Alpha's Promise

by Rebecca Zanetti

  He released her mouth, his own hovering just above her lips. “You still thinking?”

  She blinked, trying to hypothesize. “There’s chemistry at play here.” She needed a notebook.

  “Guess you’re still thinking.” He pressed her up against him, his mouth taking hers again. This time hard and full, he kissed her, bending her entire body to fit him. Hunger rode his low growl, and he kissed her deeper, forcing her to take what he was giving.

  Her head fell back, and she shut her eyes, captured by the storm he created. She might’ve whimpered. He growled again, and the sound reverberated through her, awakening nerves she’d thought long dormant. Never in her life had she been kissed like this. Whatever this was. Heat flowed beneath her skin, making her nipples pebble and her breasts heavy. Her thighs trembled, and her panties dampened.

  He lifted his head again, and the dark blue rim around his eyes seemed to glow. “Still in your head?”

  She stared at him, bemused. What had he asked?

  His smile held both challenge and an intriguing arrogance. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” A dark flush spread across his harsh cheekbones, giving him the look of a Viking marauder.

  Her legs trembled.

  “Better.” In one smooth movement, he swept her up and carried her to the bed.

  She gasped and planted one hand against his chest to balance herself. This was out of her experience. Normally she’d be drawn to the newness. Instead, a feminine thread of caution wound through her brain. It was as if her body had a life of its own. Were the chemicals in her brain being affected by him?

  “You’re thinking again.” He laid her down while yanking her shirt over her head in one easy motion. His nostrils flared, and he reached out one finger to trace along the top of her plain cotton bra. “Beautiful.”

  She swallowed, recognizing her trepidation for what it was. She’d always been in control in the bedroom, and now, her body was following his lead and not her brain. A part of her, one she hadn’t known existed, wanted to wrest control from him in the most intimate of ways. So she grasped his shirt and yanked.

  He ducked his head to let her remove it.

  Finally, his physics-defying chest was revealed. Hard planes, smooth muscle, taut skin. Male perfection she’d never even imagined, much less thought to touch. Her hands trembled as she explored his pecs and moved down to the ripples of his abdomen. “How are you real?” she whispered. How was any of this happening?

  He flicked her bra open and dragged it down her arms. “You ever been tied up?” he rumbled.

  Her lungs constricted right before her sex did the same thing. “No.”

  “Maybe next time.” He tossed the bra over his shoulder. His big hands flattened across her breasts with his thumbs caressing beneath them. “You’re beautiful, Promise. Thought you should know.” His touch electrified her skin, and she moved against him, needing something she couldn’t quantify. Then his mouth followed his hands, his tongue swirling around and so hot it nearly burned.

  She slid her hands into his thick hair, holding on, her eyes wide on the ceiling. What was happening?

  He kissed down her abdomen and quickly dispatched her jeans. “Now I’m gonna show you how I’m better than a pocket rocket.” His breath brushed sensitive skin, and he kissed her clitoris.

  She jerked as spasms took her. Light ones, not nearly strong enough to orgasm. But something new. She gaped down at him.

  He nipped her. “Spread your legs, baby.”

  Her knees tensed, and her body rioted in a way that probably wasn’t healthy. She tried to make sense of his words. To think. To just be herself.

  “Now.” He licked her again, his tone beyond firm.

  Her body reacted before her brain could catch up—probably for the first time in her life. She widened her legs. He made a hum of appreciation and then licked her again, once and then twice. On the third time, he slipped a finger inside her, and she blew apart, crying out before she could bite her tongue. He carried her through a truly excellent orgasm and then moved back up her, shedding his jeans.

  She blinked and slowly smiled. “That was great.” Definitely better than a pocket rocket.

  His eyebrow lifted. “That was nothing.”

  Huh. The male was crazy. She reached for him, surprised by his size. His penis was thick and long and heated. Her belly warmed again as she stroked him from base to tip.

