Alphas Unbound: 8 Sexy Shifter Romances

by Elsa Jade

  Gabriel Danes.

  The man who didn’t want her.

  Closing her eyes tightly, she forced Gabriel from her head. He lingered in her bruised and broken heart, but she couldn’t do anything about that, and God knew she’d tried.

  With a smile pasted on her lips, she opened her eyes and looked at Evan, who did want her. Why she couldn’t bring herself to find him attractive, she didn’t know. He had everything going for him—best friend’s older brother, the ability to make her laugh, and a killer body honed in the gym and bronzed by the strong Florida sun. But no. Nothing.

  She shouldn’t have accepted his offer to accompany her on the long drive from Florida to Michigan, which had grown increasingly uncomfortable until she balked at sharing a room with him when they stopped at a motel halfway through the trip. Now, she was glad she’d admitted to herself—and Evan—that there would never be anything between them. Gabriel was the only man she’d ever wanted, and the pain of his rejection would have been even more difficult to hide if she had to play the role of a good girlfriend with Evan.

  Thankfully, Evan had accepted her refusal and explanation with good graces, and insisted on tagging along for the rest of the drive. According to him, he’d always wanted to see one of the Great Lakes, and they were already halfway to Lake Michigan.

  He was a good friend—and an observant one.

  “That’s him, huh?” He glanced at Gabriel, who had turned his back after that initial scorching inspection.

  At Joy’s uncomfortable shrug, Evan angled his chin toward the dining room. “Our table’s ready. Your parents already went in.”

  Joy’s throat closed up. She didn’t want to walk into the packed restaurant but there was no escaping this homecoming breakfast with her parents. With Evan leading the way to their table, she kept her eyes on the back of his neck so she wouldn’t accidentally see Gabriel. It would have been a pretty good tactic if she possessed even a shred of willpower, but she didn’t. As she turned to slide into the booth, now facing the right way to see Gabriel’s face, she sought him out again. The fire burning in his pale eyes licked straight to her core.

  “So.” Joy’s mother cleared her throat pointedly. “I’m sorry we weren’t up to welcome you home last night.”

  “We’re sorry we got in so late. We ran into an accident that set us back several hours,” Evan said as he unrolled the napkin around his silverware.

  “We saw it on the news. So terrible.”

  As Evan recounted the long hours they’d spent crawling through the site of the crash, Joy unwound her scarf and hungrily studied Gabriel. It had been nearly nine months since her last glimpse of him, and longer than that since they’d last talked. A thick cable-knit sweater stretched across his shoulders, which filled half of the bench he occupied. For some men, winter layers added bulk that disguised their musculature. Gabriel’s slate-blue sweater wasn’t exactly see-through but it didn’t hide much either…or it didn’t dull her memory, anyway. God knew she’d looked her fill during warmer months, when it was impossible to miss the way his biceps strained the sleeves of his t-shirts.

  She was still trying to drink her fill of him when Zev and Forrest, big men in their own rights, stood and blocked Gabriel from view. Zev pulled his wallet from his back pocket and her throat locked up in panic.

  She couldn’t let him slip away this time. Not without telling him she was ready to let him go.

  *

  Outside, Zev and Forrest went ahead to do the things normal people did in preparation for a blizzard. Bottled water and peanut butter meant nothing to Gabriel, who, until Joy showed up, had planned on using the storm as a cover for losing himself in the forests to wait out the rest of the Mating Season. Unable to deal with the civilities of waiting in line at the check-out, Gabriel leaned against a telephone pole outside the market and dragged deep gulps of air, trying to clear his head and cleanse his senses. It didn’t work. He couldn’t shake her mouthwatering scent.

  When her sweet, soft voice spoke his name, a ferocious hunger burned in his belly. “I should march you back inside,” he said, not letting himself turn to face her.

  Beside him, Joy sighed. “I wish I could stop doing this. That I could stop…” Her voice broke but she picked up a beat later. “Well, that’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m stopping. I never wanted to bother you.”

  No. She couldn’t.

