Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Michele Bardsley

  Lizzy considered it for a moment and then said, “Maybe. I’m not sure. I can’t see casual transfer as being enough, but you’re an alpha, of that I’m certain. It may be what’s making the difference.”

  “An alpha? Like a leader of the pack?” he asked.

  “Another myth.” She shook her head. “There are many alphas among the lycanosapiens, just like there are many natural leaders in the human world. You’re born to it. In a tribe, there are nearly as many alphas as betas. A council rules us, not one person because that would be disastrous. There has to be checks and balances.”

  “Are you a beta?”

  Lizzy snorted. “Not hardly.” She grew quiet. “At least not until I met you. You make me want to submit.” She didn’t sound happy about it.

  “Submit, huh?” Coy raised his arm on his uninjured side. “Will you lay with me? I don’t know why, but I feel better when we’re touching.”

  He could hear her heart race, the gulp she swallowed, and her scent grew earthy as she nodded. “All right.”

  “Lizzy.” He touched her hand. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Chapter Five

  LIZZY STARED AT Coy. She wanted so bad to tell him the truth. But how could she explain it to someone who hadn’t been prepped for the cull. Every new member of the tribe was well versed in the history and traditions of the lycanosapien, along with the biological imperatives to run, to hunt...to mate. Lizzy had always managed to escape the last one, but not anymore. Coy Vega was her mate, and the circumstances of this revelation were less than desirable.

  Lord, how had she gotten herself into this mess? She sat up and averted her gaze from his. His abs were like planks, hard and rigid. The tattoos that covered his arms and chest didn’t mar the perfect grooves of his six-pack. Sheesh, this kind of lean muscle was hard won. It would take a thousand sit-ups a day to get this type of definition. Was it natural for him?

  Her nipples perked again, and she flushed when a glance revealed he was aware of her body’s reaction. Another glance at his groin let her know that he was very, very aware. She was covered in mating stench, and so was he. She’d detected the aroma in other mated couples, but it hadn’t ever smelled this good, all sweet musk and exotic spice. She licked her lips as she thought about how delicious he would taste.

  “Lizzy,” she heard his voice, hoarse with growing lust. “What’s happening?” His face, again, began to thicken above the brows, his cheeks widening. “I want you so bad. Killers on my tail, all wanting me dead, and all I can think about is how wonderful it would feel to touch you, kiss you.” He stroked her hair. “Make love to you.”

  Yes, she thought. God, yes. She wanted the same things. She wanted Coy, not just tonight, but forever. Remembering his hot mouth on the flesh between her thighs, his teeth grazing her sensitive bits, Lizzy bit back a moan. “Oh, Coy,” she said. “This is impossible. I wish Donovan were here,” she murmured. The wise council member and her guardian would know what to do.

  “Who is Donovan?” Coy snarled as he sat up next to her. “I can tell you care about him. I can hear it in your voice.”

  Her heart skipped a beat under the heated jealousy in his gaze. This kind of possessiveness in any other man would have sent Lizzy running for the hills, but in Coy, it only served to stoke the flames of her desire for him. She didn’t want it to please her, but it did. “He’s my guardian. He took care of me after my parents were killed.”

  Coy blinked. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know why I...” She could see his whole body sag with relief.

  Stop stalling, Lizzy. Tell him the truth. “We have a mating connection, Coy.”

  “We have a what?”

  “With our kind, two lycanosapiens can form an instant bond. A true mating happens on a physical, chemical, and emotional level. Your overreaction is in part because your body is changing, transforming into a werewolf, which makes all your emotions feel one hundred times more potent. Your jealousy when I mentioned other men is because you feel this bond with me.”

  “And you don’t?”

  She wouldn’t lie to him. “I feel it too.”

  She swallowed her need and reached for his right side, lifting the bandage. The bullet hole sealed almost entirely and showed the first signs of healing. “Your wound looks better. How does it feel?”

  Coy blinked, his face tight. She could see the battle being fought in his mind for control. “It’s better.”

