Alpha Awakening

by Diana DeRicci

  Her eyes snapped open, startled.

  “You should never hide this luscious body from me,” he told her, nipping the underside of her breast in punctuation with sharp teeth.

  “Clothes are kind of necessary,” she replied in a husky whisper.

  “Everywhere but here,” he told her. If he had his way, she would never wear a strip of anything in his bed again. Why ruin the perfection of her body with something as ordinary as clothing? He would be too inclined to remove it as soon as she was next to him anyway.

  Whatever would have been said was forgotten when he flicked at the damp curls between her legs. Her body shivered in reaction. Holding her hands over her head kept her stretched out beneath his weight, his hand and mouth able to reach and caress at will, a veritable physical playground of aroused Kay.

  Using a flat palm, he opened her thighs for his exploration. Lying down fully, he stretched out along her side. He suckled at her breast with tender licks and pulls, letting his fingers play and tease with her sweet pussy. Smooth skin pressed against his from his chest to his thigh. Bending a leg at the knee, he arched it over the nearest of hers, locking her down, capturing her under his weight.

  Nuzzling her ear, he taunted her with his desires, the entire time slipping his fingers closer and closer through the tight curls that covered her core. “I want to lick every inch of your body, taste the sweet heat of your juice when you come.” A harsh gasp slipped from her quaking lips. “Does it turn you on, knowing how much I want you?”

  She licked her bottom lip, leaving a glistening shine behind. “Yes,” she managed in an aching voice.

  He lowered himself to taste her lips. At the instant of contact, he caressed the hard bundle of nerves beneath his fingertips. She cried out, his kiss swallowing her pleasure. Delving between her lips with his tongue, he stroked the folds beneath his fingers, lost in the slick heat of her desire, invading her on two levels. Sliding against her tongue, he mimicked the action with his fingers, gliding over her clit in perfect harmony.

  Rush tried to keep the kiss gentle, but her whimpers, the way she lifted seeking him, battered his efforts until he claimed her completely. Thrusting his tongue deep into the heated crevice of her mouth, dueling with her tongue, he found the silken sheath of her body and thrust inside her channel. Her body stiffened with bliss.

  “Let me feel it, baby,” he murmured above her lips.

  She gasped, her body arching, fighting to be free, enraptured with the pleasure. Stroking her with his fingers, he felt her walls tighten, plump and heated with the need to be fulfilled.

  Releasing her mouth, he licked her flesh, traveling with teasing twirls down her neck for the tip of her breast. His hand holding her loosened, and she didn’t try to move, letting him control the moment, every touch. Holding her prisoner beneath his larger size, he continued to thrust into her pussy with hard even strokes, flicking with teasing nails over her clit and tempting her, bringing her pleasure higher. The trembles started at her shoulders and he bit with commanding pressure at the tempting nub beneath his lips, building her orgasm into an explosive burst.

  He wanted to feast on her body, but he couldn’t wait any longer to feel her surrounding him. He would please them both endlessly, but the need that fired his veins went deeper, feral and primal, demanding he claim and satisfy his mate. The scent of her in the room wrapped around him, engulfing his senses with the mix that was only her. With the heat of her body calling his, he reached for his nightstand before he lost all ability to think beyond the wonder of her laying there, so tempting and gorgeous. Quickly searching, he found a condom packet, thankful. Covering himself, shuddering beneath wicked fingers that now trailed down his chest, he fit himself between her thighs.

  The pounding of his heart was deep, racing, as he became captured by her eyes again, darkened with her lust and desire. He throbbed painfully, holding on with the last ounce of sanity. Lowering to her lips, their soft shape welcomed him, calmed him within the maelstrom of need circling him. Breathy bursts slipped between them with him seated right at her entrance, so close to what he desperately needed. The strain bunched his muscles to not take her, his natural desires leading him. The very last thread of his control was quickly being stretched to its limits.

  “Tell me now. I won’t let you go after this,” he said, his only warning, because it was the truth. Once he entered her body, there was no going back. A bonded mating was permanent, more binding than any super glue invented. He waited, his pulse ripping through him like a hurricane.

  “Please,” she mewled, her fingers riding into his hair and gripping like he was a lifeline.

  With one thrust, he claimed her body, feeling her claim his soul in the same instant. A fire like nothing in his lifetime flooded him and he held on, muffling his gasp against her body as lightning stole his sanity for a heartbeat, tearing through him. Like a piece of him had been missing his whole life, she filled him more than he filled her. Gradually, the sensation of her fingers reawakened him to her within his embrace, demanding yet gentle.

  “Perfect,” he managed through a single growl as his body took over, sinking into the pleasure that was Kay, thrusting into her heat like he wanted to crawl into her very soul and stay there, safe and warm and loved.

  Slender hips rose, and he sank deeper, lights exploding as air rushed from him. Her pussy clenched down on his shaft and he shuddered. “Oh, shit, Kay.” He couldn’t help it. He was going to tear right down the middle with each stroke, bringing him closer to the edge.

