Holden's Mate

by Meg Ripley

  9

  Alyssa felt like she would become part of the couch as soon as she sank down onto it. Every bit of energy had been drained from her body, and she wasn’t even sure how her heart still managed to beat.

  Dirk, looking rather human again, wouldn’t stop pacing the apartment. “You’re sure you’re alright?” he asked again as he paused, studying her face. “You look very pale.”

  “I feel pale,” she replied. “And I don’t think you can really blame me for that.”

  “No, of course not. But I can get you some food, or a doctor if you need one. My father probably has a connection I can use.”

  Alyssa held out her hand to stave off any more offers. “Really, Dirk. I’m fine. Or at least I will be. It’s just going to take a little while to process this. My life has completely flipped in almost no time at all.” Without the doctor to order them around, the soldiers had automatically looked to Alyssa for orders. She’d had no choice but to call in the agent who had negotiated the contract with Bios Labs, and men in black suits had shown up less than an hour later to escort the test subjects to a new facility. Dirk, Ethan, and Mr. Bennett had resumed their two-legged forms well before there was a chance of anyone finding them.

  “Do you think you can forgive me?” Dirk was on his knees in front of her now, his eyes so earnest that they burned into her soul. He had grabbed her hands and held them between his own. “I was an idiot, and I put you in danger. That’s not what I meant to do, but it happened and it was my fault.”

  “Dirk…” There was no use in pointing fingers.

  “No, really. I need to know. I was ready for a change in my life, but I had no idea just what that meant until I met you. You’re the first person to really wake me up, to make me understand who I am and what I want from life. I never thought a person could be as important to me as you are.”

  She reached out and gently ran her finger across the line of his jaw. He was such an intense man, and she understood now that it was because he had so much inside of him. “Of course, I forgive you. I’m not sure there’s anything to forgive, but if there is then I do. You saved my life in more ways than one, and you showed me that there’s so much more out there than just work and research.” Alyssa put her hands in the air, reaching for the right words. “It’s more than okay. I think what happened needed to happen. Dr. Brinkmann never would have stopped on his own.”

  Dirk closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to their clasped hands. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that. Where do we go from here?”

  Alyssa hadn’t really had a chance to think about it. A luxurious car had shown up at the lab at Mr. Bennett’s call, and she had let Dirk usher her into the back of it. There had been some sort of talk about where to go, but Dirk had been insistent that they go back to his place. She was fine with that. She didn’t care where she was as long as she wasn’t at work. “I don’t know. I don’t think I know much of anything.”

  “Same here. I just know that wherever you go, I want to go with you.”

  She blinked as she looked down at him, surprised. “Why? That’s the one thing I don’t understand about you, Dirk. You can go anywhere you want, and with anybody. You don’t have any limits. You just have to pick what appeals to you and go for it.”

  “In some senses, yes,” Dirk agreed. “Or at least people have always seen me that way. But I’m tired of only being liked for who my father is and the balance I carry in my bank account. You aren’t the only one that’s had a change in perspective. I don’t care about a fancy job or parties for rich people. I just want to do what I love, with someone I love.”

  “Oh, Dirk.” A flush of life came back to Alyssa’s body. It was so unexpected, and yet so wonderful. “I love you, too.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, but I want to make sure you know everything that comes along with that.”

  She had to roll her eyes at him then. “What, like the fact that you’re a dragon? I already know about that.”

  He laughed. “Not just that. I mean that I own half of a very large company. Things might not always go exactly the way I want them to, but I owe it to my father to do the best by Bennett Energy. That’s going to mean a little time in the spotlight, and I’m worried that you aren’t very comfortable with that. I also want to pursue my love of science, but I also want to meet your expectations.”

  Alyssa pulled him up so that he was standing in front of her once again. She ran her hands up his body as she stood, going slowly so she could relish the strong muscles of his legs, the trimness of his stomach, and the sculptured perfection of his arms and shoulders. It was all hidden under his clothing, but she knew it was there. “What I expect is for you to talk like a science nerd to me when we go out for dinner.”

