“You know, I have no problem with us continuing from where we left off last night,” he says, grinning.
I give him an eye roll, though my body is tempted by the prospect. “You said Lindon can trust you.”
He shrugs. “He can, compared to the others.” He tugs me closer to him, a hand at my waist, making me feel small again, when I know I’m not.
“Don’t touch my fat,” I scoff, pulling at his hand. But he just digs in deeper, pulling me tight to him, chest to chest, hip to hip.
“I love your body,” he says. “I bet it’s soft all over.” He leans forward and smells my hair. “I knew you’d smell great in the morning air.” I take a breath to tell him to let me go before I lose my mind, and he whirls me in his arms so that my back is to his chest, both us of facing out down the hill.
I catch my breath at the beautiful sight before me. Bright sun glittering over the wet trees and grass, the forest in the distance and some pools of water catching the light, and the mansion beneath. The light blue of the sky in the early morning. The cool air smelling like fresh mountain breezes.
“It does smell great up here,” I say, as he leans in to nuzzle my neck. His cinnamon-vanilla scent makes itself known as he comes close. I put my hand over my watch, teasing the button with one finger. I’m not planning to press it, just need something to do with my hands.
“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop,” he says.
“I can’t,” I say. “I’m afraid that’s completely beyond me at this moment.”
“I’ve been told I have that effect on women,” he says, his breath hot on my neck, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine to somewhere in my hip.
“Hm, have you?” I say, trying to keep my tone calm.
“Yup.” He nips the skin at my neck, his hands tighter around me. I can tell he’s getting more worked up inside, like I am. “And come on, I’m the first one you kissed. And you know I didn’t try that hard on the Q and A, so I didn’t earn it.”
“You didn’t try on purpose?”
“Baby, when I get a kiss, I don’t want it to be for a question I answered. I want it to be a feeling, a want, a desire.”
“So cheesy,” I say.
“I get that a lot too.”
“Let me guess, from Thor?” I say.
He laughs but doesn’t let me go. “Maybe.”
“You two are so different.”
“Not as different as you might think,” he says, nuzzling me again.
“What do you mean?”
I feel him cock his head to one side. “Well, people see me as the easy going one. But I can get very…unreasonable.” He turns to face me.
“Unreasonable like how?” I ask.
He ignores me. “And Thor, people see him as this stupid brute, and he kind of works to cultivate that image, because we were bullied so much as kids.”
“You were bullied?” I ask, looking up at him.
“We were orphans and alphas. A lot of people felt simultaneously threatened and annoyed by us. And some felt if they got rid of us, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about us taking over the pack someday.”
“That’s awful,” I say. “I’m an orphan too.”
He brushes a stray piece of hair that escaped from my ponytail off my face. “That’s awful. I guess we have a lot in common.”
I nod. “I guess so.”
What happens next happens so fast I can barely see it happening. He sweeps a leg under mine, knocking me off balance, then catches my back with his hands and lowers me to the ground. Then he kneels over me, taut, muscled thighs on either side of me. A dominant position. He grins, baring a fang.
“Um, what are you doing?” I ask.
“I was tired of talking about sad things.” He leans forward, takes a long lick up my neck that leaves a trail of searing heat. “I’d rather do something more…pleasant.”
“Hey,” I say, tugging at his hair. “Stop it, you.”
He immediately stops, lifting his head, and my body screams at me for making him pull away. My neck begs me to reconsider, tries to persuade me how much it needs to be kissed.
But if I let things continue, there’s a chance they could get out of control here, then the alpha challenges will be over, and my heart isn’t sure what it wants yet. Even if I’m pretty sure any of these men could make me happy.
Lock sits back on his haunches. “I won’t do anything you don’t want. I won’t rush you. You can trust me.”
“I know,” I say.
Then we hear the engine of a powerful car, vrooming up and peeling to a sharp stop. A fence opening and closing, and then wheels on a dirt road. I try to peer over Lock’s shoulder to see what’s going on, but he looks back at me, just as confused, before turning to see who is coming.