  Something inside Gabriel snapped, unleashing the wolf. With a low growl, he whipped around and caught her by the shoulders. Ignoring her startled gasp, he hauled her into a cramped alley between the diner and the town’s small grocery store. Under the storm’s thick cloud cover, shadows fell across her face.

  Her lips parted as he backed her against the wall and kneed his way between her thighs. Pinning her with his hips, he grasped the nape of her neck and slammed his mouth down on hers.

  Her pliable body locked up, then softened. With a helpless moan, she hooked her leg around his and tucked her hands into his open cat. As she fisted his clothes, Gabriel knew he should ease up, slow down, but he’d waited so long to know her flavor the way he knew her scent. And she was sweet, a honeyed drug coursing hotly through his veins.

  Wanting more than her tender lips, he worked his free hand behind her thigh and lifted her higher. When he tore his mouth from hers, the hollow of her throat was right there in front of him. Her vulnerability roused something ancient and primal inside him.

  Giving in to his cravings, he lapped at the inviting spot, memorizing the satin texture of her skin and the damp salt of her arousal.

  “My Joy,” he growled, dragging his teeth back and forth along her collarbone. “Mine.”

  “Gabriel. I—Oh, God,” she cried as he drove his straining cock into the juncture of her thighs, searching for her heat through the layers of their clothes. She shuddered and curved her spine, rocking insistently against his dick.

  This physical evidence of her desire for him, not some South Beach golden boy, brought him down off his ledge. Slowing, he kissed up her throat and found her lips again. She met his tongue with a tentative touch, then came back with more greed than skill.

  At odds with his wolf, he fought to retain the upper hand. He didn’t want hard and fast, not with her. Not this first time, which would set the course for their life together.

  Drawing back, he nuzzled her cold cheek, then her delicate ear.

  “I need to touch you,” he murmured, disentangling his hand from her hair. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”

  Her breath was quick and hot against his neck, her swallow so hard, he heard it without straining his ears. Uncurling her fists, she worked her arms up between their chests and hugged him with her entire body as she wiggled up into the position he wanted. Soon, soft thighs bracketed his hips and her ankles crossed behind him, leaving all of her open and trusting.

  As she pressed her mouth against his neck, down where his short beard didn’t grow, he shuddered. The need to touch her was all-consuming. Unable to deny himself or his wolf, he pulled at the hem of her shirt until he’d rucked one side up high enough to bare her breast. Goose bumps erupted on her warm flesh, following his fingers as they walked up her rib cage and closed over the sweet weight trapped by her lacy bra.

  Her nipple was a pebbled peak even before he rubbed his thumb over it. At his caress, the tight bud hardened even more, pressing against the confining fabric. He wanted to tear the lace down and explore her with his tongue, but her mouth worked at his throat with hunger that he knew too well. Satisfying himself would deny her, so he contented his wolf with the small, eager sounds she made when he rolled and squeezed her taught peak through her bra.

  As her teeth grazed his skin, he felt the threads of his control fray. Reluctantly, he slid his hand down her ribs and drew his head back so he could look at her.

  She blinked up with glassy eyes, pupils dilated. The sight of her bruised, parted lips hit him right down in his balls.

  “Don’t stop,” she begged, loosening he
r hold on his neck in order to stroke his jaw.

  “Joy.” Her name came out more growl than word. She stilled and her breath caught, prey behavior that stretched his self-restraint that much more.

  He had his hand down the back of her jeans before he knew he was going to do it. The brick wall abraded his knuckles, and then there was nothing but heat and satin skin and, down over the luscious curve of her ass, a beckoning wetness.

  Her whimper shredded him. He ground his dick against her one last time, watching her lashes sweep over her eyes, then pulled his hand from her pants and squeezed her thighs. “Let go, baby. Turn around for me.”

  “Don’t want to. It’s taken forever to get you here.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to make up for that now. Turn around.”

  She opened her eyes and searched his for so long, he thought she was going to refuse. But she bit down on her full bottom lip and lowered her feet to the ground, then turned and braced her forearms against the wall.

  Shifting her hair to bare her nape, he set his teeth against her warm skin. So tempting. He could have taken her then, made her his right there with one flex of his jaw. The tremor that shook her stayed him.

