by Alisa Woods
He kept his gaze glued to her quickly-receding back and strode as fast as he could in her general direction without actually running. She was making a beeline toward the main drag on campus—he judged he could cut through the library and maybe head her off. If he could just get ahead of her, let her know he was on to her, maybe he could keep her from bolting altogether. He hated the idea of losing sight of her, but unless he picked up the pace, he was going to lose her anyway.
She ran pretty damn fast for a girl on house arrest for six months.
He sprinted toward Suzzallo, the gorgeous library he knew intimately well from hundreds of hours spent studying, researching, and on more than one occasion, screwing a hot date in the “access-only” stacks. Jak flew up the majestic stone steps, through circulation and reference, and out the Allen library side door in back. Since he wasn’t chasing anything obvious, he only garnered a glare and a couple of turned heads. Between the two libraries now, he saw her sprint past, still too far away for him to catch her eye, but he was about even with her now.
She was headed for the giant circular fountain in the middle of campus, a hallmark that had to draw her eye if nothing else. He dashed in that direction, all while keeping the commons hall between them, so she wouldn’t see him. He pumped his legs so hard, they were starting to scream… but he rounded Mary Gates Hall and reached the fountain before her. He stood there, chest heaving and arms crossed, appearing casual as she sprinted toward him, throwing looks over her shoulder, where she no doubt expected to find him chasing after her. When she finally turned to face the fountain, dodging the few people scattered across the vast open area around the concrete-rimmed pool, it still took a moment before she recognized him.
He expected her to screech to a stop. Or dash off to the side. Or at least look surprised.
Instead, she simply grinned and barreled toward him. She didn’t even slow down before grabbing his hand and hauling him closer to the fountain. The plumes were in full spray and the wind was picking up... which meant Jak was covered in a fine mist before he could even begin to think about what was happening.
Arianna laughed in a breathy, hysterical way, doubled over and gulping in air, like being spritzed with pond water was the height of hilarity. When she stood straight, her laughs turned into hiccups. She hit him again and again, dull smacking thuds against his chest. He stood and took it, mostly because he couldn’t think of what else to do.
She was crazy. “You’re crazy, you know that?” He was still breathing hard from the run. “What the hell—do you know how much trouble I would be in, if you got lost?” But his anger had no bite: she was safe and laughing, and most importantly, no longer running away.
She coughed through her last laugh then left one hand resting on his shoulder, bracing herself against him. He liked the solidity of her touch. The fact that she was close and breathing hard and that fine strands of her long brown hair were sticking to the sides of her face, plastered by the mist that was steadily falling on them both.
Her nearness made his mouth water.
She didn’t seem to notice he was staring at her.
She grinned up into the falling droplets. “It just felt so good.”
“What felt good?” His voice was lower now, intimate. He wanted to pull her close, but that was ridiculous and out of the question. He just hoped she wouldn’t move away.
She pulled her blue eyes down from the heavens and peered into his. The two of them were close now—the kind of close where puffs of breath reached each other and caressed their faces.
“Running,” she said softly. “I haven’t run in so long.”
He nodded, even though she had scared the shit of out him. She should be able to run—anywhere, any damn time she chose. She should be free. That ache in his chest reached up and choked him for a moment, holding his breath as his gaze never left hers. She flashed a smile, then it grew shy, and she dropped her hand from his shoulder.
“You’re getting wet,” she said.
“I’ll live.”
She snuck a smile at him again but then turned away and stepped out of the misting zone next to the fountain. That smile held him in place, riveted. It meant something, that smile, he could feel it inside… he just didn’t know what it was.
Maybe… could she be flirting with him?
He blew out that breath he’d been holding and laughed. Then he smacked the water off his face and joined her outside the spray zone. The last thing in the world Arianna Stefan would do, on this or any other day, would be to flirt with him.
“Ready to head back?” He meant the Red pack estate, not the classroom. She only had one class today. He didn’t know if he would pull guard duty again, but eventually, probably… there were only so many wolves in the pack, and Crittenden kept them all busy. But Jak was already counting the probabilities in his head, rounding out the numbers, deciding how long it might be until this could happen again. This moment. Alone. Together.
Arianna pulled in a deep breath, chin tipped up to the sky. “We’re coming back tomorrow, right?”
“We?”
She whipped her head toward him and frowned. “You will be my guard again, won’t you?”
There it was again—a look that meant more than she was saying. He hesitated, struggling for words. Finally, he said, “Not my call.”
She nodded gravely then looked back to the fountain. The sadness stole up on her again. Her entire face drew down with it. He wanted to say something to put a smile back on her face, but he didn’t know what that would be. Without another word, she straightened her shoulders and turned back toward the plaza parking garage and his car.
The whole ride home, she was silent. He kept starting conversations with her in his head, but each died a death of awkwardness and stupidity before they left his mouth. She grew more withdrawn, pulling in on herself as they neared the compound. By the time he dropped her at Mace’s house along the circle drive inside the estate, she barely had a nod of goodbye for him.
He felt as if he had let her down in some horrible way he didn’t understand, and it was tearing him up inside. But he let her go without a word. When she reached the door of the house, Mace pulled her inside, his hands and lips already on her before she had crossed the threshold.
