Claimed by the Alpha (4 page)

Chapter Five

His mate was terrified of him, Luka thought.

It was obvious from the way she’d fled his company and from her history. From her experiences, she had every reason to be. Luka knew she wanted him, that wasn’t in question. There was no way to ease her into accepting what he was or that they were mated.

Luka scrubbed his hand over his face and leaned back against the wall. The smell of her still permeated the room...wrapped around him. He inhaled deeply, drawing the remnants of their time together inside and committing them to memory. He could lose himself in her, the feel of her skin, and the taste of her on his lips.

It seemed that if he’d open his mind to her, she’d look. She had so many questions and allowing her inside released him of any promise he’d made to the Aeternali. Not that they kept theirs, but he was a creature of his word. Luka waited for her to look, to see—not just the beast, but that they belonged together.

His devotion to her.

Wolves mated for life. The instant snap of puzzle pieces clicking into place was the same emotion humans called love.

He sensed the rogue pack had already moved on to the next village on the road to Ostrava. There was no more food for them in Aynkava.

A knock echoed through the heavy door and Magda entered carrying a tray. He must have been lost in thoughts of his Gypsy longer than he’d realized.

Magda shoved the tray filled with
kolaches
—traditional Czech pastries—and sausage toward him. “What have you done, my Luka? She is Guild. She is Gypsy.” She sat down on the bed. “It is dangerous for you both.”

He remembered the words spoken in the heat of passion.
Say you’re mine!
And Goddess help them, because he’d said it and bound them together. She belonged to him and he belonged to her. All that was left to finish the claiming was his bite—and if she survived, they’d run beneath the dark sky together for all of eternity.

Magda seemed to know his thoughts. “She may not survive you.”

Luka didn’t doubt Magda’s words, she was a wise woman who’d seen more revolutions around the sun than he had. Only, he knew those words on his tongue to be a lie. He had to see Marijka, touch her—taste her.

“What can I do?” There had to be something that could be done. All of his strength, all of his power—there had to be a way to keep her safe.

“Nothing. A man who fights his fate only brings it about more quickly.”

“Maybe Zoranna would know how to keep her safe.”

“You would brave her wrath?” Magda arched a brow and cocked her head.

“There is nothing on either side of the Abyss I wouldn’t face to keep Marijka safe.”

“Then I will tell you, Zoranna doesn’t know.” Magda’s rounded form trimmed and narrowed, her face becoming tight and haggard. The steady, plump grandmotherly hand that guided him in his youth was thin and gnarled.

Luka found himself face-to-face with Zoranna Zolinksi—Eve of the Gypsies.

“It’s always been you?” he asked quietly.

“Always.” She gave him a kind smile that maybe wasn’t so different than Magda’s after all. “I have a confession to make, if you will hear it.”

“I will hear it, Grandmother Zoranna
.
” He waited for what she would say. Luka could admit, this struck him as a betrayal. It was hot, acidic and sharp. She’d lied to him for more years than a human brain could fathom.

She patted his hand. “You are still my Luka. Still a good boy. And I am still your Magda.” She sighed. “I can’t say I’m sorry for the lie because I would do it again. Sometimes, the sight is both a gift and a curse. I learned the hard way about fighting my fate with Marijka’s mother. I tried to keep her from her lover and if I’d only let them be together, we might not have ended up here.” Zoranna shoved a
kolache
at him. “Eat, boy.”

He ate, cramming the treat in his mouth.

“I knew from the moment I became the Eve that you would be important to my family. So I became Magda to watch you, to guide you. It’s very simple really.” She smiled. “And you’ve exceeded all of my expectations. You’re a good man, a powerful wolf. Everything I could want in a mate for Marijka.”

Her words sliced into him like a hundred throwing stars—as he considered them, it was like being pierced with a hundred more. The sadness on her face, what she said about Marijka not surviving him. That was simply unacceptable.

“You know there are rules about interfering and magic. I’ve broken most of them and I’ll be giving the devil his due soon enough. You’ll be faced with a choice, just as Marijka herself will be. The greater good is always the right answer. Do you understand?”