  She deserved better than an unseen attack in an alley. Shifting his head, he buried his face in her hair and wrapped one arm around her waist. Her ass made the perfect cradle for his aching dick and her low, throaty moan nearly hid the sound of her zipper opening as he tugged it down.

  “You’re wet for me, aren’t you? Just for me.” Spreading his fingers over her abdomen, he worked his entire hand down into her open jeans.

  Damp heat teased his fingertips where her arousal soaked through her thin, silky panties. He stroked her cleft over her underwear. “Tell me, Joy. This pussy is just for me. Not that surfer boy you brought home.”

  She didn’t answer fast enough to soothe his wolf. With a growl, Gabriel pulled the crotch of her panties aside and probed between her folds. As he found her entrance, circled the little hollow and pressed one finger into her tight passage, her breath exploded from her chest.

  “Yes,” she cried, and it sounded like a sob. “It’s always just for you.”

  He knew he should stop there. Knew he’d come up on her too hard, too strong, faster than she deserved, but her wet heat pulled at him. Joy squirmed, her ass rubbing his cock as he sank deeper into her. A little moan praised him when he added a second finger to the first, and then he was fucking her like that.

  Shoving off from the wall, she reached back and locked her arms around his neck. Her head lolled against his shoulder, dislodging his face from her hair. He could see her parted lips, the taut line of her throat working rapidly, and his teeth lengthened to pointed fangs.

  Dragging one hand up her quivering belly, he squeezed her breast and rubbed his thumb over her clit. Her entire body jerked, then jerked again when he repeated that small, powerful little pet.

  “More,” she moaned, and, hell, he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to give her more. Wanted to give her everything and take it all back for himself.

  With a quick adjustment, he buried his fingers deep and pressed the heel of his hand down on her clit. Her cries came higher, closer together. Some part of him was still aware of their surroundings.

  Reluctantly abandoning her breast, he covered her mouth not a second too soon. He found a deep, sensitive spot and slowed his erratic strokes to focus right there. Joy exhaled hard, then came apart with a muffled cry and a full-body spasm that strangled his fingers.

  Her orgasm perfumed her skin. Before he knew what he was doing, his incisors were poised at her throat.

  His jaw flexed. His wolf paced, vibrating with urgency. He was pressing his teeth to her flesh, dreaming of the flavor of her blood and what a beautiful thing she would be, running at his side, when she cried out in alarm. Someone seized his shoulders and hauled him back.

  Gabriel tightened his hold on Joy, taking her with him.

  “Let her go, man,” and that was Forrest. He wrestled Gabriel’s arms away, leaving Joy to stumble against the wall.

  Blinded by fury, Gabriel snarled and bit at his pack mates. Grimly silent, Forrest and Zev ignored his thrashing rage and half-carried, half-dragged him to the far end of the alley, away from the busy street.

  He caught one last glimpse of Joy, of her frightened eyes and disheveled appearance, and self-loathing slithered down his spine. Suddenly, eerily calm, Gabriel grasped at the strength of his pack and used it as a rope to lead him away from her.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  Her body buzzed with adrenaline and the aftershocks of her orgasm at Gabriel’s hands. Forrest and Zev weren’t quiet as they hauled Gabriel away from her. She took a step toward the violent tangle of men—why, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like she had a shot in hell at winning a physical challenge. Or maybe she would have cut through Forrest and Zev with hardly any effort. Neither man would lay a finger on her. She’d trust all three of them with her life.

  When the trio abruptly disappeared around a corner, she steepled her hands in front of her face and breathed into her cupped palms until her legs stopped shaking.

  That was not how she’d expected things to unfold. Gabriel’s passion was something far more…more…than she’d imagined in her dirtiest fantasies. She could kill Forrest and Zev for interrupting.

  Still in a daze, she put her clothes back together and left the alley. She felt jittery and uneven, like she’d been robbed of something just out of reach. A sudden longing for thick blankets and old stuffed animals overcame her.

  She’d ridden into town with her parents, who had swung around to pick Evan up Calla Beach’s only motel in order to take him to breakfast. She couldn’t go back into the diner to ask for the keys to her father’s SUV.

