Fate of the Alpha: The Complete Bundle (5 page)

A
insley stood
in the open field behind Erik’s house.

The wind blew the long grass, and the swelling moon lit the sky. All she wanted was to sink into her wolf and run the woods and creek. She could almost taste the crystal water from here.

Instead, she exhaled and lifted her palms. After a moment a tiny blue flash of lighting began to dance between her hands.

A month ago that would have been a victory. But it was all coming too slowly.

Julian said she should meditate. Ainsley had always meditated. Back when she still tried to deny her wolf, it was the only way she could block the change. This should have been easy.

She was afraid to tell Julian that something in her had changed. She didn’t want to believe it herself.

But with this wolf’s brain, she could no more tune out her senses than she could fly. It was frightening and freeing all at once.

She exhaled again, and if she wanted to she could have listened to each cell of her lungs squeal the air out like a balloon being stretched empty by a child.

The blue light in her palm strengthened. She wanted it to shoot across the field. She was unsure of the best way to make that happen. Julian said to just will it forward.

She tried.

It flickered out.

Damn.

She’d hoped that once she had the privacy to try on her own, she could master this and then show Julian her progress.

Ainsley could scoff at him and give him a hard time on the outside, but in truth she loved her pack, and if they were in danger, she would have to do whatever it took to protect them. Even if it meant learning formal magic, which confounded her. Even if it meant giving up the sugar and caffeine that kept her going. Even if it meant giving up Erik’s warm bed.

Just the thought of her mate brought his scent to her from inside the house.

The moon was nearly full. Its soft light was slowly making her dizzy with lust. She wouldn’t be able to stay out here much longer tonight.

But she couldn’t practice magic inside. Nor could she practice during the day when she was constantly accompanied by one wolf or another.

Her pack relied on her. She couldn’t let them see her lose face again and again, trying and failing to do a simple evocation. She was supposed to be the great unifier of magic and wolves.

These days she felt like a fraud.

Never one to sit around feeling sorry for herself, Ainsley returned to her practice.

She had managed to build the blue light back up again and had it humming cheerfully in her hands when she heard Erik stir in the bedding upstairs in the house.

Before she could go to him she heard him on the porch.

“Ainsley!”

His voice was hoarse, panicked.

“I’m here, Erik. I’m right here.”

The blue light in her palms spluttered out.

She turned back to face him. The way the moonlight highlighted the triangular shape of his shirtless shoulders and narrow waist and hips sent her instincts into overdrive.

He jogged toward her and she fought the urge to run to his arms. Her inner alpha wouldn’t allow it.

By the time he was in front of her she was trembling and ready for him to take her right there in the field.

“What are you doing?”

The anger in his voice snapped her out of the fog of desire.

“I’m practicing.”

He ran a hand through his hair, releasing his intoxicatingly male scent.

“Ainsley, I know you feel like you’re unstoppable. But there is a lone wolf out there. You
cannot
pull this shit.”

Before Ainsley had a chance to react, her alpha roared in her chest. Desperately swallowing down her urge to discipline him for his impertinence, she let out a careful breath.

“There has been no trace of that wolf since we found the print. I need to learn magic to protect my pack. If you don’t want to help, then at least stay out of the way.”

Erik opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again and turned to stalk back toward the house.

It was too much. The human part of her wanted to follow him, but that part of her was less in control than it had ever been. How did anyone live with two halves of themselves constantly at war?

Ainsley sunk to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself to fight back the tears.

There was movement in the cool grass and then she felt him.

Erik had returned, and knelt to join her. His arms circled, warm and safe around her. His respectful posture and soothing touch assuaged her alpha, and ignited her passion.

Ainsley wanted to explain, to tell the man she loved
why
she would risk terrifying him to come out in this field and work.

Oh, but the wolf. The wolf inside her made demands and went from A to C without bothering about B.

And once again Ainsley Connor found herself racked with desire and power. She was the alpha, and yet she found she was no more behind the wheel than she had been before.

Ainsley’s nails sunk into the rippling muscles of Erik’s shoulders.

He lifted his head.

For a moment the moonlight reflected in his sad brown eyes and Ainsley thought her heart would break.

But too soon, the wolf was on her again and she pressed her lips to his.

He returned her kiss fiercely. In it, she sensed his barely restrained anger, fear and jealousy.

His tongue invaded her mouth. He took her face in one of his big hands and seemed almost to devour her.

She ran her fingers through his dark hair and clutched it tightly to pull him even closer.

Instantly, his other hand was on her hip, gripping her hard enough to leave a bruise.

The pain felt good, but somewhere in the back of her head another Ainsley worried. The full moon made mating harsh sometimes, but Erik had never hurt her.