He nodded, squelching any thoughts of sending Marijka away. Zoranna said herself the harder a person fought their destiny, the sooner they brought it about.

Her skin began to flake away, her whole body a gnarled tree burning down to ash to be scattered in the wind. The last thing he heard her say was an oath of profanity that rivaled his own.

There had to be a way to save Marijka.

Or maybe, he didn’t need to save her at all. He’d known the wise woman long enough that every word had a subtext. Maybe she was saying Marijka had to save herself—which, of course, was utter bullshit. She had Luka, he was strong. He was fierce. It was his honor and his duty to fight her battles.

He dialed Bardot. “The woman won’t be a problem.”

“My sources say she’s headed to Ostrava. How is that not a problem?” Kenneth asked.

“She is. But she’s under my protection.”

“That didn’t save Kon.”

“Kon wasn’t Zoranna’s granddaughter.”

He swore. “You’re kidding?”

“If only. I’ll call you from Ostrava.” He hung up and gathered his belongings, stuffing a few more of the
kolaches
in his mouth as he went. Luka ate them as much to fill his belly as he did to remember them. To remember Magda.

Even if Zoranna were wrong about giving the devil his due, Magda was gone nonetheless. These were the last things her hands had prepared for him. She’d worked the dough herself, carefully and artfully wrapped the pastries around the fillings she knew he liked best. Magda was a childhood dream whose time had come and gone. He grieved for that loss, but for as betrayed as he felt, knowing he had Zoranna’s permission to claim Marijka was worth it.

They were already mated. All that was left was for Marijka to accept the bite of his beast.

The rapid fire report of an M-16 shattered the peace of the morning. Luka sprinted down the stairs and out into the street. There was no stench of the infected, no scent of blood—he couldn’t even smell the gunpowder. In fact, there was no scent of life in Aynkava at all. The Aeternali cleanup crew was gone.

He looked into the distance and saw the train waiting at the station. The train was unprotected.

Marijka was unprotected
.

The beast exploded from his human form and he took off with a sprint, covering the kilometers between them in seconds. He assessed the environs quickly, the train, the people onboard. He smelled no infection, no fear...only human scents.

And her. His mate.

No one exited the train and the only one who boarded was Marijka. It appeared the conductor didn’t want to allow it—she had no ticket. There was no one left to work the ticket cage and no ticket vending machine. She flashed her badge and he stepped aside.

Having shed his clothes with his human skin in Aynkava, he had to slip aboard his car through the rear, outer door. Pressing his thumb to the print reader, the door opened.

An announcement came across the PA system. The train wouldn’t be stopping in the next village. Flu quarantine. They’d push straight through to Ostrava.

That’s where the cleanup crew had gone. The beasts were systematically destroying everything in their path. He had to figure out their ultimate goal. He’d thought they were mindless, but this was too organized—too precise.

There was a sharp tap on the door to his car. “Luka?”

Elation filled him when she stepped through the opening. It had only been moments and he was already starved for the sight of her.

“I wasn’t going to come, but I...” She stopped talking as her appraisal was drawn quickly down his body. “Oh.”

The sight of him made her wet. He could smell her need and his cock answered in kind, hard and ready to fill it.

“We shouldn’t.” Marijka pursed her lips tightly, but they were already plump and ready for his kiss. He saw her heartbeat thumping wildly like some terrified animal.

“What
should
we do?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Probably not anything I want to do.” She laughed, but it was a hollow sound.

He smelled her fear again, but the lust was stronger. Their bond was stronger. Every touch brought them closer, built the link between them.

“Are you going to tell me what you want to do, or must I drag it out of you?” Luka drawled. He wanted her to think about what exactly “dragging it out of her” would entail—a game of erotic penalties. Pushing her to the edge with his tongue, only to make her wait for culmination. Licking every inch of her body—the taste of melted sugar on his tongue.

“I have no idea what I’m doing here. What
we’re
doing here.”

Then he realized she didn’t need to want his body more than she already did. She needed to know she was safe and her feelings were reciprocated.

“I vowed I wouldn’t hurt you,” he began.

