Shifters Gone Alpha (34 page)

I could sense my climax building. My body tightened, and my insides thrummed with pent-up energy. Drew pushed his tongue inside me and I shattered. I cried out as I pressed against his face, letting the waves of pleasure wash over and through me. When it ended, he went back to nuzzling and kissing my thighs, still holding me to him.

As the final tremor abated, he looked up at me through thick lashes and smiled, tentative and almost shy. “It was good?”

“Good? You deserve an award.” I didn’t let myself think about how he’d become so skilled. The idea of him with some other woman made me sick, even while I knew I had no right to such possessive emotions.

“You are made for me. Your scent, your taste.
Mine.
You are mine.” He looked at me, eyes wide and full of something akin to awe. In one fluid motion, he pulled the nightdress farther up my body, sliding cool satin over skin raw with desire. When it reached my breasts, he gave an impatient grunt and tore it from me, ripping the silky material as if it were tissue. My nipples puckered under his hungry gaze.

“I want you. Need you. Not merely taking…but
mating
. You are mine, need to mate with you.”

Mating
? What an odd term… Still it was probably the way their kind thought of it. But I didn’t have any condoms. “I don’t have any protection, do you?”

“Protection? You mean like the gun? The males outside will not enter. Not with me here, not now you are so clearly mine.”

“No.” I slapped his arm. Smiling, despite the odd burning of my skin and the desperate, desperate need to have him on me,
in me
, right the fuck now. “I mean condoms. I don’t have any. I don’t want to get pregnant, and I’m clean, but…” I trailed off.

“You can’t get pregnant. You’re not at the right stage in your cycle,” he said, face serious. I started to speak, but he went on. “And I have no diseases. I have only lain with one of my kind, and she with no other… And we don’t suffer from disease as you humans do.”

One
other? He’d only had sex with one woman? Surely not? I flashed back to the ten or so guys I’d boned before him and decided to keep the number to myself. “How do you know about my cycle?”

“It’s your scent.” He kissed me on my shoulder, one brief, perfect touch of lips to skin. “It tells me you will not be with young. And for you to be with my young you’d have to go through the…burning… I do not know how else to translate. For you to become one of us, you have to suffer the burning. It happens after the first claiming. After the burning, we hold the ceremony and the bonding ritual.”

Burning
? That didn’t sound good. Not nice at all, unlike his lips, which were kissing my shoulder again. Not that it mattered, as I clearly wasn’t going to do this bonding thing. I’d have to let him down gently, later.

I opened my mouth and surprised myself with what popped out. “Okay.”

If he claimed to be clean, I believed him. I understood, on some deep level, he didn’t lie. Not ever. He had no need of it. He held such power within his community no one would challenge him, and among humans, his strength meant he could take whatever he wanted. Although, my strange sixth sense told me he never used his power in such a way. How the hell I suddenly understood so much about him I didn’t even want to examine, because it scared the crap out of me.

Nothing seemed real. We were locked in our own world. The room grew warm with our heated breath, and the small, humid space became our own private womb, sealing us off from the word. From reality.

Chapter Five.

My whole body became languid, as if drugged, dazed. My normally racing, hectic mind for once calmed. Maybe he’d put a spell on me? I certainly could believe magic lived in the air between us, heating it, making me heady with every breath.

As he nibbled nearer to my neck, I turned my head and let my own lips graze his cheek, inhaling his lush, warm scent. Drew lifted his head and cupped the back of my neck. He pulled me in and brushed his full, soft lips over mine. It started out tender and sweet, but I wanted more. I licked my tongue along the seam of his mouth, and with a groan, he parted for me. His tongue met mine, and we tasted one another, sipping at each other’s mouths with rapidly increasing need.

When he pulled me up onto the bed, I gave a squeak of surprise, for he moved me as if I were nothing more substantial than a rag doll. And as he laid me down, resting my head on the pillows, he towered over me, huge arms propping him up. If he wanted to, he could break me like a doll, too. The realization sobered me, even though I didn’t believe for one moment he would harm a hair on my head. He stared at me as if I were something incredibly precious, the answer to every question he’d ever had.

I wondered if he’d looked at the other female, the one of his kind, in such a way when he’d taken her. With a shake of my head, I forced myself to stop thinking about her. All that mattered was the here and now. The two of us in this room. I’d probably never see him again after tonight and so needn’t get all clingy and jealous.