  He rolled more on top of her.

  “Wait.” She released him. “Condom.” Oh, hopefully he hadn’t forgotten those.

  “Not necessary.” He kissed her deep, his body surrounding hers with unreal warmth. “We don’t have diseases, and I can’t impregnate you if we’re not mated. This is as safe as sex gets.”

  Nothing about this felt safe, and her liquid reaction to the realization shocked her. She wanted more of him. Her nails scraped down his chest of their own accord. “All right.” Sprawled on the bed with him over her, she suddenly understood all those romantic movies she sometimes watched alone. It’d take her a year to analyze these feelings, and right now, she just wanted more of them.

  He held himself on his elbows, not crushing her but somehow surrounding her. She lifted her knees and pressed against his warm hips. Sensations coursed through her, new and deep.

  “Having fun?” he asked, his lips wandering over her forehead, down her cheek, to bite her earlobe.

  “Yes,” she whispered, caressing along his flanks to his lower back, which felt like stone that had baked in the hot sun all day. “You?”

  “Yes.” He poised himself at her core and then slowly began to push inside her.

  She gasped, widening her knees, her eyes widening too. Physically, her body was meant to take him in, but he was rock hard and monolithic.

  “God, you’re tight,” he muttered, a vein protruding in his neck as he held himself back.

  “It has been a while.” In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d engaged in sex. At the moment, every man in existence except for the one inside her disappeared. He kept his pace slow but steady, stretching her with delicious tingles along the way. “I’ve never felt like this.”

  He paused, his dark gaze cutting to her eyes. “You are so sweet sometimes.” Then he pushed harder, blending pain with pleasure. His big hand banded around her wrists and drew them up above her head, pinning them to the bed. Her back arched, and her breasts scraped against his chest.

  She tugged at his grip, finding herself helpless in his hold. A shiver took her. “I, um, I don’t like this.”

  “You sure about that?” He finally slid all the way inside her. “Your body just quivered, you got wetter, and you all but pulled me the rest of the way in.” His hold remained gentle but unrelenting.

  The way he kept her in place shot excitement through her nerves. “Let me go.” She didn’t sound remotely convincing.

  “No.” At the denial, her body bucked, heat flowing down her torso. Triumph filled his gaze. “Oh, we have some exploring to do, Professor.” The erotic threat had the desired effect of trapping the air in her lungs and flinging protons throughout her abdomen. His smile was devastating. “One thing at a time.”

  Then he pulled out of her, paused, waited three heartbeats, and shoved back inside so hard the bed hit the wall. Pleasure rippled through her.

  “More,” she murmured, locking her ankles around his firm butt. She might not be able to move her hands, but her legs were free. So she used her leverage to push him farther inside her.

  He tangled the fingers of his free hand in her hair, finding purchase and taking control. Then he moved his lips over her jaw, finally taking her mouth again and kissing her deep. Still kissing her, possessing her mouth as fully as he did her body, he started to move.

  Sensations rippled through her. The heat at her mouth, the hard length inside her. She lifted her hips to take more of hi
m, meeting him thrust for thrust. Sensations tore through her, way too fast for her to catalog each one. Hunger overcame her, and she returned his kiss, taking everything she hadn’t realized existed.

  He pounded harder, his breath harsh, his body everywhere. She closed her eyes to experience every sensation.

  “Eyes on me, beautiful.” He paused inside her.

  “No.”

  He didn’t move.

  She opened her eyes, caught by the raw possession on his face. The intimacy of the moment, of watching him take her, sent a charged jolt through her to where they remained joined. Followed by a hint of vulnerability she hadn’t expected.

  “That’s better.” He pulled out and then pounded back in, setting up an impossible rhythm that reached a sensitive area inside her she’d only read about. His hammering matched the wildness suddenly pouring through her entire body.