  Dirk kissed her neck and pulled her close. “I can do that.”

  She inhaled deeply, reveling in the lingering scent of his cologne. How did he smell so damn good? “And to always make sure you do what makes you happy.”

  His lips roved up her cheek and across her forehead. “Already on the to-do list.”

  “And to make love to me every night, and not to stop even when I tell you to.”

  With a growl, Dirk scooped her off her feet. She wrapped her legs around him, and he held her easily in the air. “Please tell me that starts tonight.”

  “Absolutely.” Alyssa ran her hands through his hair and kissed him as they made their way down the hall to the bedroom. She giggled when he threw her down on the bed and gently nipped at her neck.

  “Help! Help!” she said in a high-pitched voice. “I’ve been captured by a dragon and he’s going to eat me!”

  He gave another growl as he ran his hands down her body and pulled at the buttons on her shirt. “You’re damn right I am.” Dirk pulled away the material slowly to reveal her bare skin, his eyes watching appreciatively as he exposed her bra. He bent forward to kiss her navel, working his way up the smooth lines of her stomach until he was stopped by the barrier of her underwire. His nimble fingers dispatched it with ease as he revealed her ample mounds. He tossed it aside without a care for where it landed. With one breast in each hand, he kissed each nipple delicately, teasing them with his tongue until they were hard buds. “You are so beautiful.”

  “And you are such a tease,” she breathed. She felt such need for him, and she had to stop herself from holding his face against her breasts. He probably wouldn’t mind, but she needed something else. “I want you, Dirk. Don’t make me wait.” She hadn’t needed anything extra or fancy when they had made love before, just him. It had been enough just to have him inside of her, and she wanted to feel that again.

  But Dirk wasn’t about to cut this short. “No. I want to know every square inch of your skin. I want to study it like it’s a new planet, mapping it like it’s the greatest discovery in all of history. Because it is. You are. Alyssa, I couldn’t be who I am without you.”

  She groaned at his words, which were making her wet on their own. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that. “Come here.” She tugged at his arms so that he was directly on top of her, and she pulled his face down to kiss him. The sensation of his tongue against hers sent a thrill through her body, and she pressed her hips upward against him. His member was already hard under his pants, and she sighed with desire.

  Dirk wasn’t ready to give in to her yet. He trailed his lips down her jawline to her ear, flicking her lobe with his tongue before making his way down her neck and spreading kisses along her collar bone. He paid lavish attention to each of her breasts once again, his fingers kneading the flesh as he awakened her nipples. With his strong hands, he suddenly flipped her over.

  Alyssa laughed with surprise. “What are you doing to me now?”

  “Just what I said I was going to do.” He pulled her hair from the nape of her neck and explored the tender area with his lips before moving down to inspect her shoulder blades and kiss every single vertebra on the way down her back. She shivered with pleasure as he finished his trek a
nd ran his hands firmly up her back in an impromptu massage.

  Alyssa was thoroughly wet now, and she turned back over to pull him into her arms. She pressed her lips to his, but she knew she couldn’t last much longer.

  With one hand, he reached down and flicked open her belt buckle. As he slowly slipped her pants from her hips, she thought she was finally going to get what she needed, but he moved down kiss the hills of her breasts once again. His soft lips worked their way over her body, traversing it as he had promised, gently kissing her stomach and her hips before he descended to the delicate folds between her legs. His tongue moved slowly, passionately, as he explored.

  The wet heat of him on her core was almost too much to bear. Alyssa twisted the sheets in her fists as she gasped. He was already bringing her to the edge, but she wanted him to join her there. “Please, Dirk. I don’t want to do this without you.”

  He parted from her with a kiss. “Don’t worry; you’ll get a chance.” But he didn’t stop what he was doing, licking, flicking, and lashing her with his tongue until he had worked her to a frenzy. His tongue was strong as it pushed its way inside of her, feasting, unrelenting.