Drew smiled then lowered his head and took one already aching nipple into his mouth. He laved at it gently, and I tangled my fingers into his hair, pulling his head closer. Suddenly, his gentleness deserted him, and he suckled on me. Tiny rasps of his teeth across my ultrasensitive flesh sent pinpricks of pleasure racing through me.

One warm, solid palm lifted my thigh, wrapping my leg around lean hips as his hardness brushed against my center. All rational thought fled. I wanted him in me. I didn’t care if others of his kind were outside, maybe listening and scenting what we did. In fact, it gave me a clandestine thrill to imagine them wanting me, too.

“You want this, don’t you?” His eyes were bright in the dim light of the room.

I nodded my head and licked my lips, my throat dry as sandpaper.

“Tell me.” He kneaded my butt cheek as his other hand grabbed both my arms and held them above my head, effectively trapping me under him. “Say it.”

“I want this.”

His triumphant smile should have scared me, the edges were so ravenous, so harsh. But I craved whatever he could give me. I’d never been so...
feral
with desire before.

“I want this; I want you. Just…take me.”

He growled again and nipped at my throat, making me quiver.

When the thick head of him penetrated me, I gasped in pleasure and arched my back. He bit and sucked harder at my flesh, nuzzling my neck. The sensations became almost too much, and I squirmed under him.

He circled his hips, so deep in me now his skin rubbed against my clit, sending shock waves of pleasure skittering up my spine.

“I want to fuck you hard,” he said, teeth gritted. “I won’t. Need to take it easy this first time.”

I didn’t want to disabuse him of any romantic notions of me as some sort of virgin, but damn it, I didn’t want or need slow and gentle. This man…this
male
…had lit a fuse within me, and I yearned for him to make me explode. I needed it hard and fast and ruthless.

“No. I can take it.” I flexed my internal muscles, giving a satisfied smile when I saw his eyes darken as I rippled over him. “Have me the way you want.”

He paused, held above me on trembling limbs, and then, with a grunt, he slammed forward before drawing nearly all the way out of me, only to slam in again. Over and over, he pounded into me, and I matched his every thrust. Greedy for him, needing him closer to me, to become one with him.

“Oh gods, you’re so tight, so hot.” He groaned as I flexed again, and thank God I’d been taking Pilates classes for two years.

The hand holding my wrists let go, and I took the opportunity to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him close against me, craving skin on skin. Loving the warmth of him covering me like a blanket.

I writhed under him, wanton beyond anything I’d ever experienced before, almost crazed with need. He didn’t seem to fare much better, his jaw locked tight, eyes glittering with desire.

The sounds of us moving together filled the small room, and I let out a long moan as he ground against me, stimulating my clit all over again.

Without warning, he pulled out of me, and I mourned the loss of him instantly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Turn over, on your hands and knees.” His voice was guttural, raw.

I scrambled to do as he directed and turned onto my hands and knees. His palms played over my buttocks, dipping a thumb down to tease between my folds before pulling back out again and once more kneading and playing with my ass.

“So beautiful. Your body is perfect from every angle. Every fantasy come true, like you were made for me. Mine, all mine.”

And I was. In this moment, I was all his and more. His to do with as he would, and he was mine to enjoy in return.

He pressed inside me again, more slowly this time, making me ache with yearning so sweet it hurt. He kept up a slow and steady drive in and out, almost sending me out of my mind. Then his fingers reached around and splayed across my belly possessively, before dipping down to part my folds and play with my slick bud.

As he stroked me with his hands, his hips sped up. Every single smooth thrust in pushed the breath from my lungs, and every sure slide out had me gasping. His breathing matched my own as he huffed against the nape of my neck, his warmth covering my back.

Pleasure began to build. The way he powered into me and pressed rhythmically against my clit in time to our fucking drove me wild. I knew any moment I would lose it, and when his free hand reached up and pinched a nipple, just hard enough to provide a bit of pain with the pleasure, I shattered.

With a cry, I tipped over the edge. He stilled when I clenched around him. On a ragged breath, he swelled and started to spill hot and heavy inside me. Spurt after spurt of hot seed pulsed out of him. In response, my orgasm rolled into a second, even more intense one. I shook all over, legs barely holding me up as I milked every last drop from him.

When the tremors ended, I collapsed onto the bed, sprawled on my front with my legs still splayed. He pulled out of me and rolled to the side, snuggling up right next to me, one leg over mine, a brawny arm pulling me into him.

We lay in that position for an indeterminate amount of time, our breathing slowly returning to normal.

Never in my life had I been so thoroughly made love to. I’d soared to the highest pinnacles of pleasure. Now, I lay replete and sated, boneless in my lover’s arms. My afterglow wasn’t to last.

