Damn. The woman was right again. Where had Michael gotten off thinking he was going to swoop in here and fix up his perfect life in one day? Christ, his cock hurt just thinking of waiting for Alyssa to warm up to him.
“Just think about it, okay?” His mother looked at him, her face warm and stern at the same time. “Alyssa is like a daughter to me and your dad. We love her as much as any of you kids. We want the best for her, and we want her to be happy.”
“You know that’s all I want too, Mom.”
“Of course you do, son. But in the presence of a mate, sometimes men tend to rule with their little heads instead of their big ones.” She grinned.
Michael gasped at his mother’s blunt statement. He groaned.
“Don’t get all shocked on me, Michael. I’ve raised too many boys and live surrounded by too much testosterone to not realize how it is for you men. Thank God I had your sister around before the rest of you were born, or I’d have lost my mind.”
“Mom…”
“I’m just sayin’. Think about things before you leap. Promise me that?”
“Of course.” Damn, the woman had a point. Michael needed to take a step back and get a grip on himself before he faced his mate and started the mating dance. It was hardly a dance, but he could picture the two of them circling the room in a standoff as old as time when she realized what she was to him.
Michael prayed he’d at least get the opportunity to hold her tiny, sexy body against his and bury his face in her floral-scented hair today, just like he had the last time he’d been in the same room with her.
Only this time he wasn’t pretending. This time it would be for real.
Chapter 3
Alyssa was exhausted. Kara had called first thing that morning and asked Alyssa if she could come over and help with the kids. Kevin, a precocious two-year-old, spent all his time climbing as high as he could and moving any object not nailed down from one room to another. Kara had a hard time keeping up with him on days when her daughter Kyla, six months, decided to cry for six hours straight. The child had colic. Reinforcements were often needed in that house, and Alyssa loved to help out.
As she pulled up to the ranch house she now considered home, she turned off the engine and just sat for a moment.
In the few months since finishing her associate’s degree in early childhood education, Alyssa had yet to decide what she wanted to do. Nancy and Richard were the best. She’d never met anyone with a family this huge, but these people who’d taken her in two years ago had a dynamic that made anyone who visited envious. All five biological siblings and their multitude of spouses and kids got along with each other like a utopian society.
Perhaps with the exception of Michael. She’d only met him a few times briefly before he’d taken off for Spain to help out in Alejandro’s absence. However, those few minutes she’d spent with him the last time she’d seen him would never be forgotten.
The man had packed a punch. The scene ran through her mind like an old movie reel every time she allowed herself to indulge. Her first kiss, only kiss in fact, had come from him. Soft and gentle at first, and then urgent and firmer, Michael had even let his tongue skim the edges of her lips. Alyssa had melted into that kiss, forgetting the world around her for the frozen moment in time.
Too bad it had all been a staged act for the purpose of convincing her Oklahoma pack she had a mate and would soon be claimed in Oregon. Alyssa had never fully recovered from that kiss and had spent a portion of every day since then reliving the moment—the gentle way Michael had held her shoulders, the way his fingers trailed down her back and rested just above her butt, the way he’d kissed the spot just behind her ear and then breathed words she couldn’t hear into her neck.
She’d always wondered what he’d said, but no matter how much she thought about it, she’d come up with no ideas.
This package had been her world for the last two years—school, home, and pretending the Michael she remembered belonged to her. In her dreams. Had it all been just a teenage crush? A figment of her imagination? It had to have been. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left her … left the country. Right?
She could never thank the Masters enough for the two years they’d given her. They’d shaped and changed her in ways she couldn’t explain, but Alyssa still had a fear of wandering too far from the house. She knew it wasn’t rational. It had been too long. The Masters had clearly convinced the numskulls who’d come to collect her that she was taken. Nobody had ever tried to contact her or bothered her in any way.
She occasionally thought about her parents and what they were doing. Did they miss her? They had to know where she was and had never attempted to contact her. Their silence spoke volumes. They were brainwashed by the only pack they’d ever known.
Nevertheless, other than school and group outings with her huge new family, Alyssa didn’t wander too far on her own.
Coincidentally Jessica had also been born into the same pack as Alyssa and was extremely sympathetic to Alyssa’s plight and need to break all ties. The Masters were an unexpected godsend. Alyssa shivered to think what would have become of her without their guidance, love, and acceptance. In the two years she’d been living with Nancy and Richard, she’d grown from a scared girl into a confident woman. Someone managed to remind her of that nearly every day.
Alyssa smiled and lifted her face into the afternoon sunshine. Spring was just around the corner. In early April the days were still chilly, but sitting in the confines of her car, it was warm enough to pretend she’d encounter the perfect temperature when she opened the door.
Alyssa set her forehead on the steering wheel and tried to run through the events of the last week again in her mind. She was in no hurry to go inside.
She wasn’t crazy. Was she? The man who should be courting her right this minute had taken one whiff of her, literally, and disappeared. Frustrated didn’t even begin to describe her feelings. After all this time spent fantasizing about the elusive Michael, an abrupt U-turn had her pondering a man she knew even less about. It was absurd, ridiculous, and ate into her during every waking hour and often the middle of the night.