The alpha ignored her and bit Erik’s lip until she drew blood. The coppery taste made her wild and she let go of his hair to push against his chest so that he would lie back and let her mate with him.

Erik usually loved that moment. Sometimes he would resist her playfully and try to draw things out. Sometimes he would laugh his deep laugh and flip her over to pleasure her first.

Tonight he growled and pushed her on her back.

Ainsley landed so hard her breath left her in a whoosh.

While she hesitated, Erik ripped her shirt down the middle and tore her lace bra in half to get to her breasts.

Ainsley lay on her back and looked up at the swollen moon. Erik’s harsh breath and the swish of the grass in the cold breeze filled her ears. Her nipples stood rock hard and she ached in anticipation.

She looked up at her mate, but he had eyes only for her breasts. He fell on her, ravaging her left breast while his hand kneaded and pulled at the other.

Ainsley keened with desire and wrapped her legs around his waist, locking her heels against his hips and pulling him into her insistently.

Erik looked up and growled at her, then pinned her hands over her head with one big hand. He glared threateningly into her eyes and fell back on her breasts.

Ainsley unwound one leg from his waist, and used it to push at the knee that held most of his weight. The result sent them rolling over in the grass, with Ainsley ending up on top.

She straddled him and pinned him with her alpha stare.

He held her gaze longer than he should have, but finally his lashes kissed his cheeks in submission.

She roared in satisfaction and snapped his jeans open. He lifted his hips so that she could slide them off. His erection sprung out instantly.

The other Ainsley quietly noted that he must have pulled those jeans on without bothering to put on boxers because he loved her and was afraid for her life.

Alpha Ainsley didn’t really give a shit. She was just glad she didn’t have to rip off boxers to get to him.

She slid out of her own jeans and panties and was ready to mount him, but his scent was too delicious.

She nuzzled his testes and ran her tongue upward to taste the saltiness of his swollen cock.

Under her, he moaned helplessly and fisted his hands in the grass.

His sounds stoked her hunger, and she drew him into her mouth, tonguing his head and swallowing him into her throat.

Within moments, he was so large she couldn’t contain him. She dragged her mouth away from his cock to nuzzle his abs.

Erik growled and lifted her until she was straddling his face.

She was so ready, so sensitive she was almost afraid. But as soon as she felt his tongue stabbing and stroking her she threw her head back and howled. With her body arched, the moonlight bathed her bare breasts and she thought she would go mad with excitement.

Erik’s ministrations had grown frantic and Ainsley decided she’d had enough teasing.

She slid her body down and impaled herself on his rigid penis.

The pleasure was so intense she was afraid she would come immediately. She stilled and looked down at Erik.

His jaw was clenched and there was barely suppressed fury in his eyes. As she studied his face, he rolled them both to the side.

Once again, Ainsley found herself below him, looking up, both her hands pinned beneath one of his. Rage warred with lust in her heart.

And then Erik began to move inside her. Slowly, slowly he withdrew himself from her, and just as she was ready to die from the loss, he slid back in to fill her to bursting.

It was excruciating to taste such pleasure but not be satisfied. He gave her just enough to hold her still but not enough to give her relief.

Soon she was panting and moaning beneath him. She didn’t care that he was mounting her, she didn’t care that she was mad at him, all she cared about was the fire he was stoking inside her.

Erik released her hands. Before she could register that she was free, she felt him slide a hand between them to massage her throbbing clitoris in agonizingly slow circles.

Ainsley came apart instantly, the delicious contractions seemed to go on and on and on.

She opened her eyes to see Erik’s eyes flashing with lust.

Before she could catch her breath he was pounding into her fiercely, almost cruelly. The cold look in his eyes was nothing she had ever seen before.

He came hard, crushing her to his chest as he did.

When it was over he rolled off her immediately and lay on his back looking up at the moon.

Ainsley would have liked to roll on her side and put her head on his chest, as they often did after mating. She loved the steady beat of his heart under her cheek and the rich scent of their love.

But her wolf and his anger lay between them, and there was no room for Ainsley.

So she stretched on her back instead and studied the moon.

A moment later she felt Erik’s warm hand grab hers.

Ainsley’s heart melted. She rolled happily onto his chest.

“I feel
much
better,” Erik whispered, and she could feel him smiling against her hair.

“Me too.”

He stroked her hair and she traced circles on his abs.

“You can do whatever you want, of course, I know that. But please, Ainsley, let me protect you. That wolf is a real threat. And we don’t know what else might be out there.”

“Okay.” Ainsley ran her fingers up to find the dimple in his smiling cheek. “Do you really think he’s still anywhere near Tarker’s Hollow?”

“I know he is.”

“How do you know?”

Erik shrugged.

She put his noncommittal response out of her head and instead concentrated on how the warmth of his skin contrasted with the cool night air.

