Kenney, Laina - Vulfen Alpha's Mate [Vulfen Cadre 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Kenney, Laina

  “Ellie, I would like to formally introduce my seconds to you,” Rylek said carefully. “Valeri Sidarov you know already, and Miros Reitn, both trusted warriors, charged with the safety of all within my rule. They will be trusted also with the protection of my mate should I fail.”

  Unspoken was the thought that if Rylek failed, it would have to be in the most extreme circumstances. A man like this, a leader and an Alpha, would never leave one of his own undefended. He would fight to the death for those he loved.

  Both seconds stood again, and went down to one knee before her, bowing their heads. They didn’t rise again immediately, and Ellie had the strange feeling that they were waiting for her to do something. She looked at Rylek helplessly.

  “They offer their lives for yours,” he said softly, and it came to her mind that he had done the same for her only moments ago. “It would be acceptable for you to touch their heads briefly, or even to kiss their foreheads, to acknowledge that gift.”

  Ellie was hesitant, but leaned forward a little and touched each man in turn on the back of his bent head. At the brush of her hand upon him, Valeri raised his head and gave her an impudent grin before resuming his seat on the sofa.

  Miros was slower to get up. He was huge, tall and broad, even bigger than Rylek. His face could never be described as handsome, rough and scarred as it was, but his expression was almost gentle, and he moved in a careful way. It seemed that he was unwilling to frighten the “little human female” any further.

  “Since there is no immediate danger, Alpha, perhaps we should go back outside?” Miros asked politely, indicating himself and Valeri.

  “Yes, my thanks,” Rylek responded formally, and the two vulfen warriors wasted no time in leaving.

  Ellie sighed quietly in relief. Three large men in her small apartment, civilized or otherwise, took up altogether too much physical space.

  “Ellie, are you well?” Rylek asked after a moment. “Your cheeks have some color now. Perhaps you are ready to believe I am real?” His voice was hopeful. “You told me I could not be real.”

  Ellie considered that she might be getting used to the idea of Rylek as a wolf, or, a vulfen. She nodded.

  “Maybe,” she allowed.

  “Then, are you recovering from your shock?” he pressed.

  Ellie gave him a withering glance.

  “There must have been a better way to tell me. You were trying to be as frightening as possible,” she accused.

  “No, beautiful one, I want many things with you, but I do not want you to fear me,” he said quietly. “But there is the problem of my people’s need for secrecy. We have done such a good job of making ourselves into a legend, I think, that it becomes difficult to convince someone with whom we want to share this knowledge.

  “There are not many humans who know of us. Very few human females would be strong enough for a full vulfen mating, and so our males do not even look among you.”

  Something in his tone alerted her and she asked, “If you mated me, would that cause a problem with your people?”

  Rylek stood up and began to pace back and forth in her living room. There was something predatory in the way he moved. She had noticed the quality back at the restaurant and marked the differences between Rylek and all the other men of her admittedly limited acquaintance, but she could never have guessed that there was such a fantastical explanation. She had chalked it up to pure sex appeal, that irresistible magnetism that some males had for females, and he certainly had that in abundance.

  “There are those, even among my people, who will judge you as too weak to be an Alpha’s mate, simply because you are human,” he said. “I resisted you for so long because of that.”

  Ellie was startled. “Resisted me for so long? But we only met tonight!”

  Rylek had the grace to look sheepish. “Yes, we met tonight. But I wanted you when I first saw you, and the hours moved too slowly. Hours! With a vulfen female, things would move much more quickly. It became torture to scent you near me, to serve your meal and watch you eat for someone else.”

  He knelt and looked into her eyes.

  “A beautiful woman eating is…part of the first mating ritual of my people. Deeply arousing to all males,” he said, his voice a deep masculine rumble. “Even more so to me because you are my mate, and your scent captivates me, intoxicates me. It is like suddenly drinking strong vodka when you have tasted only water, but the effect is many times more powerful than the best vodka. Truly, it is almost impossible to resist. I restrained myself, tried to deny that you could be mine, because you were fully human.”