Alyssa needed to get a grip. Move on. She wasn’t likely to ever encounter the wolf from the rodeo again, and her fake romance with Michael was just that—in her mind.
As she flung the door open, a cool blast of air assaulted her and made Alyssa smile. It was still winter out there after all. Darn.
Moving on autopilot, Alyssa headed for the back door and into the huge kitchen. She dropped her keys on the counter just inside the kitchen, and the screen door slammed shut behind her with a deafening clack. Something was different about the house this afternoon. Alyssa nearly jumped out of her skin in a brief second of fear, erased as she took a deep breath and inhaled the distinct scent she would never forget—Michael.
In the silent aftermath of the slamming door, the only sound was that of the ticking clock on the kitchen wall. Alyssa glanced at the clock, somehow knowing she needed to mark this moment in her mind. Four seventeen. Michael was home.
With a deep breath, Alyssa lifted her head and took two steps forward, bringing the entire great room into her line of vision. And then she stopped, frozen to her location, mouth open just enough to not only smell Michael, but taste him in the air. There he was, in the flesh, standing only yards away from her, a smile pasted on his face, and an intense look in his eyes that reached into her soul.
Alyssa shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle. She couldn’t speak. Her stomach tightened, and her panties dampened.
“Alyssa.” Her name was like a love song coming from his mouth.
She wanted to fling herself into his arms and demand he kiss her again like he had that day so long ago. Would it be the same? He looked at her like he intended to do just that. Her brain muddled just staring at his frame.
He was taller, not by much, but still… More filled out. Muscular where he’d been barely a man two years ago.
Alyss
a scanned down his entire body as if he were a work of art in a museum, not considering this living being was watching her peruse him in such a way. Until he chuckled.
She jerked her head back to reality. A flush spread across her face, and she squeezed her legs together against the pressure and need pulling at her sex. Her head fell in embarrassment.
Michael seemed to find his legs quicker than her, and he closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Standing inches from her, he lifted her chin with one hand and gazed into her eyes. His look pierced her soul, and it seemed he knew things about her even she didn’t, as though he were an empath, and the touch to her chin opened her up like a book.
“What…” Her voice squeaked, and she licked her lips to gather some moisture. “What are you doing here?”
“I came home.” He smiled down at her as though this brief sentence explained everything.
The feelings he elicited were incredible. Warmth spread up her arms and down her torso to settle around her sex. She’d only experienced this sensation one other time in her life, and that was last week at the rodeo. The rodeo. Oh. My. God.
Michael was her mate. But… This was not the man she’d scented last week. What was going on?
Confused, and without words to describe her predicament, Alyssa bit her lower lip and tried to read Michael’s face.
Did he know? Was he as attracted to her as she was to him?
“Breathe, babe. I know.” He answered the question she hadn’t voiced. Maybe he could read her mind.
And the way he said “babe” made her tingly all over again. The man was sex on a stick, and every time his mouth opened, the words caressed her skin and seeped into her ear, sending a chill down her body.
“Where is everyone?” Alyssa took a step back and glanced around the room. Maybe she’d get lucky and find some of her brain cells floating around.
“Only Mom was here. She went to Tessa’s for the afternoon.”
Alone? That couldn’t be good considering the feelings coursing through her body.
“Don’t worry. I would never do anything to pressure you. I just wanted some time alone with you before everyone got here.”
The man and his pheromones were crowding Alyssa, and it wasn’t in a bad way. She wanted to press into him. What she really wanted was for him to press his lips against hers, so she could find out if her memory was as good as she suspected.
Alyssa shook her head and leaned back a few inches to stare up into the piercing brown eyes that had nearly made her swoon three Christmases ago. Realization dawned when she pondered the few things he’d said so far this afternoon. “You knew.”
It wasn’t a question.
Michael nodded. “I did.”
“Why didn’t I?” The questions in her mind piled up. Had she known? Perhaps she’d been too preoccupied with life’s events to realize this man was her mate?
“I think you were too young. At least, that’s what I told myself.”
“Why did you leave?” He’d run, left the country in fact, the moment his body had aligned with hers. Just like … whoever had fled last week. What was wrong with her that two men who seemed to be her mates had hightailed it out of town the moment they realized their fate?
“Don’t look at me like that,” Michael soothed. He cupped her cheek with one hand and tipped her face back even farther. With his thumb, he grazed her skin. “You were so young. And you’d been through so much. You needed time. Time to enjoy life and relax. I couldn’t have given you that if I’d stayed here. It wouldn’t have taken long for you to figure out we were mates, and then I’d have been unable to keep from claiming you.”
So it wasn’t a testament to her being somehow unattractive or lacking in the hygiene department. She released a breath she’d not realized she’d been holding and smiled.
“Ah, Alyssa, you look so beautiful when you smile. A dimple pops up right here.” Michael tapped her face with his free hand right in the spot where she knew the indentation was. “The girl I remember didn’t smile two years ago. You were so sad and scared. I hated leaving you. But I would have hated myself even more if I’d have stayed and taken you right then.”
