“Yeah, you were,” she replied. “But like you said, we’re together now, so let’s make the most of it.”
The song ended, but we still rocked against one another, swaying to the sound of the breeze flitting through the trees.
“If—when—you’re declared Alpha,” Sierra said softly, “what happens then?”
I thought about the question for a moment. “I’ll gather New Orleans’ shifters—not just the wolves, but the others as well. I’ll tell them that the wolves who want to remain in the Southern Pack can stay. Those who want to leave need to get out of town. And any other shifters are allies to us unless they prove to be otherwise. I’ll tell them that their duty, first and foremost, is to our pack and to the humans of New Orleans. To fight against those who are like the Marquis.”
Sierra pulled back and gazed up into my eyes, a determined expression set on her face. “Which is why you have to win,” she said. “They need you, Trick. I saw it today. I saw hope in their eyes when they looked at you. I know they want you to be their Alpha.”
“I know it, too,” I said, laying a kiss on her forehead. “I can’t let them down. But there’s an even more important reason I need to take the title.”
“What is it?” she asked. I could feel her tensing in my arms like she’d inhaled and refused to let the breath back out.
“You know what it is,” I said, staring down into her big eyes. “You know as well as I do. You know what I want the most in this world.”
“I do,” she said, pulling back.
I let her slip free of my arms, watching her as I unrolled the blanket I’d taken from the truck and spread it out on the ground. Stepping onto it, Sierra pulled her t-shirt over her head, then unhooked her bra and let it drop to the ground. Slowly she undid her jeans and pulled them off along with her shoes.
She looked like a naked wood nymph, surrounded by the lush green of the silent woods. I moved towards her, fell to my knees and pressed my cheek to her belly, slipping my arms around her. “You’re everything to me,” I murmured. “If I win this competition, it will be because of you.”
“Show me what I mean to you,” she said, her fingers weaving their way through my long hair, pulling my face up to look at her. She was extraordinary from every angle. I could see her nipples peaking under the cool breeze wafting its way through the woods. The scent of her arousal was driving me mad with desire.
Showing her what she meant to me?
Easiest thing in the world.
I kissed the well-groomed tuft of blond hair between her legs, gently pulling her thighs apart, and edged downwards to slip my tongue over her sensitive knot of nerves, reveling in the shudder that made its way instantly through her body.
Slowly I rose to my feet, picked her up as I had on our first night, my arms supporting her legs and back, and laid her down on the blanket.
Reading my mind, she parted her legs, offering herself to me. I eased over her, slipping my tongue over one nipple then the other before sealing my mouth over hers in a ravenous quest to taste every part of her.
I slid down her body again, rolling her tight nipples between my fingers even as my tongue found her slick opening and slipped inside. She arched her back to offer me more, her hips twisting with pleasure with each stroke of my tongue on her velvet flesh.
“I want you,” she murmured into the air, and I rose to my knees, undoing my belt and jeans and yanking them down. I fisted my erection, slipping the swollen crown between her folds as I stared down into the blue eyes that were locked on my own. When she nodded her approval, I pushed myself inside, inch by swollen inch.
When she cried out, the sound of rustling leaves and flapping wings greeted our ears. A giant owl had taken off from the tree above us, and neither of us could resist letting out a laugh.
“It’s a good omen,” I said.
“Absolutely,” Sierra agreed through a gasp as I plunged into her again. “It must mean we’re wise to do what we’re doing.”
Once again, she reached her fingers into my hair, kissing me hard, moaning against each powerful thrust of my hips. I kissed her neck, nipping at her gently, my tongue lapping at the salt on her skin as I slowed my pace just enough to slip a hand between us. My thumb pressed against her swollen clit, stroking her as gently as I could while I drove into her over and over again in deep, punishing thrusts.
Her jaw dropped open, her eyes fluttering with the anticipation of our mutual ecstasy. Her fingernails clawed at my back and shoulders, tracing red marks along my flesh, a delicious trail of erotic pleasure.