  She couldn’t go back in at all. Rejoining her parents and answering questions about where she’d gone—or, worse, smiling and pretending nothing had happened, which she just couldn’t do right now.

  Well, Calla Beach wasn’t a large town. She’d made the two mile walk back and forth from her parents’ house hundreds of times and she could make the walk again now. Even if snow was already clinging to her eyelashes and Gabriel had left her legs feeling like melted rubber.

  With her gaze trained on the ground, she started off. Counting the steps helped her focus her racing thoughts but nothing dulled the memory of Gabriel’s mouth on hers. Her lips stung from more than the increasing wind. About half a mile out of town, she started to shake. Anger quickly burned away her feelings of helplessness. When she found herself standing in front of Gabriel’s house, she couldn’t remember consciously making the decision to go there. The only smart thing would be to turn around and get back on course, but she was so furious, she stomped up onto the front porch and started beating the door with her fists. She didn’t stop pounding on the wood until the sides of her hands went numb and the sound of an engine, then a car door closing, let her know she wasn’t alone anymore.

  “This isn’t fair,” she whispered, dropping her forehead to rest against the battered door. “Damn you, it isn’t fair.”

  She waited tensely for the engine to cut out and another door to slam, expecting the three men to come up to the house together. The sound of the truck driving away, of approaching footsteps, dragged a sigh from her. Before she could dredge up the strength to straighten and turn, he was behind her.

  Strong, gentle fingers combed her hair over her shoulder, baring her nape to the cold wind. “You shouldn’t have come here, Joy. I’m all out of control where you’re concerned.”

  His breath warmed her nape, serving as her only warning before he opened his mouth on her skin. As he kissed a path to her ear, he wrapped his hands around her waist and roughly pulled her bottom against the hardness she’d felt between her thighs outside the diner.

  Her breath stuttered as he drew her ear lobe between his teeth and bit hard enough to send chills through her body. Her nipples tightened to hard points inside her bra.
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  Releasing a harsh breath, he squeezed her hips once and then stepped back, taking the heat of the sun with him. Shivering, she slowly turned to face him.

  He scrubbed his hand through his hair and looked past her, gaze fixed on the door. “I attacked you.”

  Joy opened her mouth and closed it a moment later when she realized she didn’t know what to say to him. How did she put words to a yearning so intense, it hurt?

  Finally, she broke the silence. “I stopped here,” she said, “because I didn’t want you to stop back there. I’m so mad at Forrest and Zev. You and I need this door between us open. Yeah, most people would have used a key instead of a sledgehammer, and I should probably be traumatized or something, but honestly? I’m really just glad the door is gone.”

  He exhaled roughly. “I’m not.”

  “Oh.” Flushing, she looked away and peeled a strand of damp hair off her cheek. “Well, okay. That’s as clear as anything. I’ll just go, and let you…”

  She stopped there because she didn’t really want to imagine what he did without her. She’d never heard so much as a whisper of a rumor about girlfriends or lovers, but he was a grown man and she wasn’t stupid.

  “No. The snow’s coming down heavier. Come inside. Forrest took my truck down to get a plow hooked up, but I’ll call and have him swing back to give you a ride.”

  Before she could refuse his hospitality, he had his house keys in hand and the door unlocked.

  “I shouldn’t do this,” she muttered as he swept her into the warm house.

  “No, you probably shouldn’t.” Gabriel ran his hand over his head again, making his short black hair stand straight up.

  Joy chose not to respond as she followed him. His house was his sanctum, a reflection of his soul, and now that she was in, she didn’t want to miss a single detail.

  Except there weren’t any details. Or not many, anyway. No pictures, which, fine, he was a man. She didn’t really expect him to frame and hang 8x10s of his nearest and dearest, especially since Zev and Forrest seemed to be the extent of his friends and family. But even though she didn’t expect pictures, she was taken aback by the general emptiness. No posters, no TV or stereo that she could see when she quickly peeked into the living room. His curtains weren’t the black-out type but they were dark, keeping sunlight from highlighting the marks of wear on his masculine, overstuffed sofa and arm chairs.