It was the middle of the day.
He should be at work.
He was waiting for her.
Arianna. Jak’s wolf whined for her, even though he had no right. No claim.
She was another wolf’s mate, the brother of his alpha. There were no less than a hundred reasons, including pack law and an unbreakable magic bond, as to why she didn’t belong to him. And never would.
That didn’t stop him from wanting her all the same.
Mace took her from behind, as he normally did.
It pleased him, this position, and he was her alpha: pleasing him was her highest concern. As soon as she entered the house, she knew he had been waiting for her with pleasure on his mind. And she was his mate, the one he chose to care for and protect for the rest of her life… pleasure was a small thing in comparison to that, and the least she owed him.
But she couldn’t help noticing how much stronger her bond to Mace was once she was back in his domain. His territory. It was her home now, but his presence filled the house and settled on her mind as soon as she crossed the threshold. The UDub campus had seemed so bright and full of life by comparison—it wasn’t just the blue skies, but the absence of that heavy weight, that haze on her mind, that happened when she was with her alpha.
It was the magic in her blood, she was sure. The bond from that first claiming, bolstered by every one since then. It was a heavy wool blanket that draped over her body and mind whenever he was near.
Mace’s hands gripped her hips, holding her firm against his steady thrusts. She moaned because he liked that too, but she kept it low. They had only started a few minutes ago, and she would need to moan and scream and grip the white comforter she was kneeled upon even more by the end: s
he had to build up to it slowly. Otherwise her alpha wouldn’t enjoy their lovemaking as much. He had shown his dissatisfaction before, early on, when she hadn’t understood how she was supposed to respond. She had been a virgin when Mace claimed her the first time and too lost in the haze of the submission bond to control her reactions. Now she had over six months of practice, every night, in pleasing her alpha.
She was getting much better at it.
That thought pleased her, although it left a hollowness in her stomach. When she tried to think about what that meant, the haze grew stronger, blotting out everything but Mace and his cock driving into her.
His grunts grew louder and his thrusts more deep. His claws came out, carving into the flesh of her hips. She stifled the cry that welled up—of course, the cuts would heal quickly, as soon as he was done. She was a shifter, after all, and it took a lot to kill one. But that didn’t mean the pain wasn’t there.
She moaned again, channeling some of the pain. It helped.
“You like that, don’t you, baby?” Mace asked, breathless with his pleasure.
“Yes, oh yes. Oh god, Mace.” He didn’t always talk during their lovemaking, but when he did, it gave her alpha pleasure to hear her talk back. Only certain words, though. She had to be careful there. He liked hearing his own name, so that was usually safe.
“Oh yeah, baby.” His claws retracted, easing the pain. He still held one hip with his hand, but he ran the other over her backside, caressing her. His hand felt slick against her, warm. She thought maybe it was her blood that he was wiping away. Strangely, it reminded her of the fountain at UDub, and Jak standing there, getting wet with spray, and with such a look of surprise on his face that it made her laugh and laugh. She hadn’t laughed in so long, it nearly choked her.
A smile crept on her face. Jak was… different. Kind. She could tell by the sadness in his eyes. And funny. He had only chastised her a little for running like a wild thing, like she had back in the time before… before Mace… before her alpha had come for her…
She tried to picture it—Bellevue College, her brothers, her mother—but it was like a fuzzy video from a dream someone else had. She couldn’t make it sharpen at the edges. All she could grab onto was the sense that it was brighter… like today at school with Jak. A sunnier time. But her life had moved on from that. She’d grown up and mated.
This was her life now.
A sudden tug on her head wrenched it back: Mace had grabbed hold of her hair while she was daydreaming about times that didn’t exist anymore. He still was thrusting into her, his one hand in her hair, the other gripping her breast almost painfully below her.
“You’re mine, Arianna.” His breath was hot on her back. “All mine. Always.” It was his wolf speaking, and the way he was holding her head to the side, exposing her neck, she knew what was coming next: the claiming.
“Oh God, oh God, Mace,” she panted in a rush. He didn’t claim her every time they made love, but when he did, he wanted her shrieking with it. “Please, Mace. Please.” He especially liked it when she begged.
He moaned and thrust deep just as his fangs bit into her shoulder. She cried out for real—with the pain of the bite, but also the fire that quickly flushed through her body, his saliva mixing with her blood, bonding her to him with a magic that started from the first time he claimed her and built with every bite since. She had a myriad of tiny white scars on her shoulder from them, along with the razor thin lines on her hips.
Mace groaned and stilled. She could feel his cock twitch inside her, reaching his climax and spilling his seed. Someday she would bear her alpha’s pups as well, but Mace didn’t want the burden of a family just yet.
His mouth and cock left her at the same time, and she sighed in relief, flopping down on the bed next to him. She dared a peek at his face, but his eyes were closed, and his pleasure was clear. That relieved her even more, and she let her body truly relax on the bed next to him.
He was almost always more gentle afterwards.