Then a hand grabs him by the shoulder and yanks him off of me, throwing him to the side, where he rolls a couple of times and then comes to a halt, groaning.
“Shit, what the hell, Lindon?” Lock says. “I told you you could trust me.”
Lindon jabs a finger his direction. “I’d shut the hell up if I were you,” he says tersely.
His eyes are blazing, flashing like a white hot flame, as he looks me over with hands clenched into fists. “Are you alright? If you are, I’ll be back after I kill him.”
My eyes widen. “No, what’s going on? He didn’t do anything.”
Lindon give me a bewildered look. “Didn’t you press the button on your watch?” he asks.
I look down at it. It’s going off, the screen flashing. Dammit.
Chapter 3
Lindon puts his face in his hands, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
“Damnit, Misty. I thought…”
I squirm and look over at Lock, who’s rubbing his neck and brushing off the knees of his jeans, now covered with grass stains.
“I’ll pay for that,” I say. Lock just waves me off, like it’s no problem.
Lindon just sighs. “You don’t even…” he drags his hands down his face, pulling his face comically, and lets them drop at his side. “So, there was no reason for me to come out here?”
I look over at the car he drove out here to come to my rescue. A Jaguar. He must have similar taste to Rafe. I wonder what the third brother, Hawthorne, drives.
Lindon wipes sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and just pants for a moment. “That’s it,” he says. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s giving me a freaking heart attack.”
“Woah,” Lock says, rolling to his feet and coming to put a hand on Lindon’s shoulder, which Lindon swats away easily.
“Don’t touch me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Lock says. “Anything she didn’t want.”
Lindon turns that intense, golden gaze on him. “Didn’t look that way, so I’m still trying to convince my wolf of that.”
“I understand,” Lock says, raising his arms. “Do what you have to.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, walking forward. “When you say you can’t do this anymore?”
He avoids my gaze and rests his chin on one hand. “I just, I can’t do it all on my own. There’s no time for a break.”
“Lindon, I’m sorry about the bracelet. I was touching it before, just because I was nervous.”
His eyes flare open, and I stutter.
“No, not like that, I just wanted something to play with, with my hands, and then when we fell over…I must have bumped it.”
He sighs again, sweat still beading on his forehead. “I told you what that bracelet signaled,” he says, exasperated. “I can’t believe you’d be so careless with it.”
I clench my jaw. “It was an accident.” I start undoing it. “If you want it back…”
He puts a hand up. “No. That’s not what I want. Come on back to the house with me and I’ll explain my next plan of action.”
“Hey, what about me?” Lock asks, tilting his head.
“You can take your bike back,” Lindon says, glaring. “Frankly the brace
let might not have been pressed, but you were on top of her when I got here, and that wasn’t my idea of watching out for her while I was supposed to be taking a break.”
Lock shrugs and gives us an adorable, rakish grin, and his eyes flick to mine playfully. I bite back a smile and wave slightly before turning to go with Lindon, who’s cursing as he leads the way back to the car.
I wince at the beautiful vehicle on the messy dirt road. “I’m sorry about your car.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “Just a car. I can buy another. Or ten.”
I swallow, sitting once he opens the door for me. The buttery leather caresses my legs in a luxurious way. “Just how rich is your family?”
He pulls sunglasses out of the glove box. High end ones. “Very.”
He pulls slowly out of the dirt road and turns onto the road back to the mansion.
“I really am sorry, Lindon. But thanks for coming. I’m touched you were so worried.”
He makes a ‘tch’ noise and looks like he wants to say something but won’t.
“But look, I don’t think you have to worry as much as you think. I’m not completely incapable. I don’t think you need to be completely freaking out about things. Like there, Lock was being fine. Couldn’t it have occurred to you that I just made a mistake?”
He shakes his head, still angry. “No, it didn’t occur to me that the reason was anything other than you being in danger.”
