The Big Alpha in Town

by Eve Langlais

  “Sure, let’s go,” Keir said happily. His father looked good, healthy, and content. Something he hadn’t seen in a while.

  “Chuck, this is my son, Keir. Son, this is Chuck.”

  Keir nodded a greeting, sat down across from the man at the kitchen table, and frowned at the empty kitchen area. If they’d been doing construction for a week, wouldn’t there be something to show for it by now?

  “Hello, as I was just telling your father, there’s been a slight complication. The piping from the sink is old and rusted. It’s got a small leak that has begun to rot the wood and drywall. We’ll have to replace the pipes, wood, and walls. This, of course, puts us a bit behind schedule and will also add to the final cost of the work.”

  Keir frowned and glanced at his father sadly; he’d been right all along. The loss of his sense of smell did put him at risk. He’d spent all his life relying on it and now this was happening. “Chuck, can you show me the area you’re talking about, please?”

  “Sure,” the man said as he stood and moved from behind the table into the open area. Before the man could utter a word, Keir grasped the other guy’s shirt with both hands and threw him up against the wall. The guy groaned as he hit the wall.

  “What game are you playing? You’re lying to us,” Keir growled deep in his throat as he lifted the man on his tiptoes. “You can’t lie to shifters, you asshole.”

  “Keir, what’s gotten into you, son?” Kenneth cried out in alarm and panic.

  “He’s lying, Dad. He’s trying to steal money from you. There’s nothing wrong with the pipes or the walls, is there, Chuck?”

  The man gulped audibly as he slowly shook his head no. “Have you been stalling to jack up the price? And remember, I’ll know if you’re lying.”

  The man nodded slowly as his face paled to a ghostly white.

  “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’ll finish the renovations as promised to my father’s specifications without delay and without any more false or real complications, and you’ll do it at the original stated price.”

  “But…” Chuck began to stammer as he shook in Keir’s arms.

  “No buts, you tried to steal from us. I don’t take that kindly. Finish the job and then leave the area. You will never work around here again. If I find out you are, trust me, you won’t see me coming. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” Chuck said weakly.

  “Be finished by next weekend. Now get out of my father’s house, you piece of shit.”

  Keir watched as the man grabbed his pile of papers and ran out of the house like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. He turned to his father. “I owe you an apology.”

  “No. You don’t,” Kenneth replied sadly as he sank into a chair. “He came with good recommendations. I thought for sure he was a good guy. I always thought it would be at the bank I’d get screwed, not here in my home.”

  Keir sighed and sat beside him. “I’ll talk to Xander and Julia and get things settled and moved around. I’ll come to the bank on the condition you stay working there too. You love that place and I don’t want to push you out. I’ll help you run it, deal?”

  “It’s a deal. It’ll be good to see you every day again…” Kenneth trailed off and glanced at his gutted kitchen. “It’s a good thing you surprised me today. He would have earned a couple thousand dollars extra for work that he wasn’t going to do.”

  “Did he get anything completed yet? For the amount of time he’s been here, I figured it would be done by now.”

  “He did actually. Your old room is completed and the backyard is done. The kitchen was the only thing left. You want to see them? He did a good job on those even if he is a cheating, lying, sack of rotted skunk ass.”

  Keir burst into laughter at his dad’s words. “That’s descriptive and slightly alarming.”

  “So tell me about this woman I’ve been hearing about. She’s really your mate and not another one of your … what do I even call them?”

  “How about ‘friends’? They are my friends, Dad.” Keir sighed, annoyed at his father. “But yes, Ally is my mate. She just doesn’t know it yet. She’s human, so claiming her right away doesn’t work as much as I wish it did.”

  “But she is coming to the bank festivities, right?”

  Keir grinned. “She is and as my mate.” Keir spent the next few minutes explaining to his father about the Mate for Hire site and how it matched them up. “So you see, it’s kinda perfect. When we go out, she’ll pretend to be my mate, and I can show her what it means. I have two weeks to show her she loves me, and then I’ll explain she’s more than just my hired mate.”

