Ariel (20 page)

Gareth held up a hand. “Okay. I can admit that if you were Matt, I wouldn’t question your decisions. Alpha and female are not two words I have ever had to use together.”

Ariel snorted. “Well, I don’t know what being alpha and female means yet either. But I can’t let Reed languish between a rock and political hard spot when I have the power to possibly resolve this for him. Besides—I’ve been wanting another real fight since I killed Crane. This is the perfect opportunity for me to get it out of my system.”

“Can we help her fight?” Brandi asked, looking at Gareth.

Gareth sighed and nodded, not wanting to see Brandi fighting, but he knew he had no choice. He would never let Matt stand alone. Brandi would never let Ariel face a challenge without her. It was just how betas operated.

“Ariel can pick two others to stand with her. My guess is only one of the grandsons will actually fight. His beta will stand with him. The third only fights if necessary. Challenges are very public and very brutal. I don’t think you know what you’re getting into, Ariel. And as the Gray Wolf beta, I won’t be able to help you. To do so would violate the peace agreement between our packs.”

“You’re right. We don’t know what we’re getting into,” Brandi agreed. “But I agree with Ariel—it makes sense for us to help Reed save face with his people. Heidi can patch us up afterwards.”

Heidi sighed heavily and shook her head. “I think you all should be careful. I don’t know if I have another miracle in me.”

“It’s okay,” Ariel declared. “My wolf and I don’t intend to lose.”

Chapter 15

By the time Reed woke up, Ariel had issued her challenge. The fight was planned for the next day. Telling Reed what she’d done hadn’t gone well though. Not even bothering to lecture her about why she shouldn’t have acted for him, he’d stormed off in a huff many hours ago.

Now she was alone and staring at the ceiling while she lay on her small bed wondering how much her life would change again tomorrow. Maybe she should have been worried about fighting the two males who seemed willing to do anything to hurt Reed. But she just couldn’t drum up the necessary anxiety.

In her mind, she could see herself winning. And she could see her wolf enjoying the conflict.

When darkness fell over the room, she finally slipped into a restless sleep. Several hours later she woke to find a giant wolf straddling her body, growling softly at her. Unafraid of the beast, she reached up and ran a hand over his nose.

“So who ratted me out?”

Instead of shifting to answer her in human form, Matt just stretched out on her as his wolf. The whole werewolf species might be ‘canis lupis’ like Reed said, but from all that she had seen, wolves acted like big stubborn dogs most of the time. His actions in squashing her made her laugh. Instead of moving, he put his nose on his paws and stared into her gaze, his nose between her breasts.

“Did Gareth tell you what I did?”

Her answer was more staring without a sound. Ariel giggled at his solemn gaze glowing in the dark.

“Was it Brandi or Heidi? No, I doubt they would have said anything. Their loyalty is to me—not to you.”

She watched his eyes shift from side to side in consternation. Matt looked irritated with her guesses, but he still said nothing.

“Somehow I don’t see Ryan telling you. All he cares about is keeping Heidi safe. He only acknowledges me when Heidi makes him. While I find that offensive, I’m still very glad you sent him with her. He’s cut my worry in half.”

The wolf’s eyes closed as he huffed out a breath. Sighing, Ariel ran a hand over his head. How could she reason with his wolf if the human side of him was angry too?

“I know you could take my hand off with a single snap of those sharp teeth of yours, so don’t bother with the lectures about how much tougher than me you are. The way I see it, we have an unspoken agreement. I don’t go all alpha angry on you, just like you don’t go all alpha angry on me. That doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself when I have to. Now tell me who called you. Was it Reed?”

A small whine had her sighing.

“Okay—damn it. I knew I made him mad. Look Matt, I have to do this. Reed can’t risk his family’s honor, not if he ends up the ruling alpha again, which I see happening.”

A long tongue came out and licked across her chin. She couldn’t stop another giggle from escaping. “The tongue thing would be so much more fun if you would just shift to human.”

