by Mina Carter
That was then, this was now. Now he was the Stratton Alpha, and he had her, her slender body trapped between him and the wall, as her soft lips trembled under his. They were softer than silk and more addictive than crack cocaine. He pulled her closer, hand angling her head for better access to her lips as he parted them with a decisive sweep of his tongue.
She started, her soft gasp lost in his mouth as he thrust into the silken sweetness beyond her lips. God, she tasted fantastic. He groaned and moved so that he had her cornered, sheltering her from the rest of the world and keeping her all to himself as he plundered her lips. For all her fight, the sass and cheek she’d always directed at him, she melted as soon as he touched her.
Triumph snaked around the heat blistering through his body. Another moan hit him as his cock, thick and painfully hard, rubbed against the inside of his jeans. His wolf, sensing the woman they’d both been obsessed with for years within reach, yowled and clamoured to be free. With iron determination he fought the creature down, sweeping his tongue along hers in a lingering caress before breaking the kiss and lifting his head.
“I’ve wanted to do that for years,” he admitted in a soft voice as he waited for her to hit him.
Her eyes were wide and dark, the expression in them stunned as she lifted a hand to her lips.
“God, don’t look at me like that, little one,” he begged, the primal need to press her up against the wall and take her there and then, to claim her as his mate, almost overwhelming him.
Grimly he held onto control. Thanks to a chance comment ten years ago she’d heard that he wanted to claim her and she’d run. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Oh, he still intended to claim her, there was no question of that. She was his, she’d always been his, and now that she was back in Stratton, he didn’t intend to let her slip through his fingers. He just wouldn’t make the mistake of letting her know what he was planning this time. Softly, softly catchy monkey, he reminded himself, or in this case, she-wolf.
Quickly, too quickly, she recovered herself, and shoved hard at his chest. “Get off me, you great oaf!”
He smiled at the push, holding his ground easily for a moment before he let her get her way. He was strong, much stronger than she was, even if she was a feisty little thing, but he wasn’t a bully. No man worth the name physically threatened his lady.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the sparring and potential for violence and sex that hung in the air between them. With wolves one was never far away from the other, particularly not with an alpha pair.
Even though she’d never identified as an alpha, he knew in his bones that’s what she was. She’d been little more than a kid when she’d left the pack for the big city, too young to have found herself, pushed herself forward. But she came from a long line of alphas and her bearing and manner screamed an attitude and feminine dominance that had both wolf and man sitting up to take notice. He knew, they both knew, that she was the female alpha to his male. And by the moon, he was going to prove it to her.
“Pretty words from a pretty lady.” He stepped back a little, not much, to let her pass then grinned as she shook her head at him and stalked past.
Her hips swayed as he followed her down the corridor, the cheap lighting overhead highlighting her curvy figure like a catwalk spotlight. The denim of her jeans hugged her hips and ass below a tiny waist he could probably wrap his hands right around. Tiny wasn’t the right word. No, she was delicate, in a porcelain doll kind of way, if china dolls packed enough strength to snap the average human in two without breaking a sweat.
“Asshole. Compliments will get you nowhere after that…that…after damn well mauling and pawing me like that,” she shot back as she shoved the door open, an adorable little pout on her full lips.
Lust bolted through him again as he imagined catching her against him and licking it from her mouth. That thought led to others of her mouth, his body tight with ten years and more of frustration. She had a mouth made for loving, her lower lip slightly fuller than the upper, tempting him to nip it, to suckle it into his mouth as he pulled that pretty little lacy top from her shoulders, baring them for his touch.
“Pawing?” He followed her through into the main bar, striding ahead of her to clear a path through the crowded room and talking to her over his shoulder. “Little wolf, I do not paw. I make love better than Casanova.”
“Casanova? Only if he was a frigging Neanderthal,” she snorted. Had anyone else made the derisive little sound, he’d have growled at them, his wolf responding aggressively to the challenge to his dominance. On her, it was cute.
It was less cute when she plunked herself down in a chair next to one of the pack’s younger wolves.
“Thanks Kyle, just what the doctor ordered,” she said as she pulled the glass toward her, smiling at the guy like he was the sun, moon and stars.
Mine, Max’s wolf snarled, fury surging through them both as she patted the younger guy on the arm. A growl, low and threatening, rolled from his lips. The room silenced, an area subtly clearing around them as he stood over the pair, anger rolling off him in waves.
She started and looked up at him in shock, instinctively lifting her hand from Kyle’s arm. Then replacing it with defiance.
“Sorry, man. I didn’t realize…” Kyle started, the color blanching from his face as he looked up at Max. Hastily he pulled his arm free, backing up and stumbling over his chair for a second before he righted himself. His eyes were wide as he looked between the two of them. “Didn’t know you had a cla—”
“He doesn’t have a claim,” Kelli snapped back, anger in her voice as she surged to her feet to get in his face.
“Look you. I don’t care who or what you think you are, but you don’t own me. You don’t have a claim. You never did and you never will.” She stabbed him in the chest with her finger to punctuate each word.