  “Well, damn. You know I loved your mother and I don’t regret a thing. I got you. But if this had been around when I was young, maybe I’d have tried it too. Your friend is a smart man.”

  “Dad, you know the site isn’t really designed to match up mates, it’s just to give men a mate to help them out for different events and things. It just kind of worked out that Xander and I got matched with our mates … okay, now that I’ve said that out loud, you’ve got me wondering too.”

  A few hours later, Keir was lying on his couch and contemplating the conversation with his father. Could Kingston really have designed the website as a matchmaking site, and played it off as a mate for hire? He’s that devious and he’s always been a self-professed hopeless romantic. It wouldn’t be that out of place for him to do that. Hell, he’d even sworn he’d wait for his mate or die alone. He refused to settle, so it would make sense he’d create something that would ensure people found their other half.

  Keir fell asleep thinking about the website and Ally and woke in the morning with memories of the decadent dreams and thoughts of seeing his mate in just a few hours. In the meantime, he needed to talk to Xander and get things figured out there. A lot of changes were coming.

  CHAPTER 13

  Sunday had flown by for Ally as she relaxed in her small apartment and obsessed over her reaction to Keir’s announcement that she was his mate. Her heart had done a flip-flop and joy had filled her, before she understood what he’d been saying. His hired mate, not real mate. For some reason she couldn’t quite figure out, it bothered her more than she cared to admit.

  She didn’t know why. How could she wish to be his mate; she knew how he was with women. But then again, he’d been so different with her. She even understood what he was saying about why he spent so much time with all those different women, and truthfully, other than the one in the bathroom, all the women had been so friendly and welcoming. It was a bit disturbing actually.

  “Knock knock, you busy?” Josie called as she entered Ally’s small office and startled her out of her thoughts. “What’s got you so preoccupied?”

  Ally laughed. “Just thinking about the weekend. Thanks again for the party. I had fun and got to meet a lot of pretty awesome people.”

  “Good, I’m glad. Listen, I stopped by for a couple reasons. First to tell you that Xander and Julia loved your proposals and they want to get started right away.”

  “Fantastic. That’s a great way to start this Monday off properly.”

  “Second, I heard you were matched with Keir…” Josie trailed off.

  “Yeah, about that. Can I ask you some questions? But I’m swearing you to secrecy on this.”

  “Of course, what’s on your mind?”

  “Mates. What can you tell me about that whole thing? How does it work? I mean, how do they find their mates or know it when they meet them, I guess is what I’m asking.”

  Josie smiled and sat down. “Can I ask why you want to know?”

  Ally blushed and rolled her eyes. “Answer first and I’ll explain after. Please, I promise I will,” she added at Josie’s skeptical look.

  “Fine, I was matched with Xander, but like you I didn’t know we were real mates until that dinner you were at with us. Apparently, everyone but me knew it though. Shifters aren’t like humans in this area. We take our time, get to know one anoth
er and fall in love. Shifters know instantly if they are near their mate. It’s some kind of scent I think. I’m not sure, honestly. I just know that they know within seconds of meeting that they’ve found their mate.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t tell me much.”

  “Hold on, I’m getting there.” Jose laughed. “Impatient much?”

  Ally blushed. “Sorry.”

  “Shifters mate for life. Once they find their other half, that’s it for them. They’ll never look at another woman again. Cheating doesn’t exist either, at least on the shifter side. Humans can, but it’s almost unheard of. Shifters will spend the rest of their lives making their mates happy, they will do everything and anything to make them happy, feel loved, and protect them. It’s the ultimate bond in my opinion, you can’t find a more secure match in all the world. Mates are two halves of one whole; they fit together like a puzzle piece. Like…”

  “Suddenly everything in your world is right,” Ally supplied quietly.

  Josie nodded. “Exactly.”

  Ally didn’t say anything, just sat in silence and contemplated her words for a minute. “How do you know if you’re their mate? I mean, how does a human know they are mates with a shifter?”

