Alpha's Secret

by Renee Rose

  “Look I’m sorry I left you—”

  She slaps the counter. “I don’t want your apologies. You don’t owe me. But whatever you’re doing, you’re hurting yourself. You need to stop.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” she whispers.

  I spear my fingers into her hair. How did I come to this moment? Where a lovely young woman looks me in the eyes like I hang the moon?

  “I can’t, Jordy. I don’t do it because I want to. I do it for revenge.”

  “Revenge for your mother?”

  I nod, unable to speak.

  “Revenge is a death trap. It’s hurting you. It could kill you.”

  I lick my lips and tell her the truth. “As long as I take out my mother’s murderer, I don’t care.”

  “Grizz.” She looks so sad. “I care.”

  I jolt as if electrified. But she’s not done.

  “I don’t want you to die,” she whispers, and I jolt again like she shouted it. How long has it been since someone cared whether I’m alive?

  “Kit,” is the only thing I can say. I rub the red strands of her hair between my finger and thumb. The fine strands catch on my callouses.

  She tugs me closer and lays her forehead on mine. “I wish I could give you what you want. I wish I could give you your revenge.” She slides her face against mine until we’re cheek to cheek. “How long until you get it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Soon?”

  “I don’t know,” I repeat. “It never mattered before. I’m gonna get it if it takes the rest of my life.”

  “What happens after?” she asks softly. “After you get your revenge?”

  I try to answer, try to think, and there’s nothing. “I guess I never thought beyond it. I guess I assumed I’d…” I stop before I say “die”, knowing the word will hurt her.

  She raises her head and studies me. “Isn’t there anything else you want? Something that will give you a reason to live?”

  “There wasn’t.” My chest is tight, I can barely get the words out. “Until a few days ago, there wasn’t.” I cup her cheek, my thumb playing over her soft freckled skin. “And then I met you.”

  She searches my face, nodding to herself. Then she pulls away, taking my hand and drawing me from the bathroom. “I have something to show you.”

  Jordy

  The cool depths of the bedroom swallow us and I force my breathing to calm. All night and morning I waited for Grizz and pretended I belonged in his home.

  I decided: I don’t belong to Augustine any more. I belong to Grizz. I can only hope he wants me.

  It’s time to show him my true feelings. Now or never.

  I lead him to the bed. Another time it’d be amusing how our roles are reversed. I’m leading; he’s following. After today, I might never be so bold again. I’m shaking now, facing Grizz, smoothing the button-down shirt I’m wearing. After this he might decide he doesn’t want me. He might kiss my forehead, call Declan and Parker, and send me away forever. I don’t know what he wants. Either way, he’ll know my choice.

  “I want to show you something,” I repeat.

  He reaches for me and I step back.

  “Kit, you’re scaring me.”

  “Don’t be afraid,” I tell myself as much as him. My fingers fumble with the buttons on my shirt. “I don’t know if it’s too soon, but I want you to see.”

  “Jordy, what—” I part my shirt and his eyes drop to my revealed flesh. Wincing at the bite of the tape, I peel the bandage away from my tattoo.

  Grizz’s eyes widen and I let my hands drop. I straighten, letting him see what I drew for the artist, what I chose to put on my body. Over my heart, covering the ugly scar tissue.

  “Kit,” Grizz swallows, not taking his eyes off my tattoo. The flesh around the ink is red. It’s still healing, but there’s no mistaking the design. A bear print.

  “Is that—?”

  I nod slowly.

  “Kit.” Such warm depths in his voice, I can sink happily. I can drown. He touches the ink stain, gently. I jolt as if electrified. “Did you get this for me?”

  “Yes. I want your mark.”

  He lets out a shaky breath.

  “I want to belong to you. That is, if you’ll have me.” I bow my head, partly in submission, partly because I can’t bear to look into his eyes.

  Slowly, as if a sudden movement will frighten me, he extends his hand. I hold my breath as he spreads his hand over the mark. His touch is light but burns, a heat spreading through my body.