Mace’s hand drifted over to stroke her breast. She didn’t move, not sure if he was just fondling her or possibly readying for another run. She knew shifters were legendary lovers, but she suspected her alpha had more stamina than most. He often took her two or three times in a day, never seeming to stay satisfied for long.
“This is how I want you, Arianna.” But his voice was calm, not charged with passion. “Every day. In my bed. You belong to me.”
“Of course, I belong to you,” she said. “You’re my alpha.”
“It was my father’s idea to send you to school, not mine.”
She stayed silent because she knew he disapproved, and she wanted nothing more than to keep going to class. No matter what his father said, Mace didn’t have to allow it. So he must see a good reason for it, just as Jak had said. If she was lucky, Jak would be her bodyguard again tomorrow. She could ask him more about what he thought: about Mace, about school, about… everything. They could talk about anything, and it would be easy and simple. No worries about what to say or not say. That thought warmed the aching parts of her body, the ones still tender from Mace’s lovemaking.
Maces pinched her nipple, just short of being painful. “Don’t embarrass me with this college business, Arianna.”
Her heart pounded. “I… I don’t know what you mean.”
“If my father wants you to finish school, then I expect you to excel.”
She sighed in relief. “The class today was easy. I don’t think it will be a problem.”
He gave her nipple a twist then released it. “Make sure that it’s not.”
“I won’t embarrass you, Mace. I promise.” And she fully intended to keep that promise. She wasn’t lying about the class being relatively easy. And she would work hard at it, just for the chance to keep going back. A picture of Jak’s future approving nod when she aced her classes at the end of the semester brought another flush of warmth to her sore nether regions.
“My father’s going to make me managing partner next year,” Mace said.
“That’s wonderful, Mace!” Arianna propped herself up on her elbows. She didn’t have to fake her enthusiasm—becoming partner, like his brother Gage, had been Mace’s burning desire for as long as he’d been her alpha. Longer, the way he talked about it. And when Mace got what Mace wanted, her heart beat gladder for it. Not to mention that he was more gentle with her when he was in a good mood.
“Yes, well, it hasn’t happened yet.” He turned to glower at her. “And I don’t want anything messing it up.”
She frowned. Over the summer, there had been a disastrous encounter with another pack. She wasn’t sure of everything that happened, but there was another female that Mace desired to make his mate as well… only it hadn’t worked out. Mace had captured the girl, just like he had taken Arianna from her pack, but the girl’s family came for her before Mace could sink his fangs and magic into her.
Arianna had always thought that the claiming would mean a forever love between just two people in a mating… not three. Or more. But she was a child then and didn’t understand how the world really worked. The Senior Mr. Crittenden had two mates, and he seemed to protect both of them equally. Even Mace’s older brother Gage had two. That was part of why Mace desired another mate so strongly… if his brother and father had something, of course Mace needed to have it too. Arianna almost wished he had been able to claim the girl… if only so that Arianna would finally have a friend in the house. And possibly someone else to help slake Mace’s vigorous sexual appetite.
But it wasn’t to be. And the fall-out had been bad for Mace’s ambitions in the pack. Yet tensions with the Sparks pack had faded in the months since the incident. She couldn’t see what was making Mace glower and worry.
“What do you think might mess it up?” she asked, tentatively.
“You.” His glower turned his dark eyes into glittering coal.
She swallowed. “I’ll do anything to help you make partner, Mace. Just tell me.
I’ll do it.” And she meant every word of that.
He shook his head like he was disgusted. “Just give my father what he wants. If he wants you to have a degree and help in the business, then fine. I expect you to bust your ass and make that happen.”
She was nodding vigorously. “I can do it, Mace. I can.”
He grunted. “Good.” Then he rolled up from the bed and starting pulling on the clothes that he’d hastily discarded once they’d reached the bedroom. “I’m going back to the office.” After slipping on his pants, he pointed a finger at her. “You’re not to leave the house. Just because you’re a student now, doesn’t mean you come and go whenever. I want you in class or studying here. And I want you done with studying by the time I get home. I may need some more stress relief after the board meeting this afternoon.”
“Of course.” She watched him slip on his tailored black silk shirt. “Maybe once I’ve taken some classes, I can help you with your work as well.”
He snorted a laugh and shook his head. He didn’t answer while he put on his socks and shoes. When he was done, he fixed her with a cold, dark stare. “That’s not the kind of service I want from you, Arianna.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
He sighed. “My father has some kind of plan for you, and whatever he wants, he’ll get. Personally, I think the old goat just wants to see your sweet ass sashaying around the office. But beyond that, don’t get any grand ideas. Eventually, the novelty of it will pass, and he’ll want grandpups. Hopefully not anytime soon. But keep that in mind.” He pointed his finger once more at her as he headed for the bedroom door. “No leaving the house.”
“I know.” She watched as he left, not moving until she heard the front door click shut.
As soon as he was gone, some of the fog in her mind lifted. She flopped back on the bed, still naked, and stared at the ceiling. But thoughts of Mace disappeared with his presence, and in their place rushed all kinds of grand plans for classes she could take, ways she could arrange the timing of them for maximum time spent on campus, and a fervent hope that tomorrow a certain dark-eyed, smiling shifter named Jak would be her bodyguard.