Into the dark and silence, my lover uttered three little words, and I froze.

Chapter Six.

“You’re mine, forever.”

Surely, he didn’t mean literally? Perhaps this was the way of their kind, once they’d made love to someone, they considered one another linked somehow? As long as he understood I wouldn’t actually be his. Not
literally
.

“We can live here if you like.” He said this with great pride, as if he’d offered me the moon.

“Live? Together?” Ribbons of something akin to panic began to wind their way around my heart.

“Of course. You are mine; we are mated.”

Mated!
He’d used similar phraseology earlier, and I’d simply put it down to meaning making love. Clearly I’d missed a trick somewhere.

“Erm…what does
mated
mean, exactly?” I sat up, and as the sheet fell from my breasts, his gaze flickered down and back up, darkening as a wicked smile tugged at his mouth. And as if he’d flicked a switch in me, I instantly wanted him. All over again, as if I didn’t lie there aching and tender from what we’d done only moments before.

I couldn’t allow myself to get lost in him once more, though. Not while he spouted nonsense about mating and owning and me becoming “his.”

“Drew! What is mated?”

He ran a hand through thick hair and seemed to consider the question for a moment. “Mated is when two become one. We merge…for life. You belong to me, and I to you. Although…” He frowned. “This is not ideal. You are human. We need to get help for your burning. Maybe
empathines
don’t feel it as badly.” He stared off into space for a moment. “But it’s been so long since we had one, so very long, all that remains is myth and legend. Perhaps the burning won’t be as bad for you.”

Oh, no. There he went with the whole burning thing again, I really didn’t fancy that. It was immaterial anyway, as no way were we joined for life. In the past, the worst I’d faced came from telling some guy I couldn’t make our second date, yet now I must tell this wolf-man I couldn’t be his mate.

“Well, you see, the thing is…” I trailed off.

“Yes?” He watched me, and I swore amusement danced in his eyes.

“I can’t possibly be your mate. I’ve never even wanted to get married. I want to do research. I’m a scientist.”

“You can do research.” He lifted one arm over his head, and for a moment, I could only drink in his utter beauty. “I will come with you. Yes, I will come with you when you do your research. I’ve always wanted to travel, to see the world.”

“I can’t take you with me!” Was he being purposefully dense?

“Why not?”

“Employers won’t let me just drag a husband…err…mate with me.”

“Then do your own research, for yourself.”

Oh, surely he couldn’t be so naïve. I pursed my lips and looked down at him. His face still held the satisfied hint of a smile he’d been wearing ever since we’d finished making love.

“Drew, I can’t do my own research. I don’t have the funds.”

“Would you like to? If you did have the funds?”

Would I? Well, yes, of course I would. To be able to do my own thing, focus on what interested me most would be a dream come true. But sadly, I wasn’t wealthy and it wouldn’t happen. “Yes, but—”

“Then you shall. I will give you the funds.”

Angry now at his presumption that I could simply be bought, I pushed up off the bed and paced the room. “You can’t buy me! And you don’t own me.”

“We own one another. We belong.”

“No! We don’t!” I realized I shouted, but panic stopped me from being kinder. This guy acted like a lunatic stalker, and I didn’t think a gentle “Dear John” would do the trick. “There is no
us
, only tonight. We had fun, but that’s all it can be. I’ve got to work here, and I need quiet and time to write up my results and…” I fished around for some way of getting him out of the cabin and decided to lie. “I’m leaving in the morning. I’ve got to visit my parents. You can’t possibly come. If you give me your number, I’ll call you and maybe we can hook up when I get back?” Because I would so be into doing this again. Only without the whole “you’re mine” conversation afterward.

By then, though, he’d have forgotten all about me and likely gone back to messing around with the female of his own kind.

“You cannot leave!” He actually paled and rubbed his hand over his chest as if soothing his heart.

A feeling akin to grief washed over me at the sight, but I wouldn’t soften, couldn’t give in.

“I have to.” A glance at the curtains showed dawn’s early light struggling to reclaim day from night. “In fact, I need to get going really soon. An early start, you see?”

He didn’t answer, simply scrubbed a large hand over his jaw, eyes narrowed. Hell, if only he weren’t so sexy. I hated ending it like this, but if I gave an inch, he’d take a mile…and take me over. Even more terrifying, part of me wanted him to.

I began to get dressed and, without looking at him again, rushed out of the room to fill a bag with some basic toiletries. I’d let him think I really was going, drive out to the nearest village and spend an afternoon there, then return this evening when he’d be long gone.