  “And because I was with a date,” Ellie added.

  “No,” Rylek said immediately, “that is a human reaction. A vulfen would always take his mate from a lesser male. That human male you were with,” and here his voice dropped, as if he could barely restrain his growl, “could never stand against me in challenge. Indeed, the moment I moved to take you from him, he was easily persuaded to leave you to save his own life.”

  Rylek bared his teeth. “I would never leave you for another male to take. Never. I would answer any challenge for you, keep you with me, and protect you at the cost of my own life. My precious Ellie, you must have no doubt of that!

  “However, I had doubts about taking you because you are so deliciously human. And then later I was more certain of our compatibility together, and of your strength, but still I was determined not to drag you into my world. In the end, despite my best intentions to save you from the dangers of sharing my life, I could not let you leave with the human male. You are mine.”

  His eyes were direct, intense, and Ellie shivered involuntarily.

  “I will tell you now, the only thing that can save you from me is if you choose at this moment to be set free. I have not given you the mating bite, and if you tell me to leave you, I will. But you must tell me to go now… while I can.”

  Ellie pondered that for a moment.

  “I have questions first,” she said carefully.

  Her heart rate was rock-steady now, but her mind was a jumble of whirling thoughts.

  “You are very attracted to me, this I know. There is a burning heat between us. We could melt the polar ice cap.”

  His dark, slow smile flustered her, and she blew out a shaky breath.

  “Yes, I am attracted to you,” she said, frowning to show him how serious she was about this. “But I need to know about this bite. I’m sure it will be painful, but will it make me a wolf?”

  “No,” Rylek said, surprised. “Well, yes it will hurt at first, but it will not truly injure you, and later, the bite will bring pleasure to us both. It will make you stronger, your eyesight and stamina will be better, things of that nature, but to become the wolf? It has not happened with the other human mates.”

  “There are other human mates? Why didn’t you tell me that right away? How many others are there?” Ellie was very excited by this information. There were other human mates. She wouldn’t be the only one. It shouldn’t make a difference, but somehow it did.

  “I do not know how many there are worldwide,” he said honestly, “but in the Russian Clans, fewer than half a dozen. There are none currently in Sidarov Clan, but Petrov has two, both older women who have borne vulfen young to their mates. I have seen them, of course, and they are involved in their communities. But they do not run with the hunt in the form of the wolf.”

  She latched on to the most alarming piece of information first. “My babies,” she gulped, “would be wolves?”

  Chapter 7

  “Vulfen children cannot change from birth. First Change is at puberty, of course, which is somewhat later for us than it is for humans. Fourteen or fifteen is usual, even as late as seventeen for First Change would not be cause for alarm. And our lifespan is correspondingly longer than a human’s would be.” His tone was cool, and she perceived that he was annoyed with her.

  “Well, I don’t know any of this,” she said defensively. “An hour ago, I didn’t believe
in werewolves—sorry, vulfen—or vampires, or ghosts, or any other mythical beasts!”

  She stopped, took a breath, hesitated. Rylek took her hands in his and held them.

  “I apologize. Of course you want to learn. You may ask me anything,” he said magnanimously.

  Any other time his lord-and-master tone would have aggravated her, pushed her into a sharp retort, but at this point, she was still too unsettled to quibble. She needed to know.

  “Rylek…are there vampires and ghosts, and mermaids, and unicorns and—”

  His deep laughter interrupted her rushing words, and he squeezed her hands.

  “Ellie, I know most about my own people. Ask me about them. I do know there are vampires in the world, but they are not as you have seen them in films. They do not bathe in blood, or murder every human they meet for food or pleasure, and they keep very much to themselves, as we do also. As for other ‘mythical beasts’ as you called us—” He nipped her knuckles with his sharp white teeth, grinning at her alarmed squeak. “I have not seen any. Perhaps they live in the world with us, perhaps not.”

  “Well, you exist, so I wanted to know.”

