by Elin Peer
“I like you fine when you’re not scowling at me.”
Raven was bubbling over with joy. “Ha, look who’s talking. I think you came out of your mother’s womb with a scowl on your face. You’re always so damn serious, Solo,”
“Maybe you just don’t know me that well.”
“So, you’re saying that you smile sometimes?” She grinned at me.
“I do, just not so much around Hunter and…” I looked away.
Raven said it for me. “Willow.”
“Yeah.”
There was an awkward silence and then she grinned again. “Anyway, I’m going to take you up on the sparring. I know I can learn a ton from working with you.”
“All right, but I won’t go easy on you.”
“Didn’t think you would. You never go easy on anyone, do you?”
As I walked away, Raven’s words kept circling in my mind. No matter how I looked at it, I’d gone easy on Willow. For so many years I hadn’t been able to get close to her because of the restraining order and then when I finally did, she’d turned cold and hateful.
I should have pushed her harder. Helped her remember how things used to be between us. Her charade with Tristan never should have held me back. Willow had loved me once and it was time I reminded her how it felt.
CHAPTER 23
Alpha to the Core
Willow
“Hunter, wait up,” I called as he stormed off after the meeting.
When I caught up to him, he didn’t look at me.
“Don’t be angry. You heard what Magni said, it’s just for a season.”
“Or two… Magni said a season or two.” Hunter corrected me and stopped to place his hands on his hips. “I don’t want to live in the fucking Motherlands.”
I jerked back. “But I live there. We could spend more time together.”
“That’s about the only positive I can find at this point.”
“What about the fact that you’re doing everyone a huge favor? Doesn’t that mean something?”
He groaned and leaned his head back. “I guess. But I’m at the height of my career and it’s not like I’ll get challenged in the Motherlands. I’ll be playing against girls.”
I shoved at his shoulder. “How is that a bad thing? Girls are great at soccer. You’ll get to experience equality and learn new things.”
His downturned mouth didn’t lift.
“Look, I get that you’re upset, and it wasn’t what you wanted, but it might bring something good with it. Magni had a point about finding love. Maybe you’ll meet the woman of your dreams.”
Hunter scoffed and turned away from me. “No thanks.”
“Then maybe a guy?”
His eyebrows creased together. “I told you: I’m not gay.”
“Then why aren’t you flirting with some of the performers? I’ve seen several of them smile at you.”
He kicked the gravel. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Of course it does. It means they like you.”
“Motlanders smile at anyone, I learned long ago not to put anything into it.”
“Hunter, come on, you’re the most handsome Nman there is, and you know it.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re my sister.”
“No. I mean it. And you are such a warm and smart person too. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”
“Thanks, but modern women don’t want men in their lives. They don’t need us.”
“That might be true for many but not all of us. I want to marry and have children.”
Hunter furrowed his brows. “Only because you’ve been influenced from your time living here in the Northlands.”
“You could sign up for the Matching Program. I’ll bet you’d be chosen in a second.”
“For all the wrong reasons. I’m a celebrity and I’m rich. How would I know that wasn’t the motivation to pick me?”
“Most Motlanders don’t care about money.”
Hunter snorted. “Until they come to the Northlands and realize how much more fun life is with money.”
“I don’t know how to make you see that not all women are out to hurt you. I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Alice, but I could have told you she’s not the kind of woman to marry. Alice is…”
“I don’t care about Alice and I don’t want to talk about this.”
“All right.” I stepped closer. “I won’t mention her again. Just tell me if there’s anything I can do to cheer you up.”
We turned our heads when a male voice shouted, “Hey, Hunter.” Leo was waving at us. “Come play soccer with us. We need help to beat the Doomsmen. It’s time to show them that bigger isn’t better.”
Hunter’s lip was tugged upward, and he lifted his right hand. “I’ll be right there.”
I smiled at him. “I should have known that the only thing to cheer you up would be soccer.”