  “Look at me,” he orders. My eyes snap to his. I force myself to keep breathing as his bright gaze swallows me. “You wear my mark.”

  “Yes.”

  “You belong to me.”

  I nod. Everything I want to say clogs my throat, choking me up.

  “Yes.” He seizes me. Fisting my hair, he draws my head back, lips sucking on my pulse until they release me with a pop. “Yes.”

  My body instantly goes soft, my natural instinct for submission flaring to life with his commanding touch. I feel my pulse beating everywhere—at my throat, behind my knees. Between my legs.

  “Grizz.”

  He palms my backside, squeezing it roughly. In a flash, I’m up in the air, legs straddling his waist as he nips at my breast through my shirt. I arch into him, offer myself to his plunder.

  “Little fox,” he murmurs, shoving my bra down to get at my nipple. “My Kit.” He uses his teeth on my nipple as he settles me on my back on the bed. I reach up to tangle my hands in his hair, but he grasps them, pinioning them above my head with one hand. I smile and wriggle, loving his domination.

  His grin is feral. “You like that, little fox? You need me to hold you down while I make you scream?” He’s back to work on my nipple, worrying it with his teeth, flicking it with his tongue, sucking so hard I feel the answering tug right between my legs.

  He unhooks my bra and pulls it and my open shirt off. Then he returns to my breasts. He kisses a circle around the tattoo, his facial hair brushing against the tender skin and making me shiver.

  “Does that hurt, baby?”

  “I like the hurt,” I tell him, voice thick with lust. My skin tingles everywhere with delicious sensation. My senses are on overload: the weight of Grizz pressing down on me, his intoxicating smell in my nostrils, his slow thrusts in the notch between my legs. All the while, his tongue circles my neglected nipple, flicking, teasing.

  He sucks this one, too, and I choke on a cry, arching into his mouth.

  Grizz thrusts against me, hard, almost like he couldn’t help it.

  “Fuck, Kit. You don’t know what you do to me,” he growls, shifting to palm my mons. I moan and rock my pelvis into his hand to get pressure on my clit. He slides his hand inside my panties and fingers my wet folds.

  “Is all this wetness for me?”

  “Yes,” I breathe, wrapping my legs around his back to encourage him into the position I crave.

  He screws one finger into me, then another as I squirm and gasp. Submission falls away as I grow more desperate. I twist my head and nip at his arm, trying to drive him into giving me what I need.

  He chuckles. “Are you getting nippy little fox? I might have expected that more from a cat shifter. Or were you begging for a spanking?”

  I smile up at him. It feels like a naughty smile—one I didn’t even know I was capable of. He grins back, rolling me over to my belly and slapping my ass. He drags my skirt and panties off and delivers five more slaps before he strokes my wet slit again.

  I shiver with pleasure and roll my hips.

  “You like it from behind, Kit?”

  I never really considered my own likes before. I enjoyed submitting, so I liked whatever pleased my master. That’s still true. Anything Grizz wants from me I would offer in a heartbeat. It would bring me genuine joy to please him. But what do I like? Do I want it from behind?

  “Yes,” I answer honestly. Because it sounds delicious. But also, �
��I like it any way with you, Grizz. I want it every way.” There I go making demands. Again, so not like me.

  And yet I know Grizz wants to hear.

  He shucks his clothes quickly and climbs over me, palming my butt with both hands and squeezing. There’s no need for a condom. Shifters don’t have sexual diseases and my bear is claiming me. So he wouldn’t be afraid of putting a cub in me.

  Or a kit.

  “Spread your legs, Jordy.” Grizz’s voice is thick with desire. The sound of a deep rumble makes my pussy clench.

  I part my thighs to make room for his massive length and he lines up with my entrance.

  “Who do you belong to?” he demands, right before he plows into me.

  My muscles squeeze around his thick member and I lose my breath—not because it hurts. It’s more the sensation of being filled so fully startles me.

  But it also feels so right.

  “You, Grizz. I belong to you.” Tears sting my eyes at the honor of being claimed by this male. This brave, strong, loyal male.