  Lizzy leaned over to listen as air moved freely through his lungs. His fingers laced her hair, and he raised her face to his, his gaze raw with need.

  “You are mine,” he said again, this time softer than before.

  Lizzy gulped. “Sex can be casual with our kind, but mating isn’t, Coy. It’s forever. You can’t know what you’re saying.”

  “I know exactly what I’m saying.” His intensity frightened and thrilled her at the same time. “Tell me your mine.”

  She nodded.

  “Say it,” he demanded.

  “I am yours,” she said. And God help her, she’d never meant any three words more.

  He pulled her up, his mouth blanketing hers. The kiss was devouring and unyielding. His hands traveled her body as if he were memorizing every curve and dip. He broke from the kiss and nuzzled her neck. The feel of his hot breath tightened her skin. She arched when he cupped her breast and raised it to his mouth. His lips clamped around her puckered nipple, sucking and nibbling. It was as if there were a direct connection from his mouth to her clit, because it began to swell and throb, making her squirm.

  Coy Vega shined a light on the dark void in Lizzy’s life, the hole in her soul. And with every touch and taste, he poured himself into that space. He made himself a part of her.

  “You’re so beautiful. Te adoro. Te necesito.”

  The mating need was stronger than Lizzy ever dreamed. She wanted to crawl onto Coy’s lap and impale herself on his rigid cock, so large and thick inside those tight little boxer briefs. How many times had she rolled her eyes at her friends who couldn’t seem to get enough of their mates to the point that nothing else in the world mattered. She felt it now, and she owed a whole bunch of them a serious apology. If she did this, if they had a true mating, there would be no turning back, for either of them.

  “We have to stop,” she panted, dying with each word. “You really can’t understand what it means. Not yet.”

  He tugged her head back, once again putting his teeth against her neck. Holy shit, the man had serious alpha instincts. “Do you want me, Lizzy?”

  Every part of her burned for him.

  He slid his fingers between the folds of her sex and brought the glistening tip to his lips. “I can feel, smell...” He sucked his finger clean. “...and taste your desire for me. Tell me you want me. I want to hear you say it.”

  Oh, Lord. Lizzy’s whole body contracted with arousal. “I want you. So goddamn much it hurts.”

  “Then quit telling me to stop.”

  “Okay,” she said, gasping now as her need for Coy overloaded her good sense.

  His mouth, once again was hot on her breast. He pushed her back, crawling over the top of her body. He kissed her right breast then her left, pinching and tugging her nipples until she raised her hips to him. He moved his thigh between her legs, lifting her and pulling her down until her slick pussy rubbed against the hard muscles in his thigh. He moved with her, laving her nipples as she grinded herself against him.

  She wanted him inside her, needed to feel his hard length pierce her depths. “Oh God,” she said, writhing beneath him. She dropped one of her legs and pushed at Coy with her lower body until he rested between her thighs. She looped her calves around his back, pressing his erection, rubbing it with vigorous thrusts of her hips.

  He rose up, capturing her lips as she fought against the fabric of his underwear. Her nails became claws, and she grabbed his boxer briefs on either side and ripped them off. Her fingers sank into the firm globes of his ass. Pulling him to her
, aching for more. Needing more.

  She rolled him to his back, and he allowed it. She sat up between his knees and let her gaze feast on the buffer before her. His cock speared out, jutting from his groin, thick, long and hard. The tip shined with a pearl of precome, and Lizzy wanted nothing more than to taste him, to let the silk of his shaft slip into her mouth, and worship his cock. Staring at it, she knew without a doubt, it had been designed for pleasure. Her pleasure.

  She sat up, his cock inches from her face. She cupped his balls with one hand and grasped the base of his shaft with other. His moan when she licked the salty-sweet tip added to her urgent need.

  His fingers wound into her hair, gently guiding her as she swallowed as much of him as she could manage. The vein in his shaft pulsed against her tongue when she traced its thick line. He said a few murmurings in Spanish, and she didn’t need a translator to know how much he enjoyed her oral attention. He tasted so good, and his scent—she breathed him in as she took him deep into her throat—masculine, earthy, and so virile. A man. Her man.