  “Yes,” she cried, pressing her lips to his throat, licking and sucking between bursts of gulped air. He tipped his chin, and she raked his throat with her teeth. His wolf snapped his head up and howled within.

  Rush exploded, pounding into her welcoming body like it was his home, taking her with him when the ecstasy overpowered him. The universe as he knew it, vanished.

  Chapter Twelve

  Kay nuzzled the warm arm beneath her cheek. The sun was beginning to streak the sky outside the window of Rush’s room, making her blink as the gray brightened. It would likely take a few more days for her vision to completely square itself. She really needed to call Mr. Savrenson and let him know how she was doing. He’d told her to take all the time she needed, considering the attack she’d suffered. Her work was commission and cost, anyway. If she missed a week, it wouldn’t kill her or his store.

  Rush’s easy breathing rustled the strands of her hair over her ear. He was completely healed now. After watching over him for four days with Sheridan, watching in awe as he healed from the wounds on his body, she knew it was time for her to get back to her life. Their fun was over, if she could call what had happened to her having fun. He didn’t need her now, and she needed to go home before she allowed herself to feel anything more for the man.

  She liked him, and hadn’t been able to stop herself from wanting him last night, a clear sign to evacuate and quickly. Liking him was okay, sleeping with him was even better, but at the same time? She couldn’t do it. She didn’t use men the way her mother did. She had no idea what her mother was looking for or even needed when it came to men. Kay knew to keep any sex separate from any feelings, friendly or otherwise, that she may feel toward them.

  The problem was she was scared. She felt too much for Rush already, a clear sign to end this before it spiraled out of control. She could like him, and did, but she couldn’t love him. She refused to let her heart fall into the same patterns as her mother. Falling in and out of love as often as the rise and fall of the sun. With a sneer of distaste, Kay knew her mother went through men and boyfriends faster than Brittany Spears appeared in gossip rags.

  With the press of his chest to her back, she indulged in a few more minutes before facing the inevitable. Her one luxury was to not hurry through this last morning.

  She sighed softly, snuggled in his embrace. His hand splayed across her stomach in sleep, holding her close, her back flush to his chest. He hadn’t let her go all night, keeping h
er pressed to his body like a warmer.

  Carful to not wake him, she lifted a hand and ran it over her face. She’d hardly looked at herself while caring for Rush, but the pain was gone and except for soreness around her eye, she was back to normal. Even the split in her lip had healed. She knew the bruises were still there, but they’d begun to discolor, breaking down to disappear.

  Gliding up her side, his hand captured her fluttering one. “Stop,” he mumbled. “You’re beautiful.”

  “I look like a science experiment gone wrong,” she replied.

  “It’s already fading, baby.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He surged forward, pressing his groin into her ass, molding them together like two peas in a pod. The man was not lacking, she mused. She still ached with pleasurable memories. And he was definitely a morning person. Kay grinned, tucking into his curved elbow to try to hide her smile.

  He sighed, dropping kisses to her shoulder. “I need to call work, find out what Sheridan told them and get my time straightened out.”

  “I think she told him you had a family emergency.”

  Rush didn’t reply, only nodding. “She hates lying,” he said quietly a few minutes later.

  “Well, it was an emergency, and you are her family,” she offered, trying to find a way to validate his emergency.

  He chuckled. “You probably signed your own absence slips at school.”

  “I’ll never tell.”

  His laughter was deeper, richer, rocking her within his embrace.

  “I need to get back, too,” she told him as the silence filled the room comfortably. She rubbed against him again, loathe to really get up and leave, not after the night they’d shared.

  She’d been with Rush for almost a full week now. Not that anyone would miss her if she wasn’t at home, but she needed to get back to her life. Stacee was probably tapping her toes right now, impatient to let her know how things were since last Saturday, and with Rush’s condition. Kay hadn’t told her how he’d been hurt, only that he had been and she was staying with him because he’d done the same for her.

  “When are you coming back?”

  Light as feathers, Rush’s lips danced along her shoulder, his tongue flicking out to hit her pulse every few seconds. She was pretty sure he’d given her a hickey. She tingled every time his lips or touch came close to it. She didn’t mind. What was one more bruise among the mess she already wore?

  “Coming back?” she asked. Kay really hadn’t thought that far ahead. She hadn’t considered it an option.

  “I’d ask you to just move in, but I know that’s pushing it,” he said in a cajoling, low rumble.

  “What?” she whispered with a shocked gulp. “Move in?” She hadn’t been expecting that.

  “Mm hm,” he purred. His lips were still flitting all along her neck and shoulders and his hand was beginning to get ideas too. “You are perfect for me, my little precious.”

  “Um…” She corralled his hand, halting his wandering progress. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “We’ll take this slow, I promise, but I need you. You are mine to love and cherish.”

  Shit! Love? Is he out of his mind? This was just what she’d wanted to avoid. Too late. She saw the train barreling right for her. She’d had no idea Rush thought he was falling for her. He’d been unconscious for more than three days! He couldn’t love her. He was mistaken.

