Capturing the Alpha (Shifters of Nunavut Book 1) (16 page)

Zane set her down none too gently and her feet landed on hard stone. The wind was gone, and she realized they were back in the cave, though it was too dark for her to see her own hand in front of her face.

Ginnifer reached out for his arm on reflex, but only grasped a handful of his pelt. He surprised her by jerking away from her touch.

“Zane?”

She thought that if she could only see his face, she could figure out a way to fix whatever was wrong with him.

“What are you doing to me?” His voice was a whisper, as though he were asking the question to himself.

Ginnifer said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you like that. I can’t see anyth—”

The rest of the word was lost in a sharp exhale, as Zane pinned her between his solid body and the wall. His mouth came down hard on hers, muffling any protest she might have made.

If she didn’t recognize his scent—the scent that filled her nostrils and heated her blood—she would have thought that she was being ravaged by a stranger. There was the same sense of urgency that there had been the first time they’d kissed, but where there had been tenderness before, there was now only desperation and aggression.

Zane devoured her. Fangs that seemed bigger and longer than before nicked her lips and tongue more than once. He thrust his tongue into her, as his hips ground against her, a hard erection stabbing at her pelvis. One of his hands fisted her hair, gripping it so tightly she thought that he might pull it out. The other squeezed her thigh, his claws puncturing her jeans, and then the meat of her thigh.

Her reaction came in stages. Fear came first—fear of this man she didn’t know, fear of a man that wasn’t a man at all, but a wolf, who was strong enough to break her. She struggled against his hold, but she might as well have been struggling against the wall for the good it did her.

Rage came next—he wasn’t a stranger, he was
Zane
, she knew him, they were friends, more than friends, and he had no right to manhandle her. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking at it as hard as she could. She managed to pull his head back a fraction of an inch, and took his bottom lip into her mouth, biting until she tasted blood that wasn’t her own.

Zane froze, and so did she. The only sounds were their panting breaths and the blood pounding in her ears. She could feel his eyes on her, could still feel his hardness pressed to her.

“Zane.” She said his name through gritted teeth.

He tilted his forehead to rest against hers. “I can’t handle this anymore.
I need you
.”

She let go of his hair, blinking back tears as her hand came to rest on the side of his face. “It doesn’t have to be like this. Think, Zane. When have I ever pushed you away? When have I ever told you no?”

Tilting his head downwards, she pressed a light kiss to one cheek, and then the other. As she rubbed her nose against his, he captured her lips in a gentle, tentative kiss. His grip on her loosened as she began to reciprocate, first with her mouth, and then with the slow undulation of her hips. His hands began to roam her body, stroking, caressing, and tugging at the layers of her clothes.

Desire came at last, and it burned away everything else, enveloping her, consuming her. Zane began rocking against her again, not as hard as before, but not at all softly. Each time his rigid length pushed against her clitoris, a thrill of pleasure rushed through her. With one hand on the back of his neck, she reached between them and grasped his cock, her eyes widening as she stroked the full length of him.

She had caught sight of him naked a few times, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose. She had known he was well endowed, but actually feeling him when he was fully erect, a thick steel rod wrapped in velvet, made her shiver in anticipation.

A sound tore through Zane’s chest, something between a growl and a groan, and he deepened their kiss. His hands abandoned her breasts and went to her pants. At that moment, she wouldn’t have cared if he tore them open, but he undid the button and pulled down the zipper with deft, trembling fingers.

Her panties went down with her pants, falling to pool at her booted feet. She arched a leg up and guided him to her, nestling his crown between her slick folds. She wanted to rub him all over her, to tease and entice him, but the alpha would have none of that. The instant he was against her entrance, Zane thrust forward, sheathing himself deep inside of her.

She gasped, the sound almost lost in his harsh growl. It had been months since she’d had sex, and she never had anything like Zane in her. Pleasure teetered on the edge of discomfort, but then he began to move, thrusting ragged moans from her as she gripped at his shoulders for purchase. His head went to her neck, licking and sucking at her flesh.

In the beginning, she tried matching him blow for blow, but within moments that proved impossible, as he thrust into her at an inhuman pace. Finally, she gave up, allowing him to take charge and carry them both towards release.

Pressure quickly built, and she dug her nails into him in an effort to stave off her climax. It didn’t work. The muscles in her abdomen tightened, and then every other muscle in her body followed suit. All at once, everything let go, and she was lost in an ocean, unrelenting waves of ecstasy crashing against her.