  Live wires began uncoiling inside her, sparking to the far reaches of her atoms. Breathing became difficult and then unnecessary. The only thing that mattered in the entire universe was where those wires led. Inside her, he was hard, pulsing, demanding.

  Her body quieted for the briefest of seconds. Then ecstasy caught her. She reared up, into him, as she broke with a brutal cry. Her internal muscles spasmed with increased velocity, rippling stirring sensations into violent pleasure throughout her entire body.

  He continued to thrust, and his fangs dropped low and sharp.

  She gasped, instinctively turning her neck, no longer calculating anything. His fangs pierced her flesh. Pain slashed into her skin and went deeper, somehow intensifying her orgasm until she had to close her eyes or have them blast completely out of her head. The waves took her away until she finally sighed in defeat, her body sated, her mind peacefully blank.

  He ground against her and growled low as his body shook with his own release.

  His fangs retracted, and he licked her neck like a lazy puppy, releasing her hands.

  She drew her arms down and ran her palms along his quivering muscles. Her mind tried to awaken, but only a nice buzz filled her ears. “Ivar.” She’d truly underestimated what sex with him would feel like.

  “Mmm?” He kissed along her cheek and down her nose.

  “I had no idea what my body was capable of,” she whispered.

  He paused and partially lifted his head so his now blue gaze met hers. His burst of laughter was as unexpected as it was endearing. His grin remained, making him look more boyish than she would’ve thought possible. He licked her bottom lip. “Let’s see what else this body of yours can do, Missy, my girl.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ivar stretched awake right around dawn with a snuggly woman in his arms. He lay on his back, and she’d curled into his side, her nose in his neck. His woman didn’t move much during the night. He blinked. His woman? What the hell? He didn’t have the right to claim anyone right now. Yet having the brilliant physicist tucked into his side felt right. More right than he’d experienced in hundreds of years.

  She stretched against him like a satisfied cat. “I wish I could diagram last night in a mathematical equation.”

  He grinned into the darkness. “I bet you could figure it out.”

  “Most certainly, but I won’t have time with the new theories I have to prove about dimensional jumping.” Her warm breath brushed his neck, and he fought to keep arousal at bay. “And today I need to start practicing mind shields.”

  “You will.” He caressed her hair, loving the feel of it between his fingers, wanting to know more about her. Everything about her. Would she share with him? He hadn’t felt this complete in much too long, and he wanted to hold on to the feeling as long as possible. Just who was this woman? What had made her? “What were your parents like?”

  She stiffened slightly. “They were good parents. Taught me to love math and physics, and I believe they liked each other well enough.”

  “Sounds cold.” He pulled her closer.

  “It was sufficient.” She sighed. “When I was eight, I wanted a puppy for my birthday. My dad bought me my first book on black holes and the mystery of the universe instead. I can’t complain. Look how my life turned out.”

  He could see her. A little girl with those big brown eyes. She should’ve been given the book and the dog.

  She rolled closer and blinked up at him. “What year were you born?”

  “The year 1107,” he said quietly.

  She lifted her head more. “That’s mind-boggling. You’ve seen everything. The moon landing. The invention of the internet. Not to mention running water and electricity.” She moved up his body, her gaze on his. “You said you met Einstein. Who else?”

  He started naming scientists he thought she’d be interested in hearing about, and soon, the sun started peeking through the window shades. “And van Gogh wasn’t crazy like everyone says. He just saw the world differently.”

  Delight crossed her features. “I have so many more questions.”

  “Go ahead.” He hadn’t relaxed like this in eons.

  “What about your family? Do you have anybody left?” Her voice softened.

  “No,” he said, for once not feeling uncomfortable about discussing his past. “My parents were killed in a war a century ago, while my brother was killed by the Kurjans and I took his place on the Seven.” Their deaths still felt raw. “I had a sister, one my folks had adopted. She was killed by a man who courted her, and I killed him afterward.” The idea of anybody hurting a woman still pissed him off, and he had no problem killing abusers. Never had and probably never would. “Does that frighten you?”