  “Ah, so now I exist. I am gratified to hear it.”

  Ellie took exception to that note of dark amusement, and tried to pull away from him. He easily mastered her brief struggle and retained possession of her small hands in his large ones.

  “Ellie, can you not give me an answer?” He was serious now. “Can you not accept me? I pledge that I will be a good mate to you. I will give all of my soul, my blood, and my body, freely for your happiness and satisfaction. I will give my strength for your protection. I will hunt for you and feed you from my hand.”

  His words were unusual, but they almost had the sound of ritual, and Ellie wondered if a vulfen female might expect those very words from a male who was seeking her acceptance.

  He waited for her answer, his expression open, his beautiful black eyes gleaming with hope.

  Could she accept him? She wanted him, no question. The heat between them was intense. Maybe he wasn’t human, but he was still one of the best men she had ever met. He had already spoken for her and defended her, in a situation where her date was behaving very badly.

  She considered. He had the respect of the men who followed him. He was strong and handsome, and so compelling to her that her gaze was drawn to him constantly. He said his life was dangerous, and even though he was surrounded by loyal warriors, he worried for her safety. Her life before today, before him was undeniably boring, but was that enough? She was half in love with him already. Could she take the risk?

  “Yes,” she said simply, and then squealed when he lifted her into his arms and fastened his mouth to hers. He whirled her around and around, until she didn’t know whether her dizziness was from the spinning or his hot kisses stealing her wits.

  She pulled her mouth away and buried her face in his throat.

  “Rylek, stop,” she begged. “You have to stop.”

  He slowed and stopped their wild revolutions, but when he sat down on the sofa, he kept her firmly in his arms.

  Her own arms were clasped tightly around his neck, her legs on either side of his hips, knees pressed into the back cushions as he cuddled her to his broad chest.

  “Ellie, my beautiful one,” he murmured, pressing fervent kisses over her upturned face. “Ellie.”

  “Does this mean we’re getting married?”

  He stilled, his lips pressed to her vulnerable throat.

  “A vulfen mating is more binding than a human marriage.” His voice rumbled against her pulse, and it responded by picking up speed.

  Ellie wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Did she need to buy a white gown, book a church, what? Would he want to have a priest or would even suggesting that be insulting? Did the vulfen people have a functionary whose position was equivalent to a priest? She knew nothing about his culture.

  “Is there a ceremony?” she asked.

  “There is the mating between us,” he said deeply, “and the bite I will give you, but that is private. It is not a wedding as you know it, since the joining will already be accomplished. Then, you will be presented to the three clans, and they will accept you as my mate, my other soul, and their Alpha female. They will all come before you and offer their good wishes, seek your acceptance in turn as their leader’s mate. Of course, I will be beside you, but I cannot be seen to tell you how to respond. You must respond from your heart.”

  It did sound intense.

  “Are you sure that these clans will accept me?” Ellie worried.

  Rylek smiled against her skin. “They will accept my mate,” he declared arrogantly, “and their allegiance is forever.”

  “No divorce, then?”

  His expression when he pulled back from her was blank, so why did she get the impression that he was hurt?

  “Never.” The word was firm, short. “You would never be permitted to leave me. I could not continue to live with half my soul torn away. I would come after you always.” His eyes were changing, glowing fiercely. “Ellie, we are not yet fully mated. I can still leave you tonight, give you your freedom, and it will be forever. I can give you that gift.”

  He grasped her hips and began to push her away.

  “Wait, no! I don’t want that,” she protested, clinging stubbornly to his shoulders as he tried to put her aside. “I want you. I want us! I’m not saying no to you. I’m just trying to understand all of this.”

  “You are uncertain of me.”

  “Well, it is a bit of a shock!”

  Rylek sighed. “Yes, it is a shock for me as well.”

  His tone was wry, and he was no longer trying to lift her off his body where she was holding him strongly. Ellie began to relax.

  “Ellie, you must know that I did not expect to find you. Not tonight, certainly, but truthfully—not ever. I had become…resigned to living without a mate of my own. When I first scented you, I doubted the magnitude of the gift that was being offered to me.”