“Even so, you don’t have to have a heart attack. I can fight back too, you know. I took self defense in college.”
“Hm,” he says, unimpressed. When we pull up at the mansion, he hits a button on the clicker and it opens, revealing a fairly empty garage. Just this car and another sports car.
“Who’s is that?” I ask.
He just shrugs, not in the mood to talk. He leads the way in through the garage, holding the door for me to go into the house. I do, noticing a few guys in the kitchen.
“Well, if it isn’t prince charming and the princess, come to grace us with their presence,” Asher says, looking pouty. I wonder if he’s a little younger than some of the other alphas.
Lindon just shakes his head at him as if he’s below his notice and pulls me by the hand up the stairs to his room. He opens the door and pushes me in. I’m a little tired of being pushed around. He shuts the door behind me, a lock clicks, and I pound on it. I guess he can lock his door from the outside.
“Lindon, let me out, right now!”
“No,” he says. “I need to make a phone call. You stay there.”
I sigh and ball my hands into fists at my sides. The afternoon was going so well until he interfered. Not that I blame him, it’s totally my fault for accidentally pressing that button, but he doesn’t need to be an ass about it.
I’m a female, not a child. And Lindon seems to think I’m made of cotton candy, like I’ll just melt away when someone breathes on me.
A few minutes later, during which I can hear Lindon talking angrily on the phone with someone, almost pleading, the door unlocks and he comes in.
“Why does your door lock from the outside?” I ask.
He raises an eyebrow. “None of your business. Maybe I just like it that way.”
I frown. “Who were you calling?”
“My brother.” He sits at the large desk at one side of the bedroom and I look around the room for the first time. Deep green furnishings, the drapes, the bedspread. Silver gray carpet. Deep cherry wood. Elegant, simple.
The desk is functional, with multiple computer screens. “I forgot to ask. What do you do for a living?” I say.
He shrugs. “I’m not in the mood to discuss that with you.”
“Okay, can I go back to my room then?”
He puts one foot on a rolling chair next to his desk and pushes it toward me. I catch it with one hand, surprised by his coordination. “Sit there for a minute, till my bro gets here.”
“Rafe?” I ask.
“No, the other one. Hawthorne.”
“Ah,” I say. “What’s he like?”
Lindon raises an eyebrow. “Don’t get any ideas. He’s mated. He’ll be immune to your scent and that’s a good thing.”
“Oh,” I say.
“As to what he’s like? Obnoxious. Completely, in-your-face annoying. But I guess that’s what makes him lovable.”
“Weird,” I say.
Lindon just makes a casual shrug of his shoulders and sorts through papers on his desk, putting them into organized files in one of the side drawers. I get the idea that everything about this man goes according to a specific system, that he thrives on order and controlling things.
The night he kissed me, he said something about that being one of his weaknesses. Needing to be in control.
Well, I happen to not consider that a weakness, since I have no problem with a man being in control. I blush, thinking of Lock’s kiss, the way he was holding me as we looked out at the mansion.
Lindon exhales, frustrated. “Can you stop doing that for one stinking minute?”
“What do you mean?”
“No pun intended,” he says dryly.
Oh. He means my pheromones. “I would if I knew how. Maybe you could show me how you control yours?”
“Well, one, I’ve been practicing for years, and two, I genuinely don’t want a mate. My body seems to sense that. So I guess, if you could be uninterested in any of the men here, including me…”
Impossible. “Ah.”
“Anyway, he should be here soon. It’ll be nice to have him help out.”
“Is he bringing his mate?” I ask. “What’s she like?”
“Rose?” He tilts his head to the side, considering it. “I don’t know her that well, but she’s nice. Full alpha, like you. Similar pheromone issues, as I recall. They were kind of a whirlwind romance, but that’s not uncommon in our world. Mates can be chosen very quickly. And no, I don’t think she’s coming. I doubt Hawes would let his mate step foot in a house like this.”