  He arcs in and out of me, filling and emptying me and every stroke brings new bliss. I turn my face into the pillows and moan softly. Grizz wraps his hand in my hair and lifts my head, leaning over to mate our mouths. His tongue twines with mine in a hectic, sideways kiss and then he’s ramming into me, slapping my butt with his loins, getting deeper with every thrust.

  My moans take on a higher pitch—a keen—and desire starts to coil into restless need. “Please, Grizz. Claim me. Oh please.”

  “Fates yes, I’ll claim you,” he growls, slamming even harder—harder than I would’ve thought possible.

  I sob in ecstasy as he splits me in two, shatters me. He releases my hair and wraps a large hand around my nape to hold me in place for his brutal thrusts.

  His movements grow jerky, breath short. “Fuck, Kit. Fuck! You better come now, little fox.” He slams in doubly hard for four more thrusts and then stays deep. I swear I feel the hot stream of his cum fill me as I shake and squeeze and scream out my own release.

  Stars explode behind my eyes. Pleasure engulfs me. I sink into the total ecstasy of release.

  I barely register Grizz pulling out and carrying me into the shower.

  Grizz

  Taking care of Jordy satisfies me as much as claiming her. I love the way she trusts me completely. There’s no resistance, no walls up. She stands under the spray of the water and lets me suds her from head to toe.

  She’s still blissed out from her orgasm. Almost as drugged as the subs look leaving Toxic. Which is a relief, because I’m not sure I’m into giving her much more pain than a few spanks to color her ass.

  I turn off the water and climb out. “Wait here, Kit. I’ll get you a towel.”

  She nods, eyes still glazed, cheeks flushed pink from the steam and heat. I grab a towel, cursing inwardly that I don’t have any newer, softer towels. My little fox deserves something more luxurious against her delicate skin. I dry her off, then pull her back into the bedroom to get under the covers.

  Yeah, I want to cuddle.

  Me.

  It’s fucking strange, but beautifully true.

  “I want you to draw me something,” I tell her. “Anything. I want your mark on my body.”

  “I thought you said bears don’t mark their mates.”

  I smile under her fingers. “This one does.”

  She smiles back, a little quirk of her mouth. “I’ll draw you something.”

  “Or lots of things. I can cover all my scars.”

  “But I love your scars.” With an impish wrinkle of her nose, she kisses down my chest, settling between my legs and browsing with her mouth at the slash across my abs until my body is tight and drawn up to the point of her mouth. Then and only then do her lips brush my cock. Her backside sways as she gets to work.

  “Kit,” I grate out. No, she’s not a kit. She’s a beautiful, full-grown female fox.

  A vixen.

  Chapter 15

  Grizz

  A cry wakes me. Jordy thrashes in my arms, fighting demons in her sleep.

  I shake her gently. “Shh, baby, wake up.”

  She gasps and her eyes fly open, round and wide. “Grizz?”

  “It’s okay, shh.” I rock her in my arms, feeling helpless. I wish I could fight the ones who prey on her in her nightmares. Never again, I vow. No vampire will touch you again.

  She cries in my arms and I grope for the light, desperate. My hand falls on the sketch book.

  “Here.” I turn so she’s in my lap and place the book in hers, along with the pencils. “Draw it.”

  “What?” She sniffles.

  “You keep having nightmares,” I explain. “You don’t have to tell me what they are.”

  “I can’t.” She wipes her face. “I would if I could, but I don’t fully remember. Just bits and pieces.”

  “It’s okay. Draw it. Get it out.”

  A pause, then a shuddering sigh blows through her. Her pencil scratches over paper. I avert my gaze to give her privacy. No need to see what she draws until she’s willing to show me.

  I hold her like that until she murmurs she’s done and sets the notebook aside. Then I curl up around her and hold her until her breathing evens and I know she’s asleep.

  My bear wakes me close to dusk. I know the hour even though no light reaches us in the bedroom. A lifetime of hunting vampires has trained me to come alert before nightfall. Time to be up and on the hunt.