A flush crawled up her neck. He knew just what to say, and she was completely tongue-tied.
“I knew my parents would nurture you and help you become the woman you are today. Gorgeous, confident, sexy… You even hold your head higher.” He cleared his throat. “I was watching you out the window,” he admitted with a twinkle in his eyes. “You took my breath away … when you finally got out of the car.”
Now he tipped his head to one side. “What were you doing in there so long?”
“Thinking. Wait… Your parents know about this?” She couldn’t form the precise words to describe whatever this was, but she motioned between them in the air with one hand.
Michael nodded. “Everyone does. I’m sorry. It couldn’t be helped.”
“Everyone?” Alyssa pushed against Michael’s chest and stepped back out of his range. “Oh… Oh, God.” She pressed her hand to her chest and thought about that information. Lord. All this time…
“I made them promise. Alyssa?” He stepped into her space once again. “Please, forgive me. I wanted this for you. This time when you didn’t have to worry about mating and all that entails.”
Embarrassment flooded Alyssa as she thought back to all the times no one had bothered to tell her about Michael.
Michael tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and let his hand relax against her neck.
“Wait.” Her senses were slowly coming back to her. “How can you be my mate? What about the man…?” He had no idea what she was talking about. Why bother to finish the sentence?
“From the rodeo?” Michael knew. Of course he knew. How stupid could she be? That’s undoubtedly why he was even here. “I’m not sure what that’s all about.”
“So you came back here today because your family told you I’d found another mate.” Now she glared at him. She didn’t know if that fact should make her angry or elated. The mix of emotions was making her weak in the knees. “I need to sit down.”
“Of course.” Michael didn’t break contact with her. He let his hand slip down her arm and grasped her fingers to tug her toward a large couch in the great room. When they got there, he tugged at her sleeves and removed the coat she still wore. “Better?”
She felt a bit like a little girl the way he manhandled her, and again she didn’t know whether she liked his take-charge style or wanted to punch him as he pulled her down to sit on the couch next to him.
“I’d hoped for more time. Would have waited until you turned twenty-one. But…”
Her head whipped up. “Do you have two mates? Like all your brothers?” It hadn’t ever occurred to her she would end up in this situation.
Michael shook his head. “I sure as hell hope not because I’ve never wanted to share you.” His words were tight, and his lips pressed together even tighter after he spoke.
Alyssa flinched at the conviction in his tone.
He set his forehead against hers. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”
Again, when she thought she should be pulling back from the man’s insistence, Alyssa instead experienced a renewed surge of blood pumping through her. Michael wanted her, and he didn’t want to share. She loved his commanding presence. Was that wrong of her?
“I don’t know what happened last week. I’m secretly hoping you were mistaken?” His eyelids, so close to hers, rose as he finished.
Alyssa shook her head slightly and sucked in her bottom lip to bite down. She may have had a lot of unknown factors in her life up until now, but that wasn’t one of them. In fact, when she recalled her body’s reaction to whoever had fled the rodeo without confronting her last week, she grew even more certain. She’d experienced the same heightened level of arousal in the same parts of her body as she did now.
Ignoring her response, Michael took her hand and set it against his chest. His heart
pounded beneath his shirt. His muscles rippled and flexed as she pressed her palm into his pecs.
“See what you do to me? I can’t even breathe,” he murmured, never breaking eye contact.
Good. At least she wasn’t the only one.
“I remember that kiss like it was yesterday.” His eyes lowered to her lips, and he pulled away a few inches to stare at them. With one thumb, he brushed gently across the upper one and then tugged on her chin to free the lower one from her teeth. “I’ve relived it over and over again in my mind.”
Alyssa breathed heavily, short pants that wouldn’t subside, as though she were running.
“Would you mind if I refresh my memory?” He glanced at her eyes again and cupped her chin with one hand. “I can’t stand the suspense,” he added with a grin.
What? What was he asking? She stared at him but couldn’t make sense of his syllables. They fled from her consciousness as soon as he spoke them.
And then she looked at his mouth and wanted him to kiss her. More than anything she’d ever wanted in the world, she needed Michael to kiss her silly right now.
“Alyssa?”
She didn’t have any idea what he was asking, but she had a demand of her own. “Kiss me, please.”
The words had barely left her mouth before he descended and pressed his lips to hers. Soft, gentle at first. A series of small nips around her mouth, exploring the outside while she melted into his embrace.
Michael teased her mouth until she relaxed into him, and then he licked the seam of her lips just like she remembered from so long ago. Only this time, he let his tongue dip inside, and she opened for him. She couldn’t stop if she wanted to. She needed his breath mingling with her own, needed to taste him, devour him. She felt wanton.
The taste of mint mingled with Michael’s own personal flavor to entice Alyssa into leaning into him. The kiss lingered, and Alyssa grasped the front of Michael’s shirt with both hands. If she gripped tight enough, maybe she wouldn’t fall through the crack in the universe threatening to swallow her whole.
Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) Page 4