“I know. I keep thinking about that and I can’t help but wonder why. The softer part of me says to go with it. To drink down these moments and everything they’re worth. But I’m a cop, too, and I refuse to be prey. Those instincts tell me that no one gives away anything for free. Especially not something as valuable as a vow. You want something. I’d rather just know what it is up front.”

“You.”

“See? That’s the problem. That’s the perfect answer. What are you hiding under that veneer, Luka?”

They couldn’t do this now. The train just pulled out of the station and there was no stopping until Ostrava.

“You have an open invitation to look. Or did you forget?” he reminded her gently.

“You’re as dangerous and addictive as any drug.” She dropped her bag and walked toward him, unbuttoning her blouse.

“Good to know it’s not one-sided,
malenkaya
.”

“You make me feel things, Luka. Things I’ve never felt before.” She closed her eyes, her hands stopped their work. “I can’t believe I said that. It’s so trite. It sounds like a line.”

“Not when it’s true. What is it that makes you think you’re the only one feeling?”

“Because you’re a male. An Alpha male.”

“We have feelings for each other.”

“Not for a one-night stand.”

“You are not a one-night stand. You are
mine
.” He drew her closer and finished the task of her buttons, baring her breasts to his view. “We had this discussion last night. Or don’t you remember demanding I pledge myself to you?”

Her hands wandered down over his hips, his glutes, his back. “That didn’t mean anything. That’s just something you say in the heat of passion.”

“Maybe for humans. But we are not human, are we? You’re a Gypsy princess who knows better than anyone that your word is your bond. And I’m—”

“Talking too much.” She kissed him hard, almost like she thought she could kiss the words into oblivion.

Luka didn’t understand how one woman could be so strong and so vulnerable all at once. It was just as well she didn’t let him finish. She knew what he was, he didn’t have to say it. Marijka had to be ready to know it, to accept it.

Both naked now, they tumbled toward the overstuffed couch—the jerking motion of the train as it picked up speed rocked the cabin.

“Then maybe
you
should talk, Marijka. I showed you my fantasy last night. Show me yours.” He pressed his mouth to the curve of her throat.

Rather than speak, she wriggled away from him and slipped to the floor, bracing her hands on the cushions of the couch. She spread her knees a little wider, giving him an unobstructed view of the globes of her ass and the wet, swollen cleft of her pussy. She turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“How long can you watch?” she demanded, low and throaty. She sounded like a sex kitten rather than a Guild cop. Marijka reached back to push her fingers into her own wet folds with the other while he watched.

His cock was hard enough to break through steel, he was mesmerized by her actions, her scent, the blatant sexuality that surrounded her.

“What do I have to do to break your control?”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

She didn’t answer him for a moment, only kept working her slender fingers around her slit. “I didn’t say I wanted to break it. I said I fantasized about what it would take. Not the same.” Marijka moved her fingers faster. “I’m so tender from yesterday—my clit is so sensitive. Shouldn’t this be you touching me? Are you thinking about it?”

“What do you want?” He didn’t understand her, it was like she drew him in one moment, then shoved him away, only to pull him even closer. An epiphany clanged through his head—the sex wasn’t pulling him closer. That was faux intimacy for her. By giving him this show, she redirected his attention to something safer.

He was content with that for now. After all, this was programming he’d watch on any network.

“Fuck me.”

Her blunt words make his cock jerk with need. Luka would remember the way she said that, how it had wrapped around him like velvet. He teased his member against her slick entrance. She hadn’t stopped touching herself, her fingers moving at the same steady pace. He eased past her nether lips, still working his cock around, teasing her, making her buck back against him to take what she wanted.

He thrust inside and she sheathed him—tugged him deeper into her heat. Luka filled his hands with her breasts, reveling in the weight of them in his palms, flicking his thumbs around her erect nipples. He continued kneading the tender flesh, working it so her nipples drew tighter and every nerve ending was ripe for stimulation. He wanted her to feel every sensation, to experience each caress wholly. Luka was determined to play her pleasure against her fear. Her body would remember what her mind wanted to forget, and the flesh would forget what the mind couldn’t accept.