Shifters Gone Alpha (42 page)

I’m hit!
she though frantically as her entire body seemed to go numb and her eyesight began to dim.
Those damn Sniffers!

Her last thought before the world went completely black was to hope that Nolan, at least, had gotten away. There was no reason that he had to share the horrible fate that awaited her once she was handed over to her father.

CHAPTER SIX

The first thing Tori became aware of was the steady, almost soothing sound of someone breathing heavily nearby. The next was that she was pleasantly cool and curled up in her lion form on a soft surface.

The utter
wrongness
of her sleeping in her shifted form had her eyes flying open in a sudden panic, never mind the fact that someone appeared to be in her
room
with her while she was shifted. She tried to scramble onto her feet and off the bed, but her limbs completely betrayed her by refusing to obey her will at all.

A sudden harsh intact of breath had her jerking her head towards the sound with a roar of warning that didn’t quite sound right.

“Hey, it’s okay!” a familiar male voice said hastily. “It’s just me. Nolan. You’re okay, I promise.”

Huh? Nolan?

No matter how many times she blinked, Tori just couldn’t focus her eyes. She tried to lick her lips in anxiety, but even her tongue refused to cooperate. Why the hell did it feel so fat and heavy? Or her throat, for that matter? It felt as dry and gritty as though she’d swallowed a bucket full of sand in her sleep.

“You should be able to shift now,” Nolan said, his voice soft and coaxing.

Instead of feeling relieved, his words only alarmed her. Why hadn’t she been able to shift before? Tori frantically searched her mind for the last thing she could remember. An image of a wolf holding a lion’s neck in a death-bite abruptly flashed across her mind’s eye, and she chuffed in sudden shock. That’s right! The lions—the lions had been chasing Nolan and her in their shifted forms.

They had made it out of the town; she could remember that much, but after that was a big fat blank.

A hand rested hesitantly on the top of her head, and Tori nearly snapped at it before remembering why she shouldn’t. Feeling something like embarrassment, she decided to shift.

Tori was a bit bewildered when she felt a considerable ache throughout her body and even a hint of nausea as her muscles rippled and her human body took shape. The feeling was similar to the ache after overdoing a workout.

The moment she was able, Tori wrapped her arms around her nude body and rasped, “I need water.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Nolan said.

She tried once again to focus her eyes as she heard him fumble with a glass on the nightstand, but even in her human form, some of the blurriness remained.

“Jared said you’d be really dehydrated when you woke up,” he said sheepishly as he handed her the glass.

She drank down the water in one gulp and handed the empty glass back to him. She suddenly laughed. “I feel like I’m hungover. Is that what happened? Did we finally escape those bastards and decide to drink one of the local bars out of business? Where are we by the way? I can’t remember anything after we ran out of that little town…”

“Unfortunately, nothing that fun happened at all,” Nolan replied, sitting down on the bed next to her.

Belatedly, Tori remembered that she was naked, and she pulled the white top sheet over her legs and up until it covered her breasts. How many times had she been naked in front of this man in the last twenty-four hours?

Well, at least her eyes were beginning to clear enough for her to finally see that she was in an unfamiliar bedroom, but more importantly, that Nolan was wearing a wary expression.

“Where are we?” she asked again, this time more firmly. “…and who’s Jerad,” she added almost as an afterthought.

Nolan stared at her intensely. “You don’t remember getting shot at all?”

Tori stilled, feeling her back go as rigid as a marble column. “Shot…but I don’t feel anything like…” she trailed off. “How long was I out?” she demanded.

“Just a few hours,” he replied.

“Then why do I—”

“You weren’t hit by a bullet,” he cut in. “It was a tranquilizer.”

She stared at him dumbly. “How in the hell did
that
happen?”

He sighed. “Well, the Retrievers were under the mistaken impression that this little town had only human residents. Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately considering the alternative—those shifters saw me running like hell surrounded by a bunch of lions and decided to take all of them down.”