Two seconds later, a naked Matt was wrapped around her. She hugged him tight.

“I’m still mad about the mark, but it wasn’t why I did this. Both Travis and Hanuk are bad guys. Reed can’t challenge them because they’re blackmailing the whole family about a secret. It’s a complicated and completely fucked up situation. I think it’s even worse than Crane capturing us all for his experiments.”

“I know. Reed told me. But I snuck in here to tell you something while you were awake and could hear me for once. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. I climbed up on my stupid desk and dove into you without a single thought of self-preservation. Every time we’ve been together—every time—it’s just gotten better. It took me seventy-five years of my life to find a female I liked. Maybe I shouldn’t have marked you the other night, but I went a little crazy when I almost lost you. I haven’t wanted to claim a female before, so I’m probably not doing a very good job of making you want to be my mate.”

Ariel held his face in her hands. “There must have been an apology in that pretty speech somewhere. I guess I can forgive you for marking me.”

“Did you hear what I said, Ariel Jones?
I want you to be my mate
,” Matt declared, boldly stating it again. “I know you haven’t been a werewolf long, but finding your perfect mate can happen really fast between the right couple. No one really knows what triggers the sort of connection that just instinctively clicks in all areas.”

“Matt—I like you too—but I don’t know if I’m ready for another serious relationship yet.”

Matt put his forehead against Ariel’s. How could he explain it in a way she could really hear what he was saying?

“I was already feeling possessive of you. Then I saw you lying on the ground and thought you had died. I lost my mind. I was ready to kill everyone who had anything to do with harming you. If you don’t win your fight tomorrow, I’m going to be at war with the Black Wolf pack. I won’t be able to stop myself from avenging your death. Reed called me to come to you even though he knew damn well that’s how it would be. He wants us to have a chance, Ariel. I want us to have a chance too. Don’t you?”

“Yes. So I guess I better win tomorrow,” Ariel said firmly, swallowing the lump in her throat. “If you have to avenge my death, just take out Travis and Hanuk, and maybe their betas. Promise me you’ll just kill the bad people, Matt. Leave the others. They’re just regular people like the ones in your pack.”

Matt snorted over her plea. Her logic drove him crazy, but it also made him love her more. “Okay. I promise to only kill the bad people. How will I know which ones are bad?”

“I’ll point them out to Gareth and Ryan before I die. They can tell you,” Ariel joked.

Terrified by her teasing, Matt buried his face in her neck, kissing the mark on her collarbone. He regretted making her angry, but did not regret making her his in even so small a way. “I can’t stay the whole night. It would look very bad if I were caught here with you.”

Ariel laughed. “I know. Gareth already gave me the lecture. How good are you at quickies?”

In answer, Matt lifted his weight and rolled her over under him. He slipped the leggings she was wearing down to her knees. He lifted her hips and spread her thighs until she was open for him. His hands slipped inside the front of her undershirt to cup bare breasts in his palms. His aching erection stroked between her legs, torturing them both as he lovingly massaged.

“I don’t know if I like this position, Matt. It seems impersonal not to look in your face while we do this,” she whispered.

Chuckling, Matt pulled her hips back against his crotch and ran one hand around to her front until he could slip two fingers inside her. Arching over the back of her, his mouth ran up and down her neck, stopping to nip and suck as he aroused her with his probing fingers. Her moaning and rhythmically rocking back against him made him laugh.

“When I make you mine forever, I’m going to bury myself so deep in you that your womb is going to call out for our children to be conceived. Then I’m going to sink my sharpest teeth into your shoulder just as deeply. Our shared climax is going to make us mates—real mates—the kind who stay with each other no matter what happens. So if your destiny is to be the Black Wolf alpha for a while, Dr. Jones, you better enjoy that time of power before you come back to me. I’m not going to be able to let you go so far away again.”