  She hummed her pleasure as he thrust between her lips in short, smooth strokes. Impossibly, he grew larger in her mouth, stretching her jaw to its limits.

  A growl erupted from above her as Coy yanked himself back and freed his shaft from her lips. He grabbed her beneath her arms and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing, and held her tightly with one arm as he gripped his shaft with his free hand, and seated her down his length.

  Lizzy moaned as his cock slid deep inside her. He lunged forward, holding her hips off the ground as her shoulders hit the blankets. He withdrew a little then thrust in so hard and deep it shook her to her very core.

  Lizzy cried out as every thrust of his rigid length threatened to split her wide open and lay her physically and emotionally bare before him. Coy was hers. Hers. Feral grunts and groans coming from both of them echoed off the concrete walls. Closing her eyes, Lizzy threw her head back and howled. When she snapped her gaze back to him, his eyes were wide with wonder, but he didn’t stop his thrusting assault. She’d changed, she could feel her half-form on the edge of a shift, her passion for Coy a bright and pure energy. Still this side of human, but her wolf lurked just below the surface ready to claim what was theirs.

  Coy tightened the arm under her back, and he used the other to hold himself up. His face was a study of intensity and determination. He leaned up, pulling her with him until she was sitting astride his thighs, and when he bit the soft flesh above her right breast, his teeth cutting through her skin, Lizzy roared with elation. She returned the bite, clamping her canines down on his shoulder, right above his tattoo of the moon hanging from the cross. The power of his blood in her mouth, the pain from his bite, and the swelling of his cock inside her drove Lizzy to the brink of rapture.

  He released his bite when Lizzy let hers go, his face nearly inhuman now as well, and kissed her hard, their blood mingling on their tongues.

  The building pressure turned her body into a powder keg ready to blow. Her mouth watered at the power transferring back and forth between them as Coy’s thrusting became quicker, more insistent. She gripped him tight, holding on as the first shock of orgasm bowed her back. She cried out, convulsing as pleasure and joy exploded inside her.

  Coy swallowed her scream as he held her firmly against his chest. He thrusting grew faster, his neck strained with bulging veins. “Fuck!” he shouted as he climaxed just as her orgasm caught again in another wave, and she clamped down on him.

  He arched back, his hips jerking until he pumped the last of his seed deep inside her. They stayed together, joined and unmoving for several moments as the final tremors subsided. Lizzy stared into his deep-set brown eyes, and she resisted saying the words that would complete their dance. Did it matter now whether she claimed him formally or not? They’d shared bite and blood while having sex, and God, it had been glorious.

  Their bites were red and vicious-looking, but Lizzy had never felt anything so wonderful. She touched the edges, the pain a delicious reminder of their mating. She put her hand to her belly. Had it been a true mating? Oh man, he really did a number on her head. She was an enforcer in the pack, which meant she was one of the better fighters and trackers for the tribe. And here she was, hiding out with a man on the run from killers, and all she really wanted to know was if their joining had produced a child.

  Jesus, she’d given her friends so much shit over the years, but mating really did fry the brain. She saw many, many apologies in her future.

  Coy must have seen the dismay on her face, because he kissed her bite wound, and said, “Did I hurt you?”

  She looked at her bite on his shoulder, and smiled. “Not any more than I hurt you.” She traced her mark above his tattoo, the moon in blue and gold. “What’s this for?”

  “It’s for my mother. She was an artist, and this is what she used instead of a signature to mark her sculptures.”

  “Was?”

  “She died.” He closed his eyes for a brief moment. A flicker of pain crossed his face. “She killed herself. Which is ironic considering she used to tell me the moon symbol represented hope. A beacon of light in a very dark world.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He caressed her face. “Don’t be. She was depressed. And when my father died, she just didn’t want to live.” Coy shook his head. “I don’t want to spoil this moment by talking about her. I’m too happy right now.” He touched her shoulder, where he’d marked her. “I still don’t know why I bit you,” he said. “It just felt...”