  For the first time, I don’t want to move. I’ve got a beautiful vixen in my arms.

  She’s a restless sleeper, twitching and frowning, worry lines moving across her face like clouds. She slept still enough after I fucked her, though.

  I wait until she whimpers to wake her. “Jordy? Wake up, baby. You’re having a bad dream.”

  She comes awake with a strangled gasp. “Grizz?”

  “I’m here.” I snuggle her closer. “You’re safe with me.”

  Her whole body instantly relaxes. I tip her back and brush her hair from her brow. “Another nightmare, Kit?”

  With a sigh, she nods.

  “You wanna draw it?”

  “I’m okay.” She burrows deeper into my hold. “I feel safe with you.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “I never thought I'd feel that way. Not in a hundred million years,” she continues in a small voice.

  My forehead creases. What the fuck did Augustine do to her, that she’s tormented every time she sleeps?

  “What time is it?” She stretches and yawns.

  “Close to dusk. Maybe a little after. I gotta go.”

  “Do you have to?” She wriggles against me, waking delicious memories. And a monster—the one in my pants.

  “Careful, Kit,” I growl. She giggles and I kiss her, swallowing her laughter.

  “All right, enough.” I roll out of bed. “Rise and shine. Up and at ‘em.” I swat her as she dances from the bed into the direction of the bathroom. I want to pull her back to bed.

  No! Bad bear. I need to head to the Fight Club to grab Benny, and take him to Frangelico for questioning. This hunt is close to being over. I can feel it.

  I shake out the bed sheet and something flops to the floor. Jordy’s sketch pad. I go to grab it when an image on the page hits my eye. I recoil like it’s a rattlesnake.

  “What is it?” Jordy asks from the doorway. She’s wearing nothing but her button-down shirt, and it’s not buttoned down. A second ago I would’ve been tempted.

  I snatch up the sketch pad, holding it in the lamplight. I wasn’t mistaken. The image is clear—the one-eyed vampire.

  “Grizz? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  I keep my back to her. It’s too much to reconcile: the woman I love and the object of my hate. I never told her what he looked like. Did she know all along? Did Augustine know?

  I can’t stop my thoughts from taking a dark turn. It’s too much of a coincidence that the monster haunting Jordy’s nightmares is my mother’s murder
er.

  Is it possible Jordy’s playing me? No. Not consciously—the vampires are pulling the strings. Is she a plant?

  It makes sense. She’s the perfect bait. Augustine saw me slavering over her at Toxic, and conspired with my enemy to lure me out. At any moment, she could make a call and bring the vampires here. She just has to wait until this place is home to her, then she can invite them over the threshold.

  No. Stop. This is Jordy we’re talking about. She couldn’t betray me. Could she?

  I turn and the look on my face makes her back away.

  “Grizz?” She glances from me to the sketch pad, hesitant and uncertain.

  “What is this?” I hold the sketch in front of her face, my voice intentionally cold. “Why did you draw this?”

  She shakes her head, her fingers trace the drawing lightly. “You said I should draw my nightmares.”

  I drop the book and grasp her shoulders. “Who is he? Is Augustine in league with him?”

  “Grizz, please—”

  “Answer me!” I roar, even as my bear protests my rough treatment of her.

  “I don’t know,” she cries. “I don’t know who he is. He’s in my dreams. I don’t remember. Augustine brought me to him, and I think they…I don’t remember.”

  “Are you lying to me?” I tip her head back.

  Tears hit her eyes. “I’ve never lied to you.”

  She’s telling the truth. I sniff her over and can’t sense a lie. She might still be a pawn in this, but that’s not her fault.

  “I’m sorry.” I back away. She tips her face up, pleading, but I can’t touch her, reassure her. I run my hand through my hair instead. “I was wrong. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just saw—” I gesture to the image. Fuck, my heart’s racing.

  She picks the sketch pad up. “What is it? You’re scaring me.”

  “That’s the vampire that killed my mother.” I stare at the face that haunts me. I haven’t seen his image in over fifteen years.