“Why are you practicing magic at night anyway? How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“It seems like you’re spending a lot of time with… practice.”

She could tell he really meant
with Julian
.

Ainsley had no clue how to proceed, except that she would die if Erik knew how lousy she was at magic.

“It’s difficult. Requires a lot of focus. Which is something I lack at the moment.”

She scrambled on top of him and looked down into his worried eyes.

“I love you, Erik Jensen. You know that right?”

He rewarded her with another warm smile.

But the moon would have no more of their sweetness and they were pulled back into the mania of mating.

Before Ainsley completely lost herself in the wild embrace of her mate, she implored herself,
Remember that you love him. Please don’t forget.

G
race decided
she needed to pay a visit to her abuela.

She swiped her key fob and entered the opulent lobby of Tarker’s Tower. The harsh fluorescents aggravated her building headache the second she removed her sunglasses.

The most recent renovation of the former hotel had been planned by a new board member from out of town. Gone was the Quaker simplicity of dark hallways and plain blue rugs. Now the condominium’s foyer was choked in Oriental carpets and gilt framed prints.

Grace caught a glimpse of her face in a particularly gothic looking mirror as she pushed the button to call the elevator. Having Asian features sometimes helped her mask her emotions from strangers - but she easily saw the anguish in her own eyes and she knew Abuela would see it too.

What had happened with Julian? Why couldn’t she get him out of her head?

Had he put a charm on her? It had looked like he was as shocked as she was.

A delicious wave of excitement washed over her as she pictured him again, his thin lips parted, a look of wonder in his clear blue eyes.

The ding of the elevator brought her back to the present. Minna Randolf exited with a flourish, pulling her grocery cart behind her.

“Grace Cortez!” Minna bellowed, as usual ignoring Grace’s hyphenated last name.

Minna was on the record as opposing the Cortez family’s adding the
Kwan
to Grace’s name to honor her Chinese birth mother. Minna thought it was too much dwelling on the past and what was she supposed to do with all those last names when she got married anyway?

Grace was pretty sure it wouldn’t become an issue if her future love life went the way her current one was going.

“Hi, Mrs. Randolf!”

“Hello, Grace! Have a good visit. They don’t have the heat on yet, so it’s too cold up there, as usual.”

Grace smiled her thanks to Minna as she got on the elevator. Minna was always concerned that the heat wasn’t turned on in the building until October. She was so well padded both by her ample curves and by her fluffy sweaters that it was a wonder she wasn’t impervious to the cold.

“Nieta!” Abuela exclaimed as soon as the elevator doors opened. She liked to prop open the door to her condo to get a breeze and as a result, she’d heard the elevator ding Grace’s arrival.

Grace wondered how the neighbors felt about the scent of the black beans in the slow cooker filling the hallways through Abuela’s open door. But they never complained. And Abuela herself wasn’t one to worry.

“So what brings you here for lunch?”

Abuela didn’t wait for an answer, but began pulling bowls out of the cupboard. Like Grace, she was short, so she had to reach high above her head.

Grace took a seat at the small table by the sliders leading out to the balcony. Abuela’s unit was not in the fanciest section of the building, but it did have a nice view of the hillside facing the college woods. You could just see the creek bending on its way out of Sycamore Woods. One day, when the highway was built, Abuela wouldn’t want these doors open anymore because they would let in the traffic noise.

“It’s about work, Abuela. I told you about Sadie-”

“-A shame too!-”

“-But I didn’t tell you everything.”

“Mm.”

Abuela always knew when Grace was hiding the truth.

“Something very bad was going on in that house,” Grace said.

“Did you use your gift?”

“I tried.”

“And?”

“When I touched her hand I got hit with something. It felt like a shockwave of…static or something.”

“Mm.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s possible that someone didn’t want anyone snooping.”

“Can you just erase something like that?” Grace asked.

“You can’t remove the psychic impressions, but someone could have muddied the picture with feedback or static. The way you might drown out car noise by turning up the radio. The noise is still there, it’s just too hard to hear it over all the racket.”

Grace nodded and then winced in pain. The headache had been getting worse all day. She hopped up to grab some Advil out of the cupboard in the kitchen.

“Headache again? You know those pills are bad for your stomach.”

“I know, Abuela. I can’t think straight, though.”

Abuela buttoned her lip and poured out two glasses of sweet iced tea.

Grace swallowed down three Advil before Abuela could admonish her further, then carried their drinks to the little table while Abuela carried two bowls of black beans.

They sat and closed their eyes briefly in the approximation of a pre-meal blessing that the Cortez family had settled on. Eva Cortez didn’t believe in digging right in, but no one else believed in praying out loud.

The moment of silence gave Grace a peaceful sense of being at home. It didn’t last long.