Ariel trembled at his words and at his actions. Matt held her on the edge of her climax—and she knew he was purposely doing it.

“Matthew, you suck at quickies,” she accused, not returning his romantic words at all. What could she say to answer his pledges of lifelong devotion? Nothing. She could say nothing until tomorrow was over and she’d had time to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her strange new existence.

Matt clamped a hand hard on one breast as he used the other to guide his erection to her opening. Plunging hard inside her in a single thrust, Ariel’s legs shook with the speed of his entry.

“Now you’re making me be rough with you to prove my point. I wanted to be loving…gentle…supportive. I’m trying not to show you my true alpha side yet. It would only scare you to know how demanding I will be once we are mated.”

“Okay. We’ll talk about it later. But right now, can we do this a little harder and faster?”

Ariel flinched in surprise when Matt pinched a butt cheek in retaliation for her request. Then she laughed as Matt held her hips and thrust like he was trying to break her. His swearing about how good she felt made her feel sexy…and wanted…and nearly invincible.

“Better?” he asked roughly.

Groaning, Ariel lowered her chest to the bed to make the angle even better for him to go deeper. Matt’s increased swearing echoed in the room as he throbbed and bent further over her back. Finally, he grabbed a handful of her hair and twisted her face to his until he could clamp his mouth over hers. His plunging tongue drove her over the edge she was riding as much as his persistent thrusting. She quivered around him as he finished himself. Matt always slowed his movements as he neared his own peak. He always tried to draw out every second of being in her, obviously not wanting their lovemaking to be over. For the first time, Ariel found herself wondering if it really could always be so good between them.

When her mouth was free, she sniffled back tears from her emotional epiphany and bared her soul to him instead. “Okay. I admit it. I’m probably falling in love with you too, but damn it, this is some seriously shitty timing for me, Matt. Can we talk about this when I get back to Wasilla?”

Hearing her sweet admission of loving him at last, Matt yanked Ariel upright by her hair and twisted her face to his again. He stared into her teary gaze, still pleasantly firm inside her heat despite his climax.
His. She really was his.
He wanted to yell at her for waiting so long to tell him. His teeth sharpened. He knew his sharp canines were visible to her when he smiled.

“Too bad about the timing of our demanding relationship, Dr. Jones. No apology will be given for it. Instead, I intend to do all I can to keep you in my bed and my life. It’s all I can do not to finish this today. Be grateful I have learned some patience over the years.”

Even with tears running down her face over his declarations, Ariel laughed. Matt wrapped her so tightly in his arms, she had to wiggle just to be able to breathe.

“You call this being patient? I saw you flashing your wolf teeth.”

“My wolf wants the same thing I do. Win your fight, give the pack back to Reed, and then come the hell home to us,” he ordered roughly.

Unable to restrain his wolf completely, he nipped Ariel’s shoulder because he couldn’t resist. Her flinch as she tried to pull away made him instantly regretful. “I’m sorry. Truly. It’s just that I’m worried for you. I don’t want to leave you here alone, but I can’t stay without causing more trouble than you can handle. My frustration has no outlet.”

Ariel nodded as she sighed. He’d never believe that she was less concerned about the fight with Travis and Hanuk than what kind of mark he had left on her this time. Apparently, she was a vain werewolf. She didn’t want to be sporting a brand like she was a cow or a sheep he owned.

“I’m a lot less worried about tomorrow than you are. Being with you makes me stronger because I always think better afterward. So I’m really glad you came to see me. I’ll get Gareth to call you with an update as soon as it’s all over.”

Slipping reluctantly out of her at last, Matt crawled around her body on the tiny bed until he could pull her into his arms. “I understand your decision to fight—I do. I know you can’t help being an alpha and following the urges it brings. Though I frequently wish like hell you weren’t one, I will learn to support you in dealing with it. I wish now I’d been more focused on teaching you how to fight better, instead of getting you into bed as often as I could.”