A rather serious problem with my plan suddenly occurred to me. With Drew gone, all those others of his kind would be free to scratch and tap at my window again. I stomped back into the bedroom. “In fact, I might not come back at all. I won’t be safe here anymore, you said so yourself.” I began to think out loud. “I could maybe lodge with the ranger. I’d rather have my own space, but I can’t risk any of those…things getting to me.”

I ignored his wince as I called his kind
things
and ran through my options. “Or I could even rent a room in the village. Not ideal, but I could come up here in the day and go back when the sun starts to set.”

“You are safe here.” He spoke quietly. “None of the pack will sniff around here anymore, and even the rogues won’t dare touch you. Maybe one or two of the worst would, but they live far away and don’t frequent these parts. I think you are safe.”

His next words made me want to dance for joy.

“My scent is on you. They will always sense it and leave you alone, whether I am here or not.”

“So I’m safe?”

“Yes. You are safe.”

“Okay. Good. Erm, thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. It is what it is. You will go now, and I will go back to my people. You do not want me. You will not see me again.”

A sharp sadness hit me at his words. “Look, Drew. We can see one another again. In fact, I’d like it. A lot. Just, none of this mate and mine stuff, okay?”

“No. Not okay. We are mated. You choose to reject me as your mate. I accept your rejection, despite the fact I now have to return to my pack and all will know. Despite the fact I won’t ever find another. I will be the gentleman I promised you when I first spoke with you. But do not presume you can toy with me and call me to you when you want to play. I will not bother you again. I am only sorry my instincts were so wrong.”

He clambered off the bed and grabbed his jeans, pulling the pale denim up over thick, corded thighs. He shrugged on his tee and wrapped his shirt around his waist, pushing his feet into his boots but not fastening them up. And then he left. Every single wet dream I’d ever had simply turned away from me and walked out of the room.

My heart felt as if it would tear in two, but I told myself to stop being a drama queen, even as a fresh wave of pain hit me. The idea of never seeing him again made tears spring to my eyes, but I knew this strange sorrow would pass. It must. After all, we’d only spent one night together, and no one fell in love in one night. I’d just been alone for far too long.

I decided I
would
head into the village. Maybe putter around the shops, talk to people, and get out of my head a while. I might even treat myself to something nice and shiny from the gorgeous gift shops or buy a couple of books. I had my Kindle with me, but nothing beat the weight of a book in one’s hand.

Sandy shuffled into the room and guilt swamped me. Her gait seemed stiff and unwieldy, and I realized she’d spent the whole night on the cold stone floor.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Come on, let’s get your lead, and we’ll head out. I’ll buy you a bagel for breakfast.” Bagels were like catnip to her, and the village café made some gorgeous ones.

Before I exited the cabin, I opened the door and poked the barrel of the shotgun out. Despite Drew’s words, I wanted to make sure no more werewolves were hanging around waiting for me. The coast seemingly clear, I crossed quickly to my waiting car, almost running, and didn’t let out my breath until safely inside, doors locked.

The drive down the gravel path to the road seemed to take forever. The sadness I’d experienced at the cottage built and built, until I feared my chest might burst with it. I didn’t feel too great physically, either. My neck and head ached and my throat tickled.

Wanting to cool down, I opened the window and let in some of the fresh morning air, but it didn’t seem to do anything for me. I was burning up. Perhaps I’d got the flu? Maybe I should turn back?

I pulled onto the side of the road and rested my head on the steering wheel for a long moment. If only the horrible, gnawing sadness eating at me would abate a tad, I might be able to focus on everything else going on. But it didn’t diminish; it only grew brighter and stronger with every passing second.

Thirst so strong it took my breath away hit. I scrambled around in my bag and found a bottle of water, sloshing it down my chin in my desperation. As soon as I swallowed, I realized it wouldn’t heal what ailed me. In fact, it only served to make me retch.

Focus
! I forced myself to think. I was a rational person. A scientist. Trying to keep calm, I studied myself as I would any other conundrum. The raging thirst made itself known once again, but clearly it wasn’t real thirst, so I let it wash over me. I didn’t resist it and tried, instead, to understand it.

Sensations came at me from all angles: sadness, confusion, anger, and that intense, odd thirst. No. Not thirst. Something else. Deeper.
Yearning
. It wasn’t a need for water, but the deepest, sharpest, most physical yearning I’d ever experienced.

I didn’t need to decipher what I yearned for. I knew. Without even having to think about it, I knew. Drew. I wanted…needed…Drew.