“You have no idea how much fun it is to play around with those huge guys. You’d think they would be slow with their size and all but they’re surprisingly fast.”
“Why would that surprise you? Solo was always athletic to the bone.”
We were walking next to each other and he gave me a strange look. “You’re not softening up around him, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Good.” Hunter nodded his head in a see you later gesture and ran to the improvised soccer game, while I walked to the large patio in front of the Gray Manor where people were gathered in the lounge area.
“Willow, dear, come get a glass of cider. This day is historic and we should celebrate.” Christina hugged me. “I can’t believe my Raven is joining the police. It’s going to be hard not to worry about her.”
“She’ll be fine.” Pearl smiled and was gesturing to me to come sit next to her when her daughter, Freya, came walking up with a piece of paper in her hands. “Hey, darling, what do you have there?”
“It’s for Dad.”
Khan stood in conversation with Alexander Boulder and Magni not far from us, and he looked up when Pearl called him over.
“What is it?” he asked and touched Pearl’s shoulders when he was close.
“I made this for you.” Freya handed him the paper and Khan’s right eyebrow lifted as he read it.
“What is it, Freya?” Pearl asked.
“It’s a decree. All it needs is Dad’s signature and it will become law.”
“What kind of decree?”
Khan read out loud, “From this day forth it shall be illegal to fly over the Gray Manor and other residences owned by the Ruler of the Northlands. Failure to comply with this decree shall result in confiscation of the drone in which the flying has occurred.” Khan nodded his head. “I’m impressed, Freya, this is good work.” He pointed to the left corner. “Although the drawing of the drone and the angry man below isn’t strictly necessary.”
“Can I see?” Pearl reached for the paper and smiled as she showed it to the rest of us.
I gave Freya a side hug. “I think the drawing is the best part.”
“Thank you. If you want me to, I can show you how to draw drones. I’m good at it.”
“Thank you, dear, maybe a little later.”
I craned my neck. “Did any of you see Salma?”
Christina looked around and creased her eyebrows. “I thought I saw her a minute ago.”
Laura emptied her glass. “Tristan offered to show her the park; they are walking together.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I’m sure they would have included you if you’d been here,” Pearl added. “If you want to see the park, I’m happy to show it to you. We’ve added a fun area for the children since you were last here.”
“Thank you, but to be honest I could really use some time by myself. It’s been a crazy day.”
Christina pulled me in for another hug. “We all feel awful for what happened at that hotel. Take all the time you need. Your first show isn’t until tomorrow.”
My thoughts were on the to
wn hall meeting as I made my way up the stairs to my room on the second floor. It was located in the far corner and the hallways felt like a maze. Rounding the last corner, I came to a sudden halt when I saw the person leaning casually against my door.
“Hi, Willow.”
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s time to answer your questions.” There was something different about Solo. Before, he’d been careful and guarded. Now he seemed confident and his voice had an edge of danger to it.
Every hair on my body vibrated, standing on end as an electric current sparked nerve endings. I looked over my shoulder, but the hallway was empty. “How did you know which room is mine?”
A smile tipped the corner of his mouth. “Mason volunteered that information. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
I walked closer at a slow pace, my heart in my throat. “What makes you think I’d invite you in?”
He took a step away from the doorway, waiting for me to get closer to him. “Because it’s what we do, Willow. We sneak around and kiss when no one is watching. We did it ten years ago and we did it this morning.”
All of a sudden the hallway felt like a tropical rainforest – way too hot and with butterflies swarming all around in my stomach. As a teenager, Solo’s charming smile had made me fall in love with him, but the boy I’d once loved had nothing on the man in front of me. His blue eyes shone with desire and he had that confident, domineering glow in his eyes that had always melted me in the past. The heartbeat in my chest was hammering as I backed up a little. “I told you what happened this morning was a mistake.”
“And yet we both still want more.”