  Alyssa’s breath came faster, making her dizzy. The tension built up inside her body until it erupted, blasting out from her center like lava as she felt every part of her body convulse. She arched her back and thrust her hips, her legs tense as Dirk continued to make fireworks explode behind her eyes. It was so intense that she didn’t think her body could handle it any longer, but Dirk wasn’t finished with her yet. Just as the waves of pleasure began to dissipate, he put his finger in his mouth and then inside her. He moved it in just the right way, slowly but deliberately, as he manipulated her most sensitive place with his mouth. A second finger joined the first, filling her up and making her moan all over again.

  She gripped at his hair and pounded the bed until he finally broke free. Alyssa was on her knees and tearing his clothes off his body, desperate to get to him. There wasn’t time to stare at him; she needed him. She flung her leg over his hips and pushed him to the mattress, and he didn’t resist. Just as she was about to slide herself down over him, another idea came to her.

  “That’s quite the devious smile,” Dirk remarked. “What do you have in mind?”

  “You know how to torture me,” Alyssa said with one eyebrow raised, “and I think it’s only fair if I get to torture you back.”

  He caught onto her meaning quickly. “You go right ahead, but I can promise you I won’t mind a bit.”

  Alyssa gripped his cock in her hands, circling her fingers up and down on the smooth skin for a minute before she wrapped her lips around his head. He murmured longingly, and she slid his entire length into her mouth. If there was any man who deserved special treatment, it was him, and she was determined to give it to him. She pulled and sucked at him until his dick was thoroughly wet and rock hard. He moved his hips against her and his hands came down so that he could bury his fingers in her hair, but Dirk made no effort to stop her. He spread his knees and wrapped his legs around her, letting her get as deep as she wanted to go. Alyssa found that she was all the more turned on, and her ministrations just made her want him that much more.

  “I’ve got to have you,” she said as she came up for air and crawled up the bed on her hands and knees. “I need you so badly.”

  Dirk’s strong hands gripped her backside as she guided herself down onto his manhood. He made a throaty noise of satisfaction as he closed his eyes and gently guided her hips up and down on top of him. Alyssa’s body hungered for him, a need so deep that it couldn’t be satisfied even by the intimacy they had already shared. She understood why Dirk had said the things he had to her, because she wasn’t ever going to get enough. They could study each other’s bodies every night and still find something new and intriguing.

  Her body clenched at the thought of making love to him over and over again. He was a brilliant man, a strong man, one who had already proved he would stop at nothing to save her life. Dirk was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to her, and both her body and her mind needed him in equal parts. She pushed against him, feeling the grind of her mound against the hardness of him, and her body reacted violently. As her walls convulsed around him, Dirk pulled her down to him and kissed her once again, reminding her that he was so much more to her than someone to fuck. His hands were everywhere, treasuring the small of her back, the curve of her buttocks, the slim length of her arms. He nearly broke the kiss as his own body responded, sending a moan up from his depths to brush against her lips. Alyssa’s entire body vibrated with a single-minded lust as his organ engorged against her velvet. Their bodies found an intuitive choreography of give and take, need and want, push and shove that brought them together to a sublime place they could never find on their own.

  Alyssa cried out, screaming from the very depths of her soul as she came. She rode him hard, milking his body for all the satisfaction she could get and wanting to give it right back to him. Dirk came inside her, his fingers digging into her flesh as his eyes rolled back in his head. His roars of fulfillment joined hers, their cries filling the room. She collapsed down onto him, breathing hard. Dirk wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple.

  10

  Dirk had tried to be patient as he waited for Mr. Cross to consider his proposal. As president of the Darkblood Society and owner of the Club, he often took his time with major decisions. It was a reasonable thing, but his answer couldn’t come soon enough. Now, he had called them to his office for a meeting. They waited in the lounge impatiently, Dirk playing with the ice in his glass and Alyssa staring around the room with wide eyes.