  “Look, Rush…” she said nervous now, ready to flee, the moment spent in his embrace shattered. Licking her lips, Kay tried to reason with him. “It’s because we’ve been together non-stop since Steven’s attack on me. You don’t mean that.”

  She tried to sit up, but his arms caged her within their unbreakable strength. “I do mean it. I claimed you last night.”

  “Claim?” She almost snickered a laugh, but he sounded so serious. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You’re my other half. I didn’t know it, and when I realized it, I didn’t want to admit it.” He sipped lightly at the skin beneath her ear. “When you told me you slept with my wolf, held him, cared for him, I knew I couldn’t let you go.” His voice was low, raking her nerves like hot coals.

  “What are you talking about?” she demanded, fighting to keep her voice down, because he wasn’t making sense. His wolf? What did he have to do with this?

  “You’re my mate,” he stated as a simple fact. She felt the flick of his tongue on her ear, and her mind and body both dared to short circuit, for two different reasons.

  “Your what?” She was not a wolf’s mate!

  “My other half, my mate, my soul.” He said each with slow purpose, punctuating each with tender kisses.

  She rolled her eyes. Oh, God, he’s waxing poetic. He must still be feeling ill, or feverish, or something. She felt trapped and her heart started to pound. She pulled his hands loose. He didn’t fight, but watched her carefully as she sat up.

  “Rush, I’m none of that. We connected. I was hurt, and then you were hurt.” She stood, going to the dresser where her suitcase full of spare clothes lay open. “It’s time I got back to what I do.”

  She noticed when his eyes narrowed. “You accepted me, all of me, my wolf and me,” he stressed, no longer cajoling, but flat, with a hardness she hadn’t heard from him before.

  “I don’t know what…” Her thoughts brought back snatches of the night before. “I’ll never let you go.” She stood slowly, clothes clutched in her bloodless fist, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. Her lungs emptied as though she’d been kicked. She whirled to face him. “What did you do?” she bit out. His mouth opened, but she flung up a hand. “Wait!” She drew a breath, feeling dizzy, very dizzy. Blinking to steady the room, she asked, “First, what is a fem-alpha?”

  He sat on the edge of the bed watching her, the sheets draped over his thigh like a toga tail. The rest of his chest and torso were bared and so easy to linger on with her gaze. She wrenched herself upward when he started to explain.

  “The fem-alpha is the feminine leader of our pack, the other alpha. This pack did not have one because I wasn’t mated. Until last night.”

  Her throat hurt because she was trying to breathe and swallow at the same time. “I can’t believe this.” The shirt in her hand swayed as she raked her fingers through her clothes, searching for what she didn’t know. She couldn’t look at him. Her heart and body did things she wasn’t familiar with. Okay, lust she knew, and desire, but there was more, and more she just didn’t have time for.

  “You know I’m a shifter. That doesn’t bother you.”

  “I do know, and no it doesn’t,” she replied cautiously, not ready to admit to more, least of all that she’d somehow bonded with Rush. She’d had days to deal with and accept that the wolf and the man were one and same. Just because a week ago it was inconceivable didn’t mean it wasn’t true. She’d never seen a million dollars in cash, but apparently for many, it existed. No, she had accepted his wolf.

  The rest was just insane. That doesn’t really happen; it can’t, can it? With just sex? She mentally shook a finger at herself for calling something so wonderful, so all-consuming as what they’d shared as mere sex. What had happened between them the night before had been shattering. But it did not tie them together.

  “Kay…Kaisha. We need to talk about this,” he told her, standing.

  She blinked to not look. The man was a specimen of perfection. Solid shoulders, a lightly hair-dusted chest that veed down to his navel with a hint of temptation further. And that hint didn’t lie. Even now, his length drew her, thickening under her gaze. Breaking away was hard to do. Then there were his legs and thighs that were strong and looked it. He was walking muscle, a wall of iron. He made her heart stutter with renewed hunger. That was why she knew she needed to leave. Rush made her want, more than any other man had in her life, and wanting only led to disappointment and pain. She refused to cause this man, or herself, pain. Kay could not, would not, love. She was not her mother!

  “When
a wolf finds his true mate, the woman he’s meant to share his life with, shifter or otherwise, when they make love it cements their souls. We are more than just two people who slept together, regardless of how we ended up in that bed.” He reached out, his fingers drifting down her arm. “You are more to me than that. You have been since the moment I met you.”

  She bit her tongue, not wanting to speak, afraid she’d tell him she understood. Because she did. She just couldn’t believe she’d somehow tied herself to him by sleeping with him. That couldn’t happen. Underneath everything, wolf or not, he was still a man. And she was a woman.

  Yet, because he was a wolf, she feared something had happened between them. There was a suspicion that he was right. She’d never felt so consumed, so swept away by a lover in her life. And it shocked her that she wanted him, now, again. Wanted him touching her, pleasing her, kissing her.