  His quiet statement had Ellie wrapping her arms more tightly around his brawny neck, offering the physical comfort of her body to assuage the terrible loneliness laid bare by his revelation.

  “This choice you say you’re giving me, it means you’ll leave me tonight if I choose to be free?”

  When he nodded, she continued, “Would you offer me freedom if I were a vulfen female whose scent appealed to you? If I were a vulfen female who was your mate?”

  “No,” he said flatly, his eyes suddenly fierce and hot, burning into hers. “I would seduce you and give you the mating bite immediately, so no other warrior could steal you from me. I would leave my scent all over you, inside you, as a warning to all other males to keep their hands off the treasure that is mine alone—if they want to live.”

  Ellie shivered as his words sank in.

  Rylek’s glowing eyes were locked on hers. “So the other males would know who will kill them if they fail to resist your dangerous beauty.”

  Dangerous beauty indeed. She almost laughed. Her mirror showed all her faults quite plainly, but if this amazing male wanted to call her beautiful, she certainly didn’t intend to argue the point.

  Ellie smiled softly. “Seduce me then,” she sighed in an open invitation. “Be my mate.”

  “Ellie! Yes, my beautiful mate.”

  The last word was almost inhumanly deep. He wasted no time. His hands roved over her body with devastating precision. His mouth began to taste her skin, openly savoring her essence.

  The touch of his lips on her skin was mesmerizing, and she sank into the simple pleasure he offered. She let her eyes close and basked in his focused attention. When he finally took her lips with his, she was smiling, languid and aching to experience the tumultuous power of his kiss.

  As their mouths fused, her fingers moved down the buttons of his white shirt, unfastening each one and pushing the shirt off his massive shoulders. She ran her fingers appreciatively through his dark chest hair,
exploring his tight male nipples.

  His own hands were busy divesting her of her silk robe, turning her so that she was lying on the sofa, stopping only when she was completely bared to his smoky gaze. His eyes were heavy-lidded as they moved down her body, lingering in intense male fascination on her most feminine places until she moaned softly and quivered in his arms. She felt the weight of his gaze like a physical caress. She curled her body against him in a plea he read immediately.

  “Your body is begging me,” he said sensuously, and Ellie had no answer except the uncontrollable and deeply luxurious arching of her body.

  She watched his hard, hot hands move over her skin, caressing and claiming, molding and squeezing her soft breasts. Her breathing became labored. She couldn’t help but sigh at the arousing sight.

  He spent long minutes stroking her, pleasing himself and learning the mysteries of her female response, teaching her nerve endings to leap in anticipation of his touch. Driving her higher and higher while his eyes glowed with an unholy fire, and his face became taut with his own pounding need.

  She tried to move, to turn into that masculine body, but his hands held her flat, pressing on her lower belly and causing her body to throb. Her own emptiness was torturing her, weeping and rippling, wanting his heat and power deep inside.

  “Please,” she murmured, twisting slowly, voluptuously under his hands. “Please.”

  “Ah,” he answered her, “you are ready, beautiful one? You are inviting me in?”

  He smoothed his hand down her body, and delved into her swollen folds, rubbing his rough fingertips over her tender clit. The sensation was almost unbearably intense, and she arched then fell back against the sofa cushions with a loud gasp.

  “Yes, my Ellie. Yes, whisper to me.” His voice was lower, darker, his accent more pronounced as he stood and removed his trousers, dropping them to the floor.

  The first sight of his honed body, muscular and lightly dusted with black hair, was enough to make Ellie’s mouth water. But when her eyes landed on his powerful erection, jutting proudly from its nest of black hair, she was mesmerized. She couldn’t look away, and when she reached out a hand, he threw his head back. He trembled but stayed still, muscles tensed, letting her examine his thick penis with its wet plum tip, his furred balls hanging heavy below. She weighed the twin globes, rolling them in her cool palm, and murmured in awe.