”

  “With my life, you stupid male.”

  His heart seized. She was not going to be risking her life ever again. He’d seen enough with the almost-sacrifice with the Garto wolf. “This morning and last night were a strange occurrence. Outside, hidden in cars and other discreet places, are dominants. They’re almost always outside. Our sudden arrival, with the twenty wolves in various places in the country getting everything set up, screwed with the system. It won’t happen again.”

  “I…I’m sorry I frightened you.” She closed her eyes.

  “Look at me.” She lifted her lids. “Turn around. Put your hands on the counter.”

  Her eyes widened, and then she did as he instructed. Savage bent forward until he found her neck. The
scar which showed their mating had started to heal. He couldn’t allow that to happen. Breathing her in, his cock hardened.

  “When I woke up, and you weren’t where I expected you, I could smell Freda in the house. I knew she would never be a threat. And, for a few minutes, I assumed you’d gone off with her. I didn’t love it, the thought of the two of you out there without anyone knowing where you’d gone. But…I wasn’t worried. Or at least not overly. Then she didn’t answer her phone.”

  He licked her skin, and she shuddered. “Never fucking again.”

  She leaned her neck against his chest giving him better access. “Would you want to take me right here? Against this counter?”

  His ears rang. “If it would give you pleasure. I always want you. Trust me. Anywhere, anytime. Like the time on the bed, remember? Hold on to the space in front of you.”

  “But first, arms up.” She did as he said, and he pulled her clothing from her body. Her white cotton bra needed to go. He’d not forgotten his promise to her. The next day, he was getting her lingerie. Her shirt and the functional, not-good-enough-for-her brassiere hit the ground. He squeezed her breasts in his hand, loving how they filled his palms.

  Her nipples peaked against his fingers.

  “Arms down.”

  He pulled off her pants and couldn’t help the grin which crossed his face. He was about to have his mate totally naked in the kitchen, and she wanted him to fuck her against the counter. A week earlier she’d never been touched.

  Not even by her own hands.

  “Do you know how sexy you are?”

  He thumbed her panties and slipped them down her legs to where her pants had fallen. “You make me feel sexy; you make me feel enticing.”

  His penis strained against his pants. Her ass, round and supple, called out to him and he patted her cheeks. Just to see, he spanked her gently. She shuddered and moaned. His grin intensified. So she liked that, did she?