“Grace,” Abuela said. “If you’re going to call on your gift, you know you need to pay the price, or the price will be taken twofold.”

Grace sighed.

“Abuela, I’m a police officer and this is a small town. I can’t just let my urges take over. And besides I wouldn’t want to - not really.”

Abuela put down her spoon.

“Listen to yourself, Nieta,” the older woman urged. “When your friend Ainsley didn’t want to be a wolf, what did you tell her?”

Grace sighed.

“That she needed to accept her true nature and embrace who she is.”

“This is who
you
are, Gracie. You’re special. It’s not your magic that makes you that way, but your magic is a part of you as much as your determination or your wit, or even your arms and legs.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Grace returned. “All you get is a craving for sweets and cigars.”

“At my age those extra helpings of dessert add up!”

Abuela laughed her surprisingly deep laugh and patted her little belly.

“You know, it wasn’t always this way,” Abuela said, hopping up to pour more tea.

Grace could feel a story coming.

“When you’re young and your blood runs hot, the magic has a bigger appetite. It triggers the emotions that already run so close to the surface of youth. You are lucky. For me it was anger. Any time I used my gift, I got mean as a snake for days at a time unless I found a way to let it out. One time I tried to keep it bottled up too long and ended up punching the shift-boss at the mushroom farm.”

“Abuelo?”

Abuela smiled, and for a moment looked thirty years younger.

“I felt so bad about it, and I was so scared to lose the job. I made him a big pot of my special Pozole. Once he got a taste, he forgot all about the punch. I made him a lot of Pozole over the years.”

Grace smiled sadly and thought of her abuelo in the rocker on her parents’ front porch. He was never too busy for a story or a boxing lesson.

“I miss him.”

“So do I. But he is always here with us.”

Grace straightened and looked around.

“Do you mean…?”

Abuela laughed again but softly this time.

“No, sweetie. Not like that. In our hearts and minds, same as anyone you love.”

“Did you ever think about…?” Grace knew her abuela could contact those who had passed on. They’d used those special skills together to try to contact Ainsley’s parents for her after their death. They had ended up getting a bit more than they had bargained for.

“Goodness, no,” Abuela said, shaking her head emphatically. “Your abuelo worked hard to get us to a place where we would be accepted for who we are. He deserves some rest. I’ll see him in good time. Meanwhile, don’t you feel bad or ashamed for one minute about any part of you. He would be proud of you. We all are.”

Their moment was ruined by the ringing of Grace’s mobile phone. The ringtone told her it was from the station. If no one picked up right away, incoming calls got bounced to one of the deputies’ phones. Dale was probably on the other line with his wife. Grace grimaced.

“Go on, then. You don’t get to be sheriff by ignoring your job.”

Grace stepped into Abuela’s bedroom.

“Officer Kwan-Cortez.”

“Um…I’m Lilliana.” The voice wavered, and she sounded a little muffled. “I’m a teaching assistant at the college. I…I have some information about the assault on the woman on Princeton Avenue.”

Grace thought quickly. No one should know that it was an assault. They hadn’t released any information at all to the public. Grace hasn’t even shared her suspicions with the other officers. She couldn’t, until she had something solid to go on.

“Thank you for calling me, Lilliana. Would you like to speak about this by phone or should I meet you at the station?”

“I - I don’t feel safe talking now. Can you meet me tonight at the college amphitheater? I don’t want anyone to see me at the station.”

The amphitheater was surrounded by the college woods. It was certainly private, but it was also exposed. Grace nearly offered to meet the girl in a public place in plainclothes instead, but she didn’t want to scare her off.

“That’s fine, Lilliana. What time?”

“I’ll be there tonight at seven. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I will see you at seven, and I won’t tell anyone. Thank you again for calling me - call me back if you want to meet sooner or somewhere more public.”

She came out of the room to find her Abuela packing Marranitos into a Christmas tin. The pig-shaped molasses cookies smelled delicious.

“These are for you to take to your new boyfriend.”

“How did you know?”

“I’m getting flashes of blond hair and blue eyes.”

Julian.

“No,” Grace said, thinking of Landon. “That’s not him. He has dark curls.”

“Like Bougereau’s angel, eh?” Abuela gestured to the framed print of
The Abduction of Psyche
over her sofa.

“Yeah, Abuela, kind of like him,” Grace replied, wondering if her abuela knew the man in the painting was supposed to be Eros - the opposite of an angel.

“No, that’s not right. Give these to the other guy,” Abuela said firmly, pressing the tin into Grace’s hands.

Not Landon. The other guy.

“And learn to cook! Because once he tastes these cookies, you won’t have to worry about paying the cost of your magic for long.”

She laughed her deep laugh again, and Grace couldn’t help but join her.