“Like what?”
“Full of males.”
“Ah.”
“Even though being mated dims the pheromones significantly, and the ability to scent them. So you should have zero effect on Hawes, and he should have zero effect on you. And most of the guys here should have no attraction to Rose, but then, even without pheromones some alphas aren’t to be trusted.”
“You pretty much don’t trust anyone, do you?” I say.
He shrugs. “Other than myself.”
I lean back in my chair and chew my bottom lip. “You know what? I don’t think you even trust yourself.”
His eyes meet mine, a yellow amber now that he has calmed down. I can see a light green ring around the center. When his eyes are bright and glowing, I never see that, but it must be what gives them that cool feel. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t trust anyone.” He eyes me warily. “Maybe you’re the expert.”
I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic and mean or not. He’s such a changeable person, that much has been obvious in the few days I’ve known him.
“Lindon?” I ask, because I have further questions. But before I can continue, someone raps on the door.
“Who is it?” Lindon calls, tall body tensing.
“Hawes,” a pleasant voice calls out. Deeper than Lindon’s, but more melodic. More cheerful. Still similar though.
“Come in,” Lindon says. “But don’t let anyone else in, if they’re out there.”
The door opens and a shifter with wavy chestnut brown hair and tanned, olive skin comes in. He smiles at me and a prominent fang on one side of his smile flashes at me. He strides in and closes the door behind him.
I can see the family resemblance. The high cheekbones, the square jaw, the sparkling eyes. But Hawes’ eyes are brown with an orange tint, and his whole face has a kind of boyish quality that Lindon’s doesn’t.
Lindon’s face has a kind of sharp beauty that I see in neither Rafe nor Hawes, and it must come from his mother. She was probab
ly amazingly gorgeous. So was his former mate, most likely.
“S’up bro?” Hawes says, giving me a wink and going to his brother to rub his shoulders. As he digs in Lindon lets out a little growl and gets up out of the chair, shrugging his brother’s hands away.
“Not now, Hawes. We have trouble.”
Hawes raises one dark eyebrow. “Trouble? With ten alphas in one house with one unmated female? What could possibly go wrong?” he says sardonically, taking Lindon’s chair and propping his feet on his desk, much to Lindon’s chagrin.
Lindon gives him a cool look and sits on the edge of his bed. “I know.”
“Honestly, I’m just surprised you said yes to this whole thing. I never thought the old man had much hold on you.”
“I can be loyal to the pack, when I need to,” Lindon retorts, eyeing Hawes coolly. “How’s married life?”
Hawes grins and leans back in the chair with closed eyes. “Bliss.” He sits forward. “When are you going to come visit?”
“Ha, like I want to interrupt the newlyweds.”
“True, on second thought, don’t visit.” Hawes finally looks at me, really looks at me, and his playful almond eyes grow serious as he looks me over. “So, you’re the lucky female who has to put up with all of these doofuses?”
I shrug. “Maybe, but at least they’re hot doofuses.”
He laughs at that, holding his stomach. “I like this one, Lindon. Let’s keep her around. How ‘bout you mate her? We’ll make a triple alpha sweep for the pack.”
Lindon gives him a withering glare. “How about I don’t. Now, the reason I called you…”
Hawes purses his lips. “For help winning the lady? It’ll be tough, after all, she has a lot of doofuses to choose from, and you’ll have to set yourself apart as the head doofus…”
Lindon puts his hand over his face and sighs loudly, and Hawes stops. But when Lindon looks up again, he’s smiling, looking a little more relaxed. “Alright, I have to give it to you. You’re ridiculous, but you always know how to calm me down.”
“Well, it doesn’t happen that often that you get riled up. You’re supposed to be the calm, collected one,” Hawes says. “So what’s got you down? And how long will you need me? I left Rose with Rafe and Aspen, and I’m sure she’ll want me back soon.”
Alpha Contender Boxed Set: BWWM Paranormal shifter romance BBW Page 11