  All Josie could do was shrug sadly. “We don’t. I mean, we feel a connection to our mate. Sexual attraction is out of this world too, but we don’t feel it like they do. I know I just thought it was lust and chemistry until I was informed otherwise.” Josie squinted her eyes at Ally, bit her lip in contemplation and finally blurted out, “Why are you asking this?”

  “Keir, of course. He told me I was his mate. My heart did a flip and then he clarified that I was matched with him as his mate.” Ally sighed. “He said he hasn’t been dating anyone in a few weeks, which happens to correspond to the time I’ve been in town. When I met him at XJ for our meeting, Bess started to make a comment about word getting out, and he cut her off. The few times we’ve been out in public, different women have said things along the lines of ‘So she’s the one.’”

  Josie tried to hide her smile, but knew she was failing miserably. “I get it now.”

  Ally groaned. “What do you get?”

  “You want to know if you’re his real mate, and he’s hiding it from you.”

  “He’s hiding something from me, that’s for sure.” Ally groaned again as she flopped back in her chair.

  “Do you want to be his mate?” Josie asked quietly.

  “It would explain things and make things simpler at the same time.”

  “Like what?”

  “Every time he walks in a room, I know it before I see him. I hear his voice and I need to … change … you know. It’s getting embarrassing. I won’t even begin to tell you the dreams I’ve been having involving him either.” Ally laughed self-deprecatingly. “It’s like he controls a switch and turns my body on with just a glance, but it’s more than that. He makes me laugh, we talked for hours over dinner the other night. We have so much in common, it’s almost unreal. He’s sweet, kind, romantic, loving, and so damn sexy it makes me want to strip down naked and beg him to take me.”

  “Would this be a bad time to tell you he’s here with me and probably heard most of what you just said?”

  Ally jumped up in alarm and stared at her in shock. “You’re just now telling me this? What kind of friend are you?”

  “If it helps he just got here, and only heard that last bit. He texted me, that’s the only reason I know.”

  “What did he say?” she asked with a small groan of embarrassment.

  “That it was lunchtime and I needed to leave now.”

  Ally frowned. “But it’s only ten o’clock…” She trailed off as Josie gave her a pointed look. “Oh. Oh … um…”

  Josie laughed, stood, and moved to stand beside her at the desk. She grabbed a pen and jotted something down on a piece of paper before winking. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Ally stared at the paper and the words written there. “He is, but don’t tell him you know. Let him do that when he’s ready.”

  “I know it’s true,” Keir said in a soft growl. “I turn you on by stepping into a room. I bet you’re already soaked and ready to take me into your hot tight pussy. It’s okay, beautiful, you don’t have to agree. The proof is the sexy scent I get coming straight from between your luscious legs.”

  Ally quickly grabbed the paper and crumpled it. “What are you … doing here?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I wanted to see you, so I made up some pretense to come by. I couldn’t wait.”

  She watched as he stepped farther into the room, his smoldering lust-filled eyes never wavering from her. He closed the door, turned the lock, and smiled wickedly. “Your assistant, where is she?”

  “Vacation this week. I didn’t get a replacement because we’re not busy enough to need one yet,” Ally rambled as she watched him stride closer to her.

  “You know, I’ve got this fantasy and I think it’s a perfect time to try it out. Your desk looks sturdy enough. You might want to clear it off, before I throw everything to the floor.”

  “What … are you … why?” she stammered as she found herself clearing it off almost unconsciously.

  “Do you know how hot dresses are? They provide such easy access.” Keir moved in, leaning on the edge of her desk as if testing its strength. “Sturdy. Good.”

  His eyes walked the full length of her body and back again. With a low growl, he cleared what was left on top before grabbing Ally and spinning her around so her belly pressed against her desk’s beveled edge.

  “In this room you usually call the shots, but I’m here now.” Even as his breath fanned against the back of her ear, his words were a Taser to her pussy.