Finally, she cried out in a piercing, feral scream, inciting me to pound her harder, faster, until I began to shake as a powerful orgasm overtook my entire being. In that moment our bodies met in a perfect, synchronized wave of sensual perfection. Her thighs tightened around my waist, my arms wrapped around her back, pulling her up tight to my chest.
I had no idea how long we stayed wrapped up in one another like that. All I knew was that when we’d started dancing, the sun had been up. When we finally pulled apart, we were side by side on the blanket with dusk setting in.
Night would come soon.
In the morning, we’d start our final day of safety together.
Chapter 7
Sierra
Trick and I planned to spend Wednesday alone together.
Emphasis on planned.
Around eleven in the morning my intercom buzzed, which usually meant a delivery of some sort had arrived.
“That’s weird,” I said as I pushed myself up in bed. “I don’t remember ordering anything.” I looked down at Trick, who was still lying next to me, his fingers idly stroking their way over my left thigh. “Then again, I don’t really remember anything that happened to me before I met you a few days ago. You’ve stolen my brain, you klepto.”
“And what a sexy brain it is,” he said, rolling onto his stomach and running his tongue up my leg.
“Nuh-uh,” I said, leaping out of bed. “None of that, bad boy.”
“But…but last night you said I was a good boy.”
“Okay. Good bad boy.”
I strode from the bedroom into the living room and clicked the button that allowed me to talk to visitors, grateful that there wasn’t a camera attached to capture me in all my almost-naked glory.
“Yes?” I asked. “Who is this, and what do you want?”
If there was a tone of voice that said, Hey, asshole! You just took me away from a really hot naked guy, my words were laced with it.
“I’m looking for Trick,” said a male voice I didn’t recognize.
“Who is this?” I asked again. As the words emerged, I felt a wave of warm body heat surround me from behind. Trick, still stark naked and glorious, was pressed against me. Way to improve my mood instantly, big guy.
“It’s Marshall,” said the voice on the other end of the intercom. “I’m…”
“It’s fine, Marsh,” Trick interrupted. “Come on up. It’s the first door you see at the top of the stairs.”
“Wait, what?” I asked, spinning around to glare at my lover. “I’m hardly dressed for visitors.” I was wearing nothing but a thong—and a tiny one, at that. “Who the hell is this guy, anyway?”
“He’s one of the shifters in the pack,” Trick said, stretching his arms over his head, which made every muscle on his body ripple in exquisite detail—not to mention what it did to his hard-on, which was throbbing eagerly in my direction in an all too tempting display.
“What does he want?”
“Probably to talk strategy,” Trick said, slipping quickly onto his knees to flick his tongue over my left nipple. Oh, God. Now I was incapable of rational thought.
“Stop!” I laughed, but instead he edged even lower, pulled my thong to the side to stroke his tongue over my clit. “Trick…your friend…you have to…”
A second later, a knock sounded at the door. Tearing myself away from my man’s magic tongue, I scurried into the bedroom and grabbed my robe. T
rick, meanwhile, hopped to his feet, still completely naked, and headed over to answer the apartment door.
From the bedroom where I was cinching my robe tight around my body, I heard him swing open the front door and say, “Hey.”
“Hey…Oh, shit!” the voice replied. “Could you maybe put something on? I don’t want to get stabbed in the eye with that thing.”
“Sure. Just a minute.” Trick came springing into the bedroom and slipped his jeans on without bothering with underwear before heading back out to the living room. When I followed him, a man I’d seen in the crowd at the target competition threw me a brief smile and held out his hand. He was tall, broad-shouldered and as handsome as all shifters seemed to be.
Well, all of them except for the Marquis.
“I’m Marshall,” the visitor said.
“Sierra,” I replied, shaking his hand. “You’re in the pack?”
He nodded. “Which is why I wanted to talk to Trick…” He was looking at me now as if he wasn’t sure if it would be okay to ask me to leave the room.
“She stays,” Trick growled without waiting for the request. “Anything you want to say, you say in front of her. Understood?”