Behind her, Kyle took the opportunity to slip away. Wise man. Max turned his attention back to the little she-wolf spitting fire in front of him. She was challenging him, in front of a bar full of pack members. The growl returned, welling up from the centre of his chest, low and warning as it threaded through his words.
“Never will? We’ll see about that.”
Before he’d finished speaking, he bent down and threw her over his shoulders. Her squeal of outrage nearly burst his eardrum and she became a wildcat, struggling and fighting to be free. Max simply looped his arm over the back of her thighs and ignored the blows raining down against his back to turn to her brother.
Riley’s face was set somewhere between amusement at his sister’s predicament, and a warning expression. Max nodded, unspoken communication passing between the two men. If he hurt her, Riley would hunt him down and make him pay. Even if Max was bigger, older and meaner, as well as being the current pack alpha, Riley had the same alpha blood as the little hellion over Max’s shoulder. The sort of blood that meant he would kill anyone who mistreated a member of his family.
“Behave, or I’ll spank you,” Max warned, big hand swatting her rounded ass in warning as he strode through the silent bar into the darkness of the night. Once outside, he carried her around the side of the building out of sight, then dropped her to her feet and pinned her up against the wall in one swift movement.
She gasped, eyes glittering in the darkness as power rolled around them. Her wolf was close to the surface, the creature looking out of her eyes as amber leeched into the chocolate brown he remembered so well. Max grinned. Both woman and wolf were pissed off with him. Just the way he liked it.
* * *
“Fuck you, asshole!”
Kelli, slapped Max’s arms and chest as she tried to slide out from between him and the wall but he was too quick for her. Within a heartbeat he had her pressed back against the wall with her hands pinned above her head.
“I told you before, I keep trying.”
His chuckle, deep and rich, wrapped around her, tugging at her body’s responses as she pulled on her wrists to t
est his hold. His hands tightened, a warning gleam in his eyes as he looked down at her. Awareness surged, heat spinning a web between them as his gaze dropped to her mouth. The dark look in his eyes stole her breath.
What was it about him? Why was she reacting? The ass had staked a claim in front of a bar-full of people and carried her out over his damn shoulder. Anger hit her again, fuelling the heat marching across her cheeks as she struggled against him. But it was no use, even with her wolf-enhanced strength, he was stronger than she was. His hard body pressed into her, all that lean strength and solid muscle making her weak with need and longing. Both of which she’d wanted to feel, longed to feel…with another man, any man. Not him.
“Shhh…don’t fight it, sweetheart.”
Closing a large hand around both her wrists, he slid the other down around her waist and gathered her closer. His scent—warm man, citrus-spicy cologne, and the fresh-earth smell of his wolf—enveloped her in its seductive embrace. Bending his head, he lowered his lips toward hers. Within, her wolf whimpered and whined, sensing the male wolf so close and wanting nothing more than to press against him, present herself and bow to his dominance.
Fuck. That.
She growled and snapped her teeth in warning but it was futile, her body had already started to soften, knees as weak as jelly as he held her securely.
He chuckled, letting go of her wrists to drive a big hand into her hair. The clip gave with a metallic ping, falling with a clatter to the ground. Her hands curled into fists, ready to pound at his shoulders but within a heartbeat his mouth covered hers and she was lost.
His lips were warm, firm against hers as she tried to hold unwavering under the sensual assault. He worked her lips, teasing and tempting her to open up to him instead of demanding with the hard kisses she’d expected given his kiss in the back corridor. Then he’d been all about demand and dominance, his kiss hard as he took what he wanted. Now he seduced and cajoled, waiting for her to open up to him. The change made her head spin as she fought against him and her own body.
She surrendered, parting her lips with a soft whimper. He growled in triumph, dipping his tongue past her lips in a scalding caress before retreating. He thrust again, the alpha back in his manner as he claimed her mouth with scorching intent. Her hands relaxed, found his shoulders as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. The world fell away. Nothing mattered but the two of them, and the hot mating of their mouths, their tongues as he twined his around hers, sliding and stroking. Hot, wet caresses designed to shatter every last bit of resistance she had.
He didn’t pin her against the wall as she expected. Instead, he pulled her away, spreading and bracing his thighs to hold her in his arms, his bigger body protective and possessive as he curled himself around her. Breaking from her lips with a gasp, he fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her head back. She gasped, liquid heat dampening her panties as his lips scorched a trail of hot kisses down her throat.
“Mine. Always mine,” he murmured, voice muffled against the tender skin. His tongue flicked out in a warm, wet rasp to caress the skin between her shoulder and her neck. It was a sensitive spot. The place her mate would mark to claim her.
She held her breath as he opened his mouth to graze human-blunt teeth over the spot. Panic warred with need. Surely he wouldn’t…not like this? Not without her consent…
“It’s okay. Don’t panic, I won’t.”
His words were low against her skin as he licked again, closing his mouth over to suckle the spot. The pressure and hot suction buckled her knees as a bolt of need shot through her and made its home in her core. She squirmed, her hips rocking against him as he licked her neck again, then worked his way back up to her lips.
“I want to though. Want to bite you, claim you. Fuck you.”