“Which included me,” Tori said with a nod.

The dry mouth, the fat tongue, and the aches and pains. It all made sense now. She’d been drugged with a tranq powerful enough to take down an adult male lion. It was no wonder she was kind of nauseous.

“My tires were shot out by a couple of Sniffers not long after I dropped you off, so I never made it here,” Nolan explained. He smirked. “Jerad was pretty shocked when I explained that you were a Rogue and we were allies of a sort.”

“I’m sure putting up a lioness in his spare room was something that had never even entered his radar,” Tori said with a nonchalance she didn’t quite feel. “Don’t worry. As soon as I don’t feel so woozy, I’ll head out.”

Nolan frowned. “There’s no hurry. At least not for a while. A couple of my wolf buddies are driving the three Retrievers to Riverford to be dealt with by that city’s Elders.”

“Three? So that lion you had in a death-bite survived?”

“Barely, but yeah.”

“You didn’t have to jump in, you know,” Tori said, fixing him with a stern gaze. “Another minute and I would have thrown him off me and then crushing his throat between my jaws in seconds.”

“Yeah, I know.” And he wasn’t just saying that. She could see it in his eyes. He was completely sincere in his belief of her exceptional fighting skills.

She huffed in exasperation. “Then why’d you do it?”

Nolan pinned her with his gaze, “So you wouldn’t have to.”

When she frowned at him in confusion, he said, “You told me that you’ve never killed anyone, that the desire not to was the reason you become a Rogue in the first place. You would have been far from that cotton gin if I hadn’t been careless enough to get captured by those assholes. I didn’t want to be the reason why you were forced to dirty your hands you’ve tried so hard until now to keep clean.”

One minute Tori was staring at Nolan incredulously, the next she had her arms around his neck and her lips pressed firmly against his own before she even realized her own intentions. She had probably been waiting to kiss him ever since the first time she had scrutinized his face.

Nolan was stiffer than a board at first, probably as surprised by her out-from-left-field actions as she was, but then his arms slowly snaked around her bare waist, pulling her almost roughly against his chest. His tongue licked insistently along the seam of her lips, seeking entrance. This time it was her turn to stiffen.

She pulled back and looked down at herself with a grimace. “I’m filthy.”

“I think that’s the idea,” Nolan said dryly, trying to go in for another kiss.

Tori raised her index finger and lightly, teasingly pushed the pad of it against his lips. “No, I’m
filthy
. I bet I still have grass and dirt and who-know-what in my hair from my fight with the Retriever. I don’t suppose your friend has a bathroom with either a large shower, or even better, a soaking tub? One where we’ll both fit? I imagine my legs are probably still a little weak and unsteady because of that cocktail your friend shot into me.” She glanced down at herself again. “Just where did he hit me anyway?”

A flash of guilt showed in his eyes. “Your right thigh, but don’t bother looking. The needle mark’s already healed.”

Tori looked anyway, pulling the sheet that had puddled in her lap away, she couldn’t help it, but her skin was as smooth and unmarked as before. When she looked back up, Nolan was openly studying her newly revealed body with appreciative eyes.

“So, want to take a bath with me?” Tori asked.

Once again she wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned forward to kiss the corner of his mouth.

What was it about him that seemed to suddenly bring out the tease in her? She had never reacted this strongly to a man before. Something about his scent, the entire air about him seemed to excite even the cat within her.

She leaned back a bit in order to see his eyes as she lightly ran her fingernails up his back until she felt him involuntarily shiver. “That is, if you don’t mind being clawed just a tiny bit by a lioness,” she finished with a wicked smile.

Nolan laughed in both delight and a little bit of excitement. “Now I know why I’ve always been attracted to alpha females. You’re petite and look like you might fall over in a strong wind, but after watching your little fight with that lion, I’m willing to bet you could strangle me with just your pinkies. Your cute looks are just a bonus compared to all that.”