  “No,” she said, kissing the area right above his heart. “Should it?”

  He shook his head.

  She tilted hers. “I thought I heard Logan talking about teleporting during the ritual to become a member of the Seven, but being near him doesn’t hurt me. Can you explain?”

  “Not very well.” Ivar rolled toward her. “Logan can’t teleport. But during the ritual, we all saw dimensions, or other worlds. Our bodies stayed in the circle here, but our consciousness moved on somehow. He saved me, even though he was still here.”

  She bit her lip, thoughts flashing across her face. “So how did you end up traveling through hellish places?”

  “An evil Fae named Niall teleported me to a hell world in a murder attempt, and then I was dragged through the different worlds.” He shook his head. “The bastard is still alive too.”

  Her expression cleared. “Okay. That all adds up nicely. I can’t deal with the Seven ritual right now when there’s a more critical theory to explore: the demons teleporting and the fairies jumping to other worlds.”

  “Is that what’s happening?” he asked, his pulse quickening.

  “Heck if I know,” she retorted, her smile warming him. “But I intend to find out, especially since I think when I was a young child I could maybe teleport to a dreamworld? Or more likely, since I’m human, I just dreamed of immortals doing so.”

  Man, he wanted to keep her. How, he wasn’t sure. Not if he was to take Quade’s place. But now that she was fully awake, perhaps they could get a quick lesson in. “How about we start trying to protect your brain?”

  She looked over at the dying fire. “I guess we could go see Mercy.”

  Ivar snorted. “You won’t be starting with the fairy. She’s too powerful.”

  “Adare, then.” A small pout made Promise’s lip bitable, so he took a nip. She chuckled. “Should we get ready?”

  “I’m a demon, Professor.” He caressed down her spine to her delicious ass and pinched. “We can attack minds. The pain we cause is imaginary, but it feels like hell.” Could he hurt her? Probably not. They’d start with something easy. “Okay. Feel this.” He slid into her mind way too easily, planting scenes of puppies and butterflies.

  Her eyes widened. “Incredible.”
/>   He added a slow glide of pain.

  She closed her eyes and slapped his arm. “Stop.”

  “No. Imagine shields coming down and stopping me. You’re the only one who can do it.” He kept up the pressure, careful not to add any more pain. “Take control of your mind.”

  Shields slammed down so quickly, he could hear their echoing clang in his head. “Nicely done.”

  Her eyes opened, and her pupils constricted. “That was astounding.” Her smile lit up the entire room. “Did you feel that? Truly?”

  “Yes.” He kept his hand planted across her butt since she hadn’t protested the intimacy. “That block was remarkable. Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

  “I haven’t.” She wiggled closer to him. “I was unaware that it was even possible. Now that I know, I can do it. I think. At least here in bed with you where I feel safe.” She traced circles across his chest. “I hadn’t realized that I didn’t feel safe before.”

  Sweet words from a sweet woman. “I won’t let anybody harm you, Promise Williams.” He kissed her nose and tugged her back down to rest on him. “You can trust me.”

  “I do,” she murmured, kissing him beneath the jaw. “Are you waiting for love to mate?”

  “No.” He leaned back until he could see her face. She was back to thinking logically, and that was fine with him. “If we can’t break Quade’s world and let him out, I’m going to take his place.”

  Her spine straightened. “You’re going to sacrifice yourself?”

  He couldn’t lie to her. There was also no reason to be coy. He knew exactly why she’d asked about mating. “Yes. If you mate me out of a desire for immortality and the chance to solve all of the world’s equations, you might be doing so alone for eternities.” Yeah, there was a virus that negated the bond, but nobody had figured how exactly how it worked. If he still lived, even worlds away, would the virus kill his mate instead of breaking the bonds? “Also, I think there should be more to a mating than a logical plan. Or math.” He shifted his weight.

  “What could that be?” she asked.