Each word was punctuated by a kiss until he reached her mouth again. Pulling back he looked down at her with a gaze hot enough to blister paint. She bit her lip, trying to hold still and trying hard to hold onto why the biting and the sex parts were bad ideas. When he kissed her, belonging to him didn’t seem so bad after all.
“I want you, Kelli, and I’m going to get you.” His promise slid along her spine like a caress, something deep within her resonating at his words. “You can fight and block me all you like, but it won’t make any difference. You belong to me. You always have.”
Chapter Three
You belong to me.
The words filled her mind the next day, just waiting for a lull in the frantic running around dealing with the last minute arrangements for the wedding to jump out and attack. Nibbling at her lower lip, Kelli carefully negotiated the rush hour traffic of three cars and a dog walker as she made her way to the florists. The memory of the kiss still lingered, her lips tingling every time she thought about it. If she closed her eyes for a moment she saw Max’s face, the look in his eyes as he bent his head to kiss her. The hard strength of his body as he leaned into hers and the warmth of his hands as they slid up her back.
Heat rolled through her body, waking her wolf and setting it pacing again. The creature didn’t understand, didn’t see why they couldn’t claim the virile male wolf it could smell through her dull human senses, snapping and snarling at her to be free. After so long in the city, dating human men, it wanted a wolf. It…she…wanted to be free, to not have to be careful to hurt her date. She wanted to run free and revel in her wild side.
“Damn it.”
She pulled to a stop and slammed her hands against the wheel. She wanted a mate but she had to have a choice, and Max Daniels gave no choices. It was his way or the highway, and she couldn’t deal with that. No matter how sexy he was. No matter how his kisses turned her inside out.
She shouldn’t have listened to Riley and stayed, or she should have disappeared out the back door when he’d come to warn her than Max was in the bar. Sighing, she grabbed her purse and slid out of the car. No, that wouldn’t have worked. Max had been in the corridor right behind her brother, and if she’d run. A shiver hit her, running down her spine as she headed for the door to the shop. If she’d run, Max would have chased her.
And she didn’t want to think where that would have ended up…
* * *
Less than half an hour later, the flowers were paid for and pickup was confirmed for later that day. Kelli shook her head as she walked out of the door, hearing the bell clatter behind her. Used to the city where something like this would have been arranged months in advance, the fact that Riley had left the final arrangements until the day before his wedding astounded her.
“Gentlemen’s agreements!” he’d assured her, giving her a list of things that needed to be done for the reception. Kelli didn’t know whether to be pleased to be so involved, or ask what on earth the bride-to-be was doing, other than getting her nails done and her fake tan re-applied.
What on earth Riley saw in Jenna, Kelli had no idea. As far as she could see, the girl had done nothing since leaving school but work at the local diner and catch the first man who crossed her path. Less than a year after graduation, she’d given up work in preparation for married life. Kelli ground her teeth as she headed for her car.
Plus there was the fact that Riley was covering most of the cost of the wedding because Jenna didn’t have any savings. No savings? No, that was because of the shiny new car she paraded about in and the hair and nail extensions that seemed to require endless trips to the salon in Katy.
Shoving her complaints to the back of her mind, she pushed the button to unlock the car door and waited for the chirp before reaching for the handle.
“When this wedding is done, you can fuck off back to the big city. Max is mine.”
A female voice sounded behind her, dripping with venom. Surprised but wary, Kelli turned around to find a taller blond woman standing behind her, hand on her out-thrust hip as she glared.
Wolf. One Kelli didn’t know, didn’t remember from when she left. Kelli’s hackles rose at the potential for violence hanging in the air, her
inner wolf pacing within, just ready for a chance to break through her skin.
“Max?”
“Yeah. He’s mine. I haven’t spent years in this fucking shit hole for you to come along and steal him from under my nose,” the blond declared, her thumbs looped in the low rise jeans she wore. Her pose was relaxed, confident. To anyone looking from inside the shop or further down the street, it would look as though the two women were merely exchanging pleasantries.
“You’re so far off base it’s unreal. Did no one ever clue you in to why I left?” Kelli chuckled, shaking her head.
The woman shrugged, her expression filled with ‘don’t give a fuck’. Kelli sighed. God save her from bimbos and power struggles.
“I left because I didn’t want Max Daniels. As far as I’m concerned, he’s all yours.”
* * *
Cough-splutter-wheeze. Bang!
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Kelli swore as she wrenched the wheel around and pulled over to the side of the road. The rental car coughed and spluttered its last, grinding to a halt and stalling before she could put it in park. Just her frigging luck to get the only rental in the shop that was on its last damn legs. She’d thought the thing was making funny noises on the way down here but, perhaps stupidly, she’d assumed the company had them checked for road worthiness on a regular basis. Obviously not.
“And you lot can stop being smug,” she directed over her shoulder to the floral displays crammed into the back, across the dropped seats and filling the trunk. It had taken her and the girl from the shop what seemed like an hour to pack them all in. A fragrant game of Tetris as the sum total of blooms and ribbons exceeded the available space in the mid-size sedan. They’d finally gotten them in, the girl assuring Kelli that it was only a short drive and the blooms wouldn’t suffer being crammed in.