by Treva Harte
“I didn’t understand at first why your pack allowed a presumptive Alpha to form a bond with both an omega and a Beta from another pack.”
That sounded stuffy. If he was stuffy, that would be a disappointment. Not that his personality mattered to her, of course. Or his opinions on her family.
“I’m not sure allowing was involved; they needed to make my mother happy or she wouldn’t breed. It did make for some strange family gatherings, though. But when it comes down to it, I’m Daddy Grey’s child, not Rome’s. I look way too much like Grey for there to be any doubt.”
Hunt shrugged. “I understood more about why the rules were bent as I heard about the results. Anyhow, your unorthodox childhood isn’t that important since you have been saying you’re an adult now. Besides, have you considered that maybe I’m Alpha enough to make my pack treat you as an Alpha no matter what you are? I’m definitely smart enough to know you have what it takes to be an Alpha bitch. If that’s what you choose to be.”
That was flattering. She’d always known if she wanted to be Alpha, she could, even if she had to work her butt off.
No. That wasn’t what she’d come to say. No wonder she was getting lost. She’d tried to avoid telling him the real problem but it wasn’t working. Avoidance never worked.
Try again.
“Listen, I know you want to breed yourself a dynasty. My pack put up with a lot to get there too. I know that’s why you’ve waited for me. But it’s not like you know me. I’m not trustworthy.”
“Explain.”
“That’s good. You’re down to using just one word sentences and you don’t sound nearly as stuffy. That probably means something. I hope I’m taking the right approach this time.”
“Tala.”
It was stupid to keep putting it off. Why should she care about what he thought of her anyhow?
She took a deep breath and just said it. “If you stayed with me, you might not be sure of who fathered that dynasty. I can’t promise to be faithful.”
She blinked when Hunt gave her a tight, fierce smile. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead as if she was a child.
“I’d be sure.” His voice deepened as he looked her over—not like she was a child at all.
Tala felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. She didn’t want this—this total awareness of him. She’d thought she could handle whatever happened until Hunt turned on just a little heat. Now she realized she might be totally wrong about her abilities.
That first zing of sexual attraction was undeniably there. He touched her ear and traced down her neck and the first zing turned to a second and third. She moved closer, nuzzled his neck, absorbing the feel of this male.
She could bite down, into the sinews. Or nip at him—gently, gently, at first. He’d understand. He might do it back. It would probably get her crazy. No. The way he’d do it, she’d definitely get crazy.
He smelled like sex. Really recent sex. Was she imagining things or—whatever. It didn’t matter what he’d been doing before she arrived. He smelled good. She tried to keep from sniffing too hard.
He was supposed to understand by now why this wouldn’t work. Then she’d leave. That’s what she’d planned out for years. That’s why she had arrived here, in Hunt’s den, as soon as she turned adult.
He stroked her shoulder as she rested her face against him. God, she was weak. Of course that was the problem. That was why she needed to leave him.
The hairs on his arm tickled against her. She visualized the Change with him while they had sex. No one else had changed with her. That was yet another first she needed to try. There could be many firsts with Hunt. She didn’t think she’d exactly be safe with him but…he’d know. He’d know what to do. How to behave. How not to behave.
How to make her wild. He’d protect her, too, if she needed help. That was pretty much everything she’d ever wanted in a sex partner. A lover. A mate.
Tala took one hesitant step toward him. One more.
Then she was held very tightly against his body and she was twined around him, breathing hard, wanting more. What the hell had just happened?
“This is a bad idea,” she managed.
“This is a little bit beyond the idea stage, Tala.” He flexed his fingers against the small of her back and she flinched even closer to him than before. They were breathing in unison. Rising and falling together.
No. Don’t get caught in this weird sexual vibe with him. Get it over with.
“I don’t think you get what I mean. Hunt, I know I was bound to you before I was born. But I don’t feel bound. I just feel—itchy. I’m were. I want sex.”
“With me?”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind, thanks so much for asking. Then again, you just want to have someone to breed with. It’s nothing personal. I understand that. Now me, I just—I want sex. With anyone. Everyone. It’s, uh, nothing personal either.”
Oh, perfect. Now she was hiding her face in his chest. At least he couldn’t see the red that must be there. She could feel the burn of embarrassment all over her face. Hunt slid his hand down her back and somehow her halter top was untied and down to her waist. Now she could feel the burn of lust all over her body.
Please put your hands right—yes, right there. The touch on her nipple sent a hot spark down to her pussy. You know exactly what to do. Damn it.
“My dear Tala, I can work with that.” He held her hands above her head and nudged her legs so they were spread apart. They stood, pressed tightly together. “We both can.”
“I don’t think…I can’t think…”
Well, at least she’d told him. Sort of. If he was going to handle her…it… But she’d explained, right? And he wanted her. Wanted…
He licked the base of her throat. Thought skittered away as sensation took its place. The touch sent yet a different tight, hot sensation slamming down to her pussy. There must be something about having experience. She’d never felt that pull from just one touch of a male tongue. She loved the rough rasp against her skin. And he wasn’t even close to where a tongue would do her the most good. What could happen when he reached that?