Tori made a face. “No one’s
ever
called me ‘cute.’ It makes me sound like I’m some helpless kitten you found on the side of the road.”

Nolan’s eyes scrunched up as he laughed. “That’s a pretty accurate description, you know. Although now I know better, when you first looked at me with those wide, shimmering eyes and pleaded for my help, you very much looked like a little lost cat.”

“I doubt very much my eyes ‘shimmered,’” she retorted. Then the humor left her eyes, and her expression turned serious. “You’re sure you’re okay with this? With me? I don’t want to start something now just to have to leave you in a few days when the torches and pitchforks start coming out.”

Nolan’s smile was gentle. “I’m already considered a bit of a rebel in my clan—not much for running with the pack, you see. I have more in common with my jaguar friends than I do with my own pack. Likely they’ll see me taking up with a lion and think ‘it figures’ and shake their heads at the crazy wolf.”

“Somehow I don’t think it’ll go over so well,” Tori said with a frown. “You said so, yourself, earlier, that you didn’t think the Elders would be able to look past the lion to see the woman.”

“Yes I did, but that was before
this
. I like you, Tori, more than I probably should given how this relationship began, but if you’re okay being with a wolf, then I have no problems being with a lion—because it’s
you
. I’m willing to see where this’ll lead, and I’ll take it all, the good and the bad. I don’t want you to think I’m not well aware of the big stink everyone’ll make over me wanted to bring a lion into Riverford.”

“So you
are
from Riverford,” she said. “I was beginning to think you would never tell me.”

“Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves,” Nolan suggested. “Not the half-truths we’ve told each other so far, but the full deal. I’ll even go first.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead tenderly. “Hi, I’m Nolan Bray, twenty-five years old, born and raised in Riverford, TX. I’m a red wolf.”

Tori laughed and sat back onto her haunches. “I very much doubt introducing myself while in the nude is the proper way to do things, but all right. I’m Victoria King, twenty-one, second to youngest daughter to the Alpha of the Chicago lion clan and currently homeless and running for my life.”

“
King
? Seriously? No wonder your father’s master password was ‘I’m the King of the world.’ I just thought he had a hard-on for the movie
Titanic
, but he actually capitalized ‘King’ for a good reason.”

Tori chuckled and held out her arms. “Now, Mr. Bray, how about that bath?”

EPILOGUE

Stepping into, then submerging yourself to chest-level in a tub filled with steaming water just the right level of hot that was prepared by your soon-to-be-lover while you brushed your teeth was just pain heaven as far as Tori was concerned. Especially if your man was already sitting in said tub with a loofa full of vanilla-scented shower gel ready to caress your entire body, his legs stretched out just beckoning you to straddle his lap.

For a long moment, Tori just knelt before him, straddling his thighs but still not allowing more than the smallest amount of skin from the sides of her knees to touch him. Nolan slowly began rubbing the loofa sensually across her belly and over her breasts, paying particular attention to her nipples until the buds were hard and aching. She could almost feel his gaze like a physical caress as his eyes followed every movement of his hand, stoking the flames of arousal within her body.

Tori just as slowly allowed her eyes to take in the delicious muscles and plains of his chest and abs. He was built as powerfully as most shifters, maybe even more so, which made Tori wonder if he was just being flippant when he had told her that he didn’t run much with his pack. Either that, or he had a very physical job. She had to remember to ask him what he did for a living later. For now, she was happy to let their eyes, hands, and, mouths do all the talking.

It had been over a year since she had slept with a man, so when Tori finally reached out to touch his chest, her hand was a little hesitant as she teasingly caressed those muscles she had been admiring, mirroring his caresses as he continued to wash her.

Nolan made a low sound of encouragement in his throat. He abandoned the loofa once every inch of her skin that was above the waterline was thoroughly covered in fragrant suds and lifted his hands to grasp her hips, urging her nearer, which she was eager to oblige.