I froze to the spot when Solo moved forward, stopping right in front of me, his fingers stroking the backs of my hands and then continuing up my arms, while whispering in a husky voice, “If you don’t want this you can walk away.”
When I still didn’t move, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against his body. “Thought so.”
“Tristan and I…” I began but he covered my mouth with a finger.
“I don’t want to hear about him now. Unlock the door, Willow.”
I shook my head but it only made him hold out his hand. “Give me the key then.”
“The room isn’t locked,” I whispered low as if my voice was trying to hide what I was doing from my brain, which was screaming out warnings.
“How convenient.” Solo opened the door and waved his hand. “Ladies first.”
“That’s not a good idea, Solo. It’s better if we aren’t alone. Remember how nervous you were this morning that someone would find us together,” I rambled on.
Solo gave me one of his alpha-to-the-core smiles and without warning he picked me up bridal style and walked into the room. When he sat me down it was only to close the door and lock it.
“I don’t mind talking and I would like answers to my questions, but just so we’re clear there’s not going to be any…”
He kissed me before I could finish my sentence and just like this morning in the bathroom, I felt my head explode in bright colors.
“Willow,” he muttered into my mouth and on their own devices my hands found his hair and grabbed on to a fistful.
“Solo,” I breathed and kissed him back with a primitive hunger for more. Why did the forbidden have to feel this good?
The room wasn’t big and while kissing me, he backed me up against the bed. “I’ve been waiting years for this,” he muttered into my mouth.
I closed my eyes, fighting the protests and objections in my mind. “Promise me that no one will know,” I whispered in a raspy voice. “It’ll be our secret.”
He growled deep in his throat but didn’t agree.
“Solo, promise me,” I repeated while he placed his hands on my shoulders and pushed lightly, signaling for me to get on the bed.
Our bodies were working in synchronization, with me going backward until I was lying down on the bed and him following like an invisible string was attached between us.
He didn’t speak when he pushed my shirt up and exposed my stomach, his hands grabbing onto my hips and his cheek pressing against my belly button with a deep sigh.
I smiled a little. “You’ve always had a thing for my stomach, haven’t you?”
“Uh-huh. One day my kid will grow in there.”
“What?” I creased my brow. “No, Solo, we can’t. That’s not…”
He lifted his face. “You know it just as well as I do.”
“Solo, you’re not making sense.” His words were both crazy and arousing. “You were going to give me answers. Making out wasn’t the plan.”
“Maybe not your plan, but definitely my plan.” His hands opened my pants and, sliding a hand under the small of my back, he lifted my body like I weighed nothing.
Despite my raw desire for him, I held onto my pants. “What if someone comes?”
“Then you’ll tell them to go away. Especially if it’s Tristan or Hunter.”
“Hunter would kill you.”
“No, he wouldn’t. Not when you tell him I’m your mate.”
I pushed at Solo and looked in to his eyes. “You’re not my mate.”
He didn’t answer but pulled off his shirt, revealing his body as the most ripped I’d ever seen. His scent of masculinity enticed me and activated parts of my brain that associated him with pleasure and trust. I inhaled and closed my eyes for a second, feeling emotional. This shouldn’t feel so right.
“You okay?” His finger trailed down my thigh.
“Uh-huh.” I opened my eyes and let my own fingers explore his body, touching the compass tattoo on his forearm, before I continued on to the scars on his torso. “Oh, Solo,” I said in sympathy with all the pain he must have gone through. He didn’t seem to be bothered and leaned down to kiss me again.
“We once tried to have sex, do you remember?” he asked and pushed my shirt and bra up higher. I freed myself from the fabric and lay only in my panties with Solo kissing and suckling my breasts like he’d been served his favorite meal in the world.
“We did have sex, didn’t we?”
“Almost. We tried but the soldiers interrupted us.”
“I don’t remember that part,” I whispered as a wonderful feeling spread throughout my body and memories of experiencing this with him before came back to me. “But I do remember kissing you.”