Marshall nodded. “I thought…”
“You thought humans couldn’t be part of the pack?” Trick said.
Another nod.
“That may have been true once, but it’s a stupid, ancient rule that comes from a bunch of assholes who think the world is theirs to do with as they want. It changes as of now. Sierra is mine. I’m hers. And whether or not I’m selected Alpha, I intend to keep things that way.”
Happiness and fear mingled inside me into a knot of overwhelming emotion. I’d hoped, of course, that we would stay together. That what had started out as a one-night stand would evolve into something bigger, deeper…but hearing him say it meant the world to me. Of course, our relationship might end in two days, if the Marquis…
No. Stop with the negative thoughts.
Trick was right. Worst-case scenarios were pointless. My job right now was to support him, to have faith in his strength and in our bond. The Marquis was powerful. He was dangerous, and he was inexorably cruel—a walking, snarling knot of hate.
Trick and I had something a man like him would never have. Whether we’d said it out loud or not, we had love.
“Well, if I’m free to speak, I wanted to tell you, Trick,” said Marshall, “some of the others and I have been talking. We wanted to offer our support. Whatever you need in the next few days, you’ve got it. If you want us to—”
Trick held up a hand. “Stop right there,” he said. “I don’t want to hear it. You know the rules. You know I can’t accept any assistance you offer me.”
“I know, but the Marquis will cheat. You know he…”
“Like I said,” Trick snarled, “I don’t want to hear it.”
I’d always known how strong he was, how respected and impressively powerful, but I’d never seen the full extent of his dominance until this moment. Marshall, who was stronger looking than any human I knew, was cowering before him, his face bowed to the ground like he was awaiting a flogging.
“I will not cheat, no matter what shit the Marquis pulls,” Trick said. “I’ll win this thing the only way I know how—through skill and discipline. Otherwise, what kind of Alpha would I be?”
“I understand,” Marshall said. He turned to look at me, then back at Trick. “I respect that. I only want you to win. There’s so much at stake here…I can’t even tell you. The pack is a mess. I can’t imagine what’ll happen if the Marquis wins this thing.”
“I know,” Trick said softly, laying a hand on the other shifter’s shoulder. “I understand better than you can imagine what will be lost if I don’t beat that piece of shit.” With that, he glanced over at me, a look of sadness in his amazing eyes. I wanted to rush over, to throw my arms around his neck. But I’d have to wait just a little longer until we were alone again.
“Go home, Marshall,” Trick said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Tell the others that I’ll do everything in my power to give them what they need. I’ll fight with my last breath to make sure the Marquis doesn’t take charge of this place.”
“Thanks. I know you will.” Marshall turned and left without another word.
After he shut the door, I walked up to Trick and laid my hands on his cheeks. He stared down at me, his eyes glowing the dazzling blue that told me his wolf was edging towards the surface, aching to come out. I could feel his heat now, feel him breathing hard under my touch. I knew his animal was raring to go, to hunt…
To fight.
“They need you as much as I do,” I said. “I know I can’t help with the Trials, but please tell me what I can do to help you here, now.”
“Be with me,” he told me. “Just…be with me.”
“I will. Always.”
Chapter 8
Trick
Thursday at eleven-thirty a.m., after a night of love-making intermingled with the odd moment of fractured sleep, Sierra and I climbed into my truck and drove out to Leduc Parish, where the hunting portion of the Alpha Trials was to take place. After we’d navigated through a series of back roads, I pulled to the end of a narrow lane that ended in front of a huge expanse of trees and a curtain of hanging vines.
A crowd had already gathered by the side of the road in anticipation of the upcoming event. Layla was standing among the mass of huddled shifters while the Marquis hung out at the other side with his arms crossed, his evil entourage shuffling around next to him.
“So what’s going to happen?” Sierra asked as we stepped out of the truck. I got the impression that it was a question she’d been holding in very deliberately over the last day and a half in an attempt to avoid focusing on the horrors of the Trials.