She was distantly aware of snarling, before white-hot pain lanced her neck.

***

Mine
.

The word took shape in the wolf’s head. It was a weak word, a poor attempt to describe an animalistic knowledge that was in his bones, within the fabric of his existence. She was his now, and sinking his teeth into her had felt better than coming.

Her whimpering cry did not diminish his exhilaration, but with a groan, he pulled his fangs free from her neck. The wolf stared at the twin gouges. His body had barely stopped spasming from his release, and already he could feel himself growing hard for her again.

My female.

She brushed her hand across her neck. Her fingers were sticky with blood. He wanted to lick them.

Not here. Have to go
.

Amarok was out there. Other males, another alpha. He couldn’t stay here. He couldn’t risk letting them find his female. He had to get her away. Somewhere safe. Somewhere he could keep her until she was fertile, until she was carrying his pup. Then, it would be safe to bring her back to the den, back where there were other males that might challenge his claim.

Her lips trembled. “Boaz said it didn’t hurt.”

At the mention of the other male, the male who was always putting his scent all over her, the wolf growled. She flinched.

“Zane? Are you okay?”

She looked frightened. He needed to calm her. She needed to know she was safe with him. Only him.

He leaned to nuzzle the top of her head. Her scent was still there. She smelled like no other female. Better than every other female the wolf had ever smelled. From the first time he had smelled her, the wolf had known she would be his mate.

Ginnifer woke to the smells of salt water, roasting meat, and sex. The latter came as no surprise to her. Zane had carried her northeast for over an hour to get her away from the Amarok pack. She’d been wiped out and painfully sore, and had tried to reason with him that the Amarok pack was probably long gone already, but Zane hadn’t been receptive to anything she’d said.

When they’d finally stopped, she’d been prepared to pass out, not at all caring that she had no idea where he’d brought her. But when she’d lain down, he had begun kissing her, his hand going between her thighs to stroke her, until she could put up no resistance when he pushed inside of her.

After he’d come twice, Zane started to seem more like himself. He’d asked her if he hurt her, and she had told him she was fine, even though he had obliterated her. He’d told her he hadn’t been in control, and that next time he’d be more careful. Ginnifer had wondered what he meant by next time, considering he was still hard inside of her, and already preparing to take her again.

She really had passed out after that time, and despite feeling like a sack of battered bones, she slept well, amazingly well. It was the kind of sleep that came when there were no worries or troubles, and everything was right and the way it should be.

Talk about delusional
, she thought as she rubbed her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a small fire, which lit up a cavern no bigger than the bedroom she shared with Breeze. Staked beside the fire was a fish as big as her forearm, and the source of the mouthwatering smell.

Zane sat vigil by the fire, wet hair clinging to his face. His gold eyes were warm with affection as he turned to regard her. He reached out a hand to stroke her hair, and after the torrid night they’d shared, she was surprised to find that his touch could still put butterflies in her belly.

“Are you hungry?”

Her voice was hoarse. “I could eat a whole muskox.”

Zane smiled as he passed her water canister to her, and then his attention returned to the fish, which he turned, so that an uncooked side faced the flames.

“Did you catch this yourself?” she asked, before she could think better of the question. She ran a hand through his hair. “Look at you, you’re all wet. You’ll get sick.”

His response was to pull her into his lap, and she let him, wincing a bit as her nether regions smarted. Once she was settled, his head went to her neck, where he nuzzled his mark. It still hurt—not nearly as much as it had hurt last night—but it was quite sore. Even still, there was something about the way he touched her there that made a shiver run through her and desire flicker in her core.

“Is it going to heal before we reach Siluit?”

“No,” he said, sounding almost amused.

She pursed her lips. “You didn’t want it to, did you?”

“I couldn’t have stopped myself last night,” he said, his voice turning sultry with memory. “Even if I had been in control, I probably still would have bitten you. Just not as hard.”

Ginnifer sighed deeply, and then leaned into his embrace. “We’ll hide it.”

“They’ll know.”

“How?”

“Even if you could hide the mark and somehow get my scent from under your skin, they’ll know because I won’t be the same.” He pressed his lips to the mark, murmuring his words against her skin. “It was already difficult to have you around other males, but now it’ll be even harder. I won’t be able to stand them touching you, smelling you, looking at you.”