“Oh yeah? Do you remember if you liked it?” He smiled and kissed me long and hard with our tongues dancing an intimate slow dance.
“Yes, I liked it,” I breathed into his mouth.
“Did you miss it?” His eyes were blue points of desire and he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple moving in his throat.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Did you?”
Solo opened his mouth to speak and then he closed it, instead placing tiny kisses from under my ear down to my neck.
“Is that a yes?” My arousal was making me a bit breathless.
“You know it is. Willow, I want to be with you.”
I took it in a sexual meaning, ignoring that Solo was maybe referring to being with me forever. The ramifications of a relationship with him were too great to even consider. But I would take the satisfaction of his desire. This morning in the bathroom when he had ground against me, I had been so far gone in my desire for him that for a few stolen moments I hadn’t questioned whether kissing him was a mistake. I’d let out a part of me that had been suppressed since I was fifteen. The Willow who didn’t carry hate in her heart had made me feel at peace for the first time in years. I wanted more of that.
“I want you too, Solo.”
He stiffened and met my eyes. “Say that again.”
“We might not get another chance to do this.”
There was a slight narrowing of his eyes as if what I had just said displeased him, but then he rolled to my side and kicked off his pants.
I didn’t get a good look at him because he was quick to roll back between my legs, his torso pressing down
on mine as if he wanted to make sure I didn’t go anywhere.
My hands nuzzled his nape. “It’s just going to be this one time. You understand that, right?”
He growled and bit my jawline. It was gentle but so dominant in nature that my panties were getting soaked.
“We should hurry before someone interrupts us again.”
My words made him pull back enough to tear my panties off. Instead of throwing the fabric to the ground, he brought it to his nose and sniffed with a sound of appreciation.
I wrinkled my nose. “Why would you do that?”
Solo gave me a crooked smile. “Because I love the smell of your arousal.”
I reached out for him, but Solo stayed on my side, his fingers spreading my folds and circling my clitoris. “You’re soaking wet.” The satisfied smile on his lips before he kissed me went straight to my heart.
He used his strong hands to position me right where he wanted me. With my side on the bed and my right hipbone pointing upward, he pressed against me from behind, his shoulder next to mine, and his tempting lips opened in concentration.
I stiffened a little when I felt his large erection glide up and down my behind.
“Why is it wet?” I asked in confusion.
“It’s just precum.” His voice had a tremble to it and using his hand, he guided the head of him to rest between my folds. And then he pressed, slow and insistent, inside me. A loud moan escaped him as he breathed out. “Fuck, Willow!”
“Be quiet,” I pleaded. “I don’t want anyone to hear us.” The only answer I got was another deep moan as he sunk deeper inside my slick wetness.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of our bodies connecting.
“You’re so tight.”
“I’m sorry.”
Solo was on his side next to me, his right arm resting across my chest and holding on to my left upper arm while his head nuzzled against my hair. “Did you and Tristan ever…”
“Nooo.” My answer came fast. “Never.”
“So, this is your first time?”
“If you’re sure that we really didn’t do it, then yeah.” Just as I finished my sentence, Solo pushed hard into me and it made me arch.
“Relax, baby.”
Hearing him call me baby just like he had all those years ago made emotions swell in my chest. I closed my eyes, taking small fast breaths and feeling him rock back and forth inside me. I was having sex with Solo, my childhood crush whom I’d loved so deeply once. I opened my eyes to take in the unreal situation. My left hand resting on his large biceps, my belly twisted onto its side with Solo’s strong hips moving in a steady rhythm behind me. He was careful not to squeeze me as I lay completely engulfed in his arms, listening to the sounds of deep pleasure that were coming from both of us. I looked down to my belly, half expecting to see a bump on it every time he pushed deeper. He felt so large, and his rocking in and out of me had an erotic sound of its own. I moaned. It was impossible not to at the delicious feeling of being filled, taken, and devoured by Solo.