“This competition is called the Chase,” I told her. “It’ll be quick and hopefully not too painful. The Marquis and I will compete in our wolf forms to determine who has the best hunting skills. We’ll be tracking someone through a massive area of floodplain forest and wetlands. Half woods, half swamp.”
I chose to keep the part about the terrain being totally treacherous to myself.
Sierra took a long look at the wall of trees, brambles, and thorny bushes in front of us. “So you’re going hunting for a human being in a giant forest-swamp? That seems a little…barbaric.”
I let out a laugh. “The Marquis would probably love that—but we’re going after a shifter in his animal form, not a human. This is supposed to be a challenge for us, not a walk in the park. We need a fast-moving target.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to navigate your way through there,” Sierra said, her eyes taking in our surroundings as we made our way towards the crowd. “These woods look like something out of a kid’s nightmare. I keep expecting some swamp-creature with jagged teeth to leap out and kill us all. I can’t imagine trying to track anyone or anything through it; I couldn’t do it in a million years.”
“On the contrary,” I said, stopping to breathe in the fresh air. “You’d be a natural.”
“How do you figure?” Sierra asked, crossing her arms and shooting me a mischievous grin.
I grabbed her, pulled her close and narrowed my eyes affectionately at hers. “You managed to hunt down this particular wolf shifter in a world of billions of people. So technically, you’re the best tracker I’ve ever seen.”
“Who’s to say that sometimes the fox can’t chase down the hound?” she asked with a broad smile, a playful glint dancing in her bright blue eyes. It was good to see her looking relaxed, even if I knew it couldn’t last.
“Come on,” I said, leading her over to stand next to Layla. “The sooner we get this shit-show started, the sooner we can get out of here and go back to bed.”
“Mmm, bed,” she purred.
When everyone was gathered, the Valkyrie launched into her explanation of the event.
“The two competitors will be tracked from above by our hawks, who will be
wearing cameras so that I can keep an eye on things,” she said, gesturing to two tall, slim bird shifters who stood behind her. “Patrick and the Marquis must remain in wolf form until their prey is cornered. If either competitor shifts, he will be immediately disqualified.”
“What’s our prey?” asked the Marquis with an enthusiasm that turned my blood cold. The guy was already fantasizing about the thrill of the hunt.
Which really meant he was fantasizing about blood.
“Good question.” Layla spun around to face the crowd, which immediately parted to let a man I’d never seen before make his way to the front. He was shorter than the wolf shifters who surrounded him, his chest broad, his legs thick and well-muscled. “Meet Jackson,” Layla announced grandly as the man positioned himself in front of her. “The fastest, craftiest, and most elusive cat in the jungle.”
On cue, the shifter morphed into a sleek jaguar, his fur glistening yellow and black. His paws were large, his neck thick, and his legs rippled with raw power. The creature looked like he had the strength of a weight-lifter and the lightning fast speed of an Olympic track star.
Sierra’s mouth hung open at Jackson’s metamorphosis from a relatively unassuming man into his sleek, majestic feline. “I don’t think I’ll ever used to seeing that,” she said, pressing herself close to me. “Um, he’s not dangerous, is he?”
“Only if you’re a deer. Or a sheep. Or a turtle. Or a wild pig. Actually, maybe it’s best to stay away from his teeth all together, just to be on the safe side.”
“Well, he’s beautiful, anyhow,” Sierra said with a sigh.
“Sure. If you’re into power, elegance and symmetry.”
“I’m into you, Mr. Hot Guy.”
“Technically, I’m the one who’s into you.”
Sierra took my hand and gave it a playful squeeze as Layla continued to call out her instructions.
“The Marquis and Patrick will start from opposite ends of the Refuge. The Marquis will begin on the Whisky Bay Pilot Channel at the north end, and Trick will begin at the Basin Bridge. The rules are simple. First one to track down and corner Jackson wins. Our flying spotters will determine the moment when the competition is over.”
Southern Alpha Book Four Page 5