Her throat tightened. “Zane, that’s crazy… You’ve been with other women before. Why is it any different now?”

“I’ve never been with a female I wanted as my mate.”

Everything began to sink in, and she wasn’t sure which aspect of that statement she wanted to deal with first.

She squirmed in his lap. “We had sex,
great sex
, but that isn’t a binding commitment. You know I don’t plan on staying here, and besides, what about Coral and Sedna?”

He nipped at the mark, making her twitch. “We’ll talk about this later. It’s still snowing, and I don’t feel like leaving just yet. I’m going to feed you, and then I’m going to spend the rest of the day inside of you.”

***

It had stopped snowing in the late afternoon, but night fell without Zane feeling any inclination to leave. He lay beside her under his pelt, his finger tracing the curves of her sweat-slick body.

Ginnifer stared up at him through drowsy eyes, a contented smile on her swollen lips. For the first time all day, Zane was content as well, his desire thoroughly sated for the time being. He knew that after they had both slept, he would wake wanting her again. Now that he’d marked her, he would never be truly satisfied until she was properly his mate.

His hand came to a stop on her belly, his thumb rubbing small circles in the soft skin. Ginnifer pressed her lips together.

“I’m on birth control,” she said. “In case you’re plotting to trap me here with your puppies.”

She yelped as Zane pinched her belly. “I know.”

“How?”

“Indigo’s mother used something similar. It alters your scent, subtly, but noticeably.”

It was the only reason he’d been able to justify bringing her back to his den. With as attracted as he’d been to her, there would have been no way he could have resisted mating with her when she became fertile. Perhaps, if his attraction to her had remained entirely physical, they wouldn’t be in their current position.

She sat up on her elbows. “Indigo’s mom…she didn’t want any more children because she was sick?”

Zane nodded. “The year after Indigo was born, Jill took in Breeze and Ky. She enjoyed raising pups, but she did not want to have any more of her own. She knew she wouldn’t live to see Indigo grow up, and it bothered her every day.”

He rested his hand on her belly again, gently stroking over where he’d pinched her. It had occurred to him that if Ginnifer were carrying his pup, she wouldn’t be able to leave him. The night before, his wolf had been poised to stay holed up in a cave with her until she was pregnant. Later, he’d come to his senses, and tempting as it was, he knew that it would be a violation of her trust, one that they might never recover from.

“When we decide to have pups, it will be a mutual decision.” Zane punctuated it with a teasing smile, but he wasn’t even half joking.

“Oh?” she drawled.

Zane made an affirmative sound as he rubbed his lips over his mark. He couldn’t get enough of seeing it there.

“Our pups will be tall,” he told her.

She snorted. “And stubborn.”

He licked her neck. “And beautiful.”

She shivered.

Zane put a leg over hers and ran his hand through her hair.

“Stay with me.” She opened her mouth, but he put a finger to her lips. “I will take you to Port Trent as often as you want, so that you can contact your family. And I won’t pressure you to have pups until you’re ready.”

He had no idea how his wolf would hand the last part, but at the moment he did not care. All he wanted was to make the smallest crack in her resolve, even if it meant that he would be at odds with his baser instincts.

Ginnifer put a warm hand on his face to stroke his face. The muscles in her face were slack, and her eyes appeared big and glassy.

“I do want children. Two of them, actually. Daughters, I hope.” A wan smile tugged at her lips. “And when I have them, I want it to be in a hospital, with lots of drugs at the ready. Then I’ll bring them home, to my climate-controlled house in the suburbs. And when they’re old enough, they’ll go to school, and then college if they want to…”

Zane exhaled slowly as he looked away. Any daughters he gave her would have the soul of a wolf, and as such, be bound to the wilderness. Even his sister, the most human of any shifter he’d ever known, would have balked at the idea of going to
college
.

Her hand continued to stroke his cheek. “You’re going to haunt me for the rest of my life, I know it. But I can’t stay here, no more than you could come and live the life that I want. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

He listened, hearing her, but at the same time staring at her, as if she were a puzzle for solving. There had to be a way, some way for him to convince her to stay with him. He looked at the mark on her neck, deep indentations where his fangs had sunken in as far as they could go.

Not a mark—
a brand.

There had to be a way to convince her, because despite his best intentions, his wolf would never willingly let her go.