She slid along the porcelain until her thighs tightened against his own and her groin came into contact with his already hardening, impressive member. Only then did she finally sink down to fully sit in his lap, rinsing the soap away in the process. Both hands clutched at his clavicles as she settled herself. The feel of the contact of their most delicate, sensitive parts sent shivers down her spine in anticipation.

Hands grasped her hips more tightly as if to prevent her from moving away, and then Nolan slid a hand over a rounded buttock in order to give it an appreciative squeeze. Next, he bent his head to lick, then suck one of her already hardened nipples until the sensitive bud was deliciously sore and Tori was half-squirming, half-rocking against his lap, his cock sending bursts of pleasure through her lower body as it rubbed against a different nub of sensitive flesh.

As her hips found a more steady, undulating rhythm that had his silky member rubbing against her clit continuously, Tori pulled his head away from her breast with an insistent tug, then up for the open-mouthed, deep kiss she had wanted to give him earlier, but was too concerned with having morning breath to allow. Nolan let out a small sound of pleasure as her tongue joined his in its aggressive, sensual dance.

The water in the tub sloshed wildly, a good portion of it spilling onto the tiled floor. In the back of her mind, she was concerned about the huge mess they were making of Jerad’s bathroom, but then Nolan did something fantastic with his tongue against the roof of her mouth and even that distant thought faded.

Tori slid her hands down from his shoulders and dug her fingers deeply into the hard muscles of his back as she felt the crescendo of pleasure between her legs near its peak, reflected in the devolution of her earlier smooth rhythm into an erratic thrust and grind that began increasing in pace. She felt Nolan’s hands grab both cheeks of her ass and squeeze hard, pushing her closer to him.

Another hard thrust against him, and her pleasure abruptly exploded. Tori moaned against Nolan’s lips as she rode out her climax, both her own rolling hips and his hands guiding her movements continuing to enhance the pleasure inundating her body.

All too soon, the pleasurable spasms faded, leaving behind a pleasant lethargy in her limbs. Tori slumped against her new wolf lover, thinking only to catch her breath for a second or two before she concentrated on the hardness that still pulsed against her sensitive core. She felt a little guilty that Nolan still hadn’t climaxed, but he had seemed to want to make this first time between them all about her, probably still mindful of the effects of the tranquilizer in her system.

Not that she was complaining…

Then suddenly Nolan’s hands gripped her bottom more securely as he awkwardly moved forward until he was on his knees before somehow standing up completely with her, holding her up against him by her ass. Tori hastily wrapped her legs around his waist and clutched harder at his shoulders.

“Nolan, what—” she began in confusion as he climbed out of the tub instead of pressing her back against the nearest wall as she had expected and headed for the door.

He grinned as he transferred her weight to rest on one of his forearms in order to open the door. “I just suddenly had a vision of you wet and spread out on a bed waiting to be devoured by me, and I just couldn’t resist.”

Tori felt a thundering wave of arousal flood through her at his words. It was a vision she, herself, had tortured herself with during her hours-long trek south before seeing Nolan’s truck within the forest had waylaid her. She could hardly believe that it was actually about to happen.

Luckily the bedroom she had woken up in was right next to the bathroom or else Nolan’s friend, Jerod, whom she had yet to meet, would have certainly gotten an eyeful. Then Tori’s mind turned to complete mush as Nolan all but flung her onto the bed. Her back bounced once on the mattress and then he was on her before she could even gasp, his well-muscled body covering the entire length of hers, pressing her deeper into the mattress with a sinfully delicious weight as his mouth did its damnedest to suck what little thoughts remained right out of her head.

Now
this
was the alpha wolf Tori had seen take on a lion without hesitation and win—all power and aggression and hardness wrapped up into a sexy package that any girl would sell their souls to have.

And somehow, inexplicably, he was all
hers
.

Nolan pressed a knee between her legs, and Tori spread them eagerly, her groin already throbbing with need despite her earlier orgasm. She cried out in both a little shock and utter delight as he thrust his cock deep inside her warmth all the way to the hilt. She was well wet, and her passage accepted the thick intrusion with virtually no pain.