She didn’t know. Not quite. The not knowing was tempting. So very tempting. And God, he was making her imagine just that.
“You’re pretty, spread out here just for me. Are you ready to be my mate, Tala?”
“Who the hell could be ready for that? I’d probably combust.”
“Are you willing, then?”
“But, Hunt—” He kissed her, hard, while his cock teased her with light touches, promising more without delivering nearly enough.
What kind of idiot gave in because a man promised a fine fuck with every thrust of his body? A really fine first fuck if she just gave in…
One flick of his finger under her thong and she moaned out loud. She quivered at the promise of finally satisfying her now screaming-for-sex pussy. She’d teased and waited and waited and waited for so long. Sometimes she thought she’d die from waiting. Hunt was promising to be the end to the wait. She was ready to fall back on the floor and let him have his way with her. Right now. Wasn’t that good enough?
“Oh, hell. Yes. Can’t you tell? I’m very willing.”
“Then are you ready for what happens next? Tala?”
“Oh, yeah—oh.” Tala opened her eyes. “You almost slipped the what happens next right past me. Sorry, bucko. Not going to happen.”
“No?”
She looked at him. What would happen if she insisted? She probably didn’t really want to know right now. She already was sure Hunt pretty much always got what he wanted to get. “All right. I meant the slipping past me part isn’t going to happen. Do we have to do the what happens next?”
The bonding ceremony to enter a pack was something she’d heard about but never experienced or watched. No one new had entered her parents’ pack for years. What the ceremony was, what it meant, made her terrified and eager all at once.
He laughed and let her go, just a millime
ter. Her hands slid down her body, no longer trapped and submissive. She wasn’t much of a submissive usually. She should be glad he realized that.
She wished he’d kept her hands just the way they were.
“You know the answer to that. But, trust me, this will be a very small gathering. Very intimate.” He touched her shoulder. “I got rid of most of my pack when I decided to turn legit.”
“Got rid of them?” She decided to not think about what he did before if running casinos was turning legit. The Web hadn’t provided much information there, but she’d figured out it wasn’t something very legal. After all this time, it might be best to drop it since he hadn’t gotten arrested. Probably the statute of limitations had run out on any non-were crime Hunt might have committed.
But getting rid of weres? That was definitely a need to know thing.
“I found other packs willing to take them on. Mostly.”
Mostly? No. Leave it. Leave and move on. She didn’t want to know. She wanted him to keep touching her.
She forced herself to keep her eyes open. She had to know more. This was serious.
Please give the answers I need, Hunt, because I’m seconds away from jumping you and I want my first screw to be with the right one.
Hunt’s voice got low and serious. “Tala, I’m not a good person. I’m not going to embarrass you. That was part of the pact I made with your family. But I can’t undo all the years before you existed.”
“Well, I might embarrass you. Just so you know up front. I’m definitely going to be a lot of trouble.”
“It’s a deal, then?” Hunt smiled at her and something caught in Tala’s throat. “Trouble and embarrassment ahead. Got it.”
“I promise. Everything you said. A deal, trouble, and embarrassment. And sex. I really must insist on that.”
She still wasn’t sure how she’d gotten from wanting to leave Hunt to making promises, even half-assed promises to him. She was falling right in with his plans. The big pack alliance was exactly what she thought she was here to resist.
Resist. That was it.
She opened her mouth to try one last time. He slid his fingers under her thong and pressed against her clit. This time the burn of promised sex weakened her knees. She gasped, words gone.
He pulled his hand away and licked one of his fingers. She pulled his hand to her and licked too. There was still the faint taste of her mingled with the smell and taste of him. So good. Oh, God. She couldn’t leave.
He gripped her shoulders just as she wondered if her knees might buckle. “Then let’s begin, my dear.”
Chapter Three
“Hunt?” The intercom voice broke into whatever she might have said or done.
Hunt frowned and Tala focused on that. Yes. He was just as bad as his reputation promised, despite his calm exterior. When he was annoyed, she could see the danger swim up to the surface.
It was her stupidity making her start to like the look on him.
“I was actually going to speak to you in a bit. Can it wait, Dunne?”
Tala blinked. Oh. Dunne!
Strange that all her research hadn’t dug his name up. He was even more shadowy than his Alpha.
“We have another visitor this evening, Boss. He seems a bit insistent. I can make him wait if you want.”
“Bring him in.”
“Uh, Hunt, don’t you think that might spoil the mood?” Tala gestured to her half-dressed state. By now her skirt was pushed much too high up on her thighs.
“Not for me. And you don’t have to get dressed just for uninvited guests.”
“Oh.” Since he was still in his suit, with just a slightly unbuttoned shirt to show what they’d been doing, it seemed he still had an unfair advantage.
Did he enjoy an audience? Shit, did he like to watch? Maybe he was going to end up embarrassing her instead of the other way around.
More than one man, with Hunt’s gaze all over them. Her muscles tightened with desire, so taut and so fierce that she almost fell.