  “You look like you expect to be eaten,” he commented, smiling at her. He was nervous, but he didn’t want her to know that. Dirk felt that his idea was a valid one, but it was ultimately up to Mr. Cross.

  She tucked her hair behind her ear. She wore it long and loose, a look he wasn’t used to, but that he enjoyed. Soft, blonde waves framed her face, making her look young and innocent. He knew better, but he still liked it. She only added to the effect when she chewed on her soft, pink lip. “It’s not that, really. I’m just having a hard time processing the fact that everyone in here is a shifter. I didn’t even know of their existence until last week, and now you’re telling me they’re everywhere. I keep waiting to find out that my high school chemistry teacher is a dragon.”

  Dirk laughed. “It’s possible. Shifters come from all over the country to join the Darkblood Society. It’s the only place of its kind, where we can come and truly be ourselves.”

  “It must be nice to know that there are people here you can trust,” Alyssa said softly. “There are lots of people out there like Dr. Brinkmann, people who would want to harm you or make money off you. At least you know that it doesn’t happen here.”

  “Well, all I really know is that they’re dragons,” he corrected. Dirk amended his statement quickly when he saw the horrified look on her face. “But I don’t mean that in a bad way. “I’m proud to call many of the other shifters my friends. It’s just that there’s always a certain amount of mistrust when someone new joins the group. We’ve all grown up being rather suspicious of the world.”

  “I can see why.” Alyssa tipped her head to the side as she thought about something. “Your father made a lot of money in the oil business, and Ethan owns a massive software company. That other gentleman you introduced me to said he heads a global investment banking firm.”

  “Lance Rockland.”

  “Yes, him. Is everyone here rich?”

  It was an observation he had made himself at one point, and he understood why she would ask. It didn’t seem to make sense that an entire group of people who shared a common trait would be so wildly successful. It was something he had even asked his father about at one point, and he now shared that answer with her. “Most of us have bold personalities. We’re not afraid to take risks or make major decisions. That seems to translate well into a successful
business ethic, and it’s one that we take advantage of. Besides, we’re not really satisfied with what you might call normal life. Maybe it’s because we’re always trying to keep the dragon inside us happy, but we need a little more than just a nine-to-five job and a steak dinner.”

  She nodded as she processed this. “That makes sense.”

  “And it also means you’ll fit in very well with this crowd. You can’t be shy or easily intimidated here and still be happy. Everyone is determined to be themselves, whether anyone else likes it or not.”

  Alyssa pressed her lips together. “Sounds like a tough crowd. I hope I can live up to your expectations.”

  “You can. You already have.”

  She smiled, but her face fell after a minute. The hope that had taken up residence in her eyes ever since they’d heard back from Mr. Cross had dimmed.

  “What’s the matter? You’re not having second thoughts about this whole thing, are you? Because we’ve gone over every aspect of it, and I don’t see how it can possibly fail.” They needed Cross to be on board, but more than anything, he needed Alyssa.

  “It’s not that,” she assured him. “I just can’t stop thinking about all those poor soldiers from Bios. They had already gone through so much while fighting for our country. Then they were put under Dr. Brinkmann while they were still recovering, and I’m sure they were suffering from PTSD as well. They weren’t doing anything but following orders, and I don’t think they’re in any sort of legal trouble, but it’s going to be a long time before they’re rehabbed enough to be back out in society again.”

  Dirk reached across the table and covered her hand with his own. “Hey, you can’t think about it like that. Those men needed help, and you did everything in your power to give it to them. I saw with my own eyes men who had not only been saved from suffering major disabilities but given the chance at being more than human. You said yourself that the government would set them up with a revolutionary therapy for soldiers and have them fixed up and home in no time.” She had told him numerous stories about her time with the proposed super soldiers. They had been kind and respectful to her, and it had only been Dr. Brinkmann that they had truly reacted negatively to. Alyssa hadn’t seen it at first, but Dirk had been happy to point it out. She deserved to know that she was the good guy in a bad situation.