Tori immediately wrapped her legs tightly around his hips and clenched her inner muscles around his considerable girth. This time it was Nolan’s turn to gasp, a little gold bleeding into the blue of his eyes as more of the wolf came to the forefront of his being.

Nolan’s expression was filled with lust, affection, and something just a tad feral, and Tori thought she had never seen anything hotter.

Then she couldn’t think at all as Nolan began to thrust into her with a hard, rolling movement of his hips, angling every plunge into her passage to hit that shallow, fantastic spot that made her buck and arch up against him with abandon, while his mouth latched onto her pulse point, nipping and sucking aggressively—
marking
her as his.

Tori could feel him shuddering as she unconsciously dragged her nails aggressively along the length of his back. His hips sped up, each slap of their bodies meeting over and over sounding as loud as a clap of thunder in a quiet room even amidst their gasps and moans.

She was on the brink of falling over the edge again just as Nolan bit down hard at the junction of her neck and shoulder, making the world behind her closed lids suddenly explode with a sheer white light as a climax more powerful and consuming than any she had ever experienced rocked her to her very core.

A few seconds later, Tori’s body was rocked just as thoroughly by one last brutal thrust from her lover that she literally felt reverberate through her bones, and Nolan’s teeth sank into her flesh even deeper until the coppery smell of blood filled the air like a floral burst as he spilled his warm seed deep within her.

Despite being a shifter and biting pretty much a normal act of foreplay between her kind, Tori had never been bitten during sex before, not even before she had fled Chicago and her partners had all been human out of necessity. The feeling of utter surrender it had elicited in her psyche, a feeling she had spent her whole existence fighting to keep at bay, made her realize the truth of Nolan’s words, that she was indeed an “alpha” herself, and had never been with an alpha male until today.

When Nolan finally withdrew from her body and rolled to the side, Tori was disturbed at the feeling of loss she experienced, despite the fact that the rest of her body was practically glowing with satiation. Then Nolan gathered her up into his arms and intertwined their legs, and the strange hollow feeling gradually faded.

“Glad you’re a cuddler,” she murmured against his chest, pressing a soft kiss against the slightly damp skin. Then with a hint of amusement in her tone, “If you’d been one of those guys who just roll over and immediately start snoring after coming, then that would’ve been a deal breaker no matter how hot the sex was.”

Nolan’s arms hugged her tighter as he chuckled. “How could anyone fall asleep with such soft and gorgeous breasts waiting to be caressed and sucked within touching distance?”

Tori rubbed her chest teasingly against his. Then she blinked in astonishment when she felt his cock immediately harden.

His grin was totally unrepentant when she looked up at him sharply. “What can I say, I’m a breast guy, and I haven’t gotten to lick and fondle them anywhere near what I’d like. All those times you were naked in front of me and I couldn’t look at them was complete torture! Now that the initial frenzy of my lust has been somewhat quieted, I plan on taking my time tasting and caressing them until you’re drowning in pleasure. I’ll show you with my mouth and tongue that you’re
mine
, no matter what anyone thinks about me being with a lion.”

Tori shivered at the underlying growl in his voice even as his words brought a knot to her throat. “In that case,” she said, her voice a little rough with emotion, “you don’t think Jerad will mind us spending the rest of the day in here making love, do you? Once I’ve had my fill of cuddling and your mouth, I’d like a chance to show off my own
special
talents.”

She reached down between them and ran a fingertip suggestively along his member’s swollen head.

“I don’t think he’ll mind at all,” Nolan said with a playful leer. “I’ve suspected for a long time that he’s a deliberate eavesdropper.”

A creak in the floorboards abruptly came from the direction of the door. Tori’s eyes met Nolan’s and they simultaneously burst into laughter.

When Nolan laughed, Tori could actually believe she had a future, and she would look forward to living it—with him.

—

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