Maybe they’d just have to see if he could embarrass her. So far she was on board with all his plans.
“Well then, don’t mind me.” Refusing to cover herself, Tala strolled to the window to stare out at the frenzied calculation of light and traffic and noise that was Las Vegas. All the shimmer of the city almost eclipsed the round moon that was doing its best to light up the sky. Wow. She could look out at miles and miles of the city from Hunt’s curtainless office window. And, if it wanted, Las Vegas could look back in at her. She realized she liked the idea.
The door clicked open, almost noiselessly.
“Tala?” She knew that voice although it already seemed like she’d last heard it a million years ago. “Are you…all right?”
“Arlin, sweetie.” She rushed to him and he didn’t blink, even when she threw herself into his arms, still half-dressed and mostly aroused. He just hung onto her. “I missed you.”
It was a stupid thing to say but it was true. He was warm, familiar. Home. Arlin smiled at her, almost sweetly, before he stopped smiling at all.
“Why? Is something wrong?” He sounded dangerous.
“N-no.” If you don’t count your life turning upside down, just when you thought you were going to take charge of it. “Is that why you’re here? Did the parents send you to check up on me? I called on the way.”
“There was some…concern…but I decided to show up all on my own, Tala. Do you think anyone can make me do what I don’t want to do?” He flipped her skirt down without saying anything more.
She didn’t want to stop holding him but Tala stepped back anyway. “And do you think anyone can do that to me, either? Arlin, I want you to meet my…my fiancé.”
She was afraid of what Arlin might say if she said mate. It was bad enough watching as the two of them measured each other. Arlin was more overt, his teeth just barely restrained from showing in a snarl. Hunt was much quieter. Almost too quiet.
“Dunne?” Tala looked for outside help.
“Boss?” She wasn’t quite sure if he was answering her or talking to Hunt. At least it broke some of the tension. That was the best anyone could do for now.
Hunt crossed his arms. “Since Tala has a guest, he’s welcome to witness our bonding ceremony. Then he can report back to say everything is absolutely in order.”
“Report? You know, Hunt, this isn’t exactly a business meeting.” Tala looked down at how she wasn’t dressed.
Or maybe it was. Pack business.
She saw Dunne wince. Crap. Of course he’d be there.
Tala took a deep breath. “Listen, Hunt. I understand the rules but there’s nothing that says we have to start with an audience, is there? Can we take this up, just the two of us, right now?”
Hunt was silent. Tala squared her shoulders. Why wouldn’t he say something back to her? She wasn’t going to beg. But she just might not go to bed either. She could call off the deal. Having the first time they had sex, that she’d ever had sex, be with a crowd—No. She needed a little—she wanted—
Hunt smiled at her. A slow, lustful wolf grin.
Oh yeah, right. She’d refuse to have sex if Hunt wanted to. Not. The rat bastard already was too fascinating. Little shivers of heated need kept sneaking through her body at just the thought of him taking her. His hands on her skin, his teeth at her throat. His cock inside her, moving…the two of them moving together…
She tried again, even though it nearly choked her. “Please?”
Hunt nodded his head toward Dunne. The Beta opened the door.
“Tala?” Arlin’s voice was dangerous. “Are you sure?”
Am I willing? Am I sure? Am I insane?
She could stop now. She could try to force things to fit back into her old plans. They all looked at her. But Hunt’s gaze was the most compelling. She could lose herself in those gray eyes that were suddenly so warm.
She had wanted her life to be different and had thought she could do it on her own. But did she need to go tha
t route? Fight her family and Hunt as well? If she wanted everything to change now that she was an adult, she and Hunt could make that happen as mates. She knew that now.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” It was the only answer she would allow herself to give out loud.
The door shut behind their audience and Tala swept the halter away from her body. She crooked a finger before she began to shimmy out of her skirt. “You get naked next. I want to check the merchandise before I buy.”
Hunt began to unbutton his shirt. Strong, competent fingers uncovered a furred chest that just barely concealed a tight, lean frame. Tala ran her tongue over her teeth. Her canines were itching to bite down into that tasty body.
Hunt’s shirt dropped to the floor. He raised his arms out, waist high.
“Do I pass inspection?”
Oh God, yes.
“I think I need a hands-on check.” She wanted to touch. She wanted to burrow into that fur. To lick those hard, masculine nipples. She particularly wanted to zero in on the faint pucker of torn skin reaching from his chest bone down his side.
The old scar had to mean something important. She’d find out. He had a long history before her arrival but she had time to explore every bit of his past. She looked forward to finding out every exposed bit of him.
“Of course, Tala. My pleasure.”
“Pants off first.”
She’d never known how thrilling it could be to order an Alpha to do something and watch him submit. Especially because just from how he watched her, she knew his controlled obedience wouldn’t last forever. How far could she push him?
Or was she doing exactly what he wanted?
She got a glimpse of the entire package and decided it didn’t matter. No one could have a bigger cock than the one that was going to be hers soon. All hers, to play with and possess…