  Her lower belly jumped at the thought of him, his body, his mastery.

  Keir grinned against the soft flesh on the side of her neck, letting his fingers tug the hem of her dress higher on her thighs.

  “The door, Keir … lock the door.”

  “Already done. Now, I’m going to do you.”

  Ally closed her eyes, suddenly thankful she decided to wear a thong under her snug dress. She gasped as his hand palmed one ass cheek, his thumb running under the edge of the lacy split along her crack.

  “Sexy. Even easier access. It’s like you knew I was going to come”—he licked the side of her throat and slipped his hands lower—“here”—his fingers played with her damp folds—“and deep in here.”

  Keir shredded the thin fabric and pulled it from her hips. “So, boss lady. How do you want to get fucked?”

  Ally slid her legs apart and leaned over her desk, raising her ass higher. “Any way you want.”

  He chuckled, letting his hands slide over the outside of her thighs as he slipped to one knee. Spreading her cheeks, his tongue licked her from clit to ass and delved into her wet entrance.

  “Mmmmm, juicy and sweet.” His mouth took her as his fingers worked her clit and her tight hole.

  She gasped, her fingers clutching the far edge of her narrow desk as his mouth pushed her toward climax.

  “You’re so luscious and sexy, Ally. So wet. Come for me, baby.”

  Keir slid his thumb into her slick entrance and circled her pleasure center. Ally’s body tensed as her climax crashed. He kissed the full-fleshed curve of her ass and slipped his thumb from her, straightening behind her.

  She turned and watched him lick her wetness from his hand. He was so damned hot, the sight made her pussy spasm.

  He leaned in and took her mouth. “Kiss me, baby. Suck my tongue deep and taste yourself.”

  A small cry left her mouth as he took her lips, his hands slipping under her dress to cup her breasts. “I want every part of you, Ally,” he whispered into her kiss. “Your mouth, your cunt, your ass.”

  Letting one hand drop, he freed his cock and then grabbed her hips, driving his member deep. Ally broke their kiss, the feel of his thick mass making her knees weak.

  Keir pulled back, filling her aga
in. “You like that, Ally, don’tcha? A rock-hard length deep in your pussy. I can smell your juice on me, so wet it’s dripping down my balls.”

  His other hand dropped to her hips and he pulled her back, driving his member hard before pulling out.

  “Keir!”

  He fisted his shaft. “Turn around, baby. I want to watch your eyes as I fuck you. Watch you as my hard length slips in and out of your tight slit.”

  Ally turned and as she did, he lifted her to the end of the desk, spreading her knees wide. “Stroke me, Ally. Feel my thick head.”

  She slid her hand down his corded length, her own juice making his skin like silk in her hand.

  “That’s it, work me, babe. Work my cock.”

  Her eyes met his, and gritting her teeth she let go of his sex and grabbed his hips. “Keir! Please!”

  With a smirk, he jerked her ass to the end of the desk and drove his cock deep. She locked her legs around his hips and he lifted her with a low growl, turning with her until her back pressed against the floor-to-ceiling office glass.

  With her ass pressed against the glass, the office windows rattled in their frames behind as he rode her, banging her into the thick panes.

  She cried out, her body in spasms as her head pressed back against the cold glass. Her inner walls convulsed as she came and she dug her fingers into his shoulders.

  “Look at me, Ally,” he ordered and her eyes found his, dark and feral with need.

  He snarled, letting his lion raise to just below the surface and her body quivered at the raw animal sensuality. Keir’s body tensed and he threw his head back with a roar, emptying himself deep. He held her tight to his hips, letting every drop pump from his sex until he exhaled, his head falling forward onto her shoulder.

  The two slipped to the polished floor still entwined, his arms still wrapped tight around her waist. “So, boss lady, how’s that for an office introduction?”

  She sucked in a breath. “I don’t care if you weren’t looking for a job, you’re hired.”

  CHAPTER 14

  “You got a minute?” Keir looked up to see Xander standing in his doorway.