  “Like something you had to do. Something so necessary that if you didn’t do it, you and your world would crumble into the black hole of the abyss.”

  He blinked. “Well, I...Yes.” The tips of his fingers brushed her cheeks. “Is this how it is for all your kind?”

  “Our kind.” She smiled. “I’ve never had a mate before, but I imagine it must be.”

  “Is that what we are? Mates?”

  “Our biology and our chemistry say so.” She placed her hands on either side of his cheeks. The physical part of the mating need would strengthen their bond, mimicking the emotional parts of a long-term relationship until time made it real. At least that’s what she’d observed.

  “I want to know you, Lizzy Langston.”

  “What do you want to know? I’ll tell you everything. Anything.” She hoped he didn’t ask about her past lovers. After all, she’d lost her virginity in 1953.

  His expression grew distant, wistful. “I’m afraid my life is complicated. Dangerous. I don’t want to put you in the middle of my disaster.”

  Too late for that, pal. He was hers and there was no way she would give him up.

  “What kind of trouble are you in?” It was the first time she’d asked, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Even if he was a criminal, it wouldn’t matter. Not to her or her wolf. The connection was made, their bond was sealed with bite and blood, and whatever his past, the tribe would give him a clean slate...if he wanted one.

  He sighed. “The men in the woods, they are part of the Ortiz Cartel. They have a base of operations in southern Louisiana.”

  Oh God, he worked for a drug cartel! Lizzy’s chest constricted. She nodded for him to go on.

  He stroked her back, a reassuring gesture. “I have been undercover for almost two years. I infiltrated their organization through a low-level contact, a second cousin of mine, and I worked my way up through the ranks until I was in the inner circle of Manuel Salazar, a top baron in the organization.”

  “What?” It was Lizzy’s turn to blink. “Did you say undercover? As in cop?”

  “I am a sheriff’s deputy in St. Louis County in Missouri. I’ve been on loan to the DEA during this assignment.”

  “Why are they after you?”

  Coy shook his head. “I think my cover was blown. I finally found evidence we could use as leverage against Manny to get him to turn on Rafael Morena, a kingpin in the organization. Then early yesterday, several men b
usted into my apartment. I shot them.” His mouth pursed with distaste. “I’ve never killed anyone in my life.”

  Lizzy’s heart went out to him. Killing wasn’t and shouldn’t be easy, even in self-defense. She nuzzled his cheek. “Go on.”

  She felt him nod. “I grabbed my go-bag and took off. I thought I’d lost the cartel’s goons, so I paid cash for a motel room in Little Rock last night, but by this morning, they’d already found me.”

  “Why didn’t you call your DEA people to help?”

  “My records were wiped. It’s standard practice for deep cover. The cartels are sophisticated. They have really good hackers and moles in all the different law enforcement agencies. Only my handler, Joe Florrick, can get my real information restored, and I couldn’t get through to him.”

  “Oh shit, Coy.” Her chest squeezed. Crime organizations had had a long reach. Just like how the mob had killed her mom and dad. The tribe, for all their resources, hadn’t been able to protect them. Would they be able to keep Coy safe? She wanted to believe so, but the bad guys had a lot of resources and long memories. “What happened to the evidence?”

  “I mailed it to a P.O. box I keep in St. Louis under an assumed name. I contacted Joe and let him know where to find the file, and he told me to stay under for a little while longer.” He stroked her hair away from her face. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of him since it all went down yesterday.” He rubbed his head. “If Manny knows about the file, he won’t rest until he has it back and I’m dead.”

  “Or he is,” Lizzy said.

  “Fierce, mami,” Coy said, a smile playing on his lips. She could feel him growing hard inside her again.

  “Seriously,” she said.

  “I’m very serious,” he replied. “I love the way it feels to be inside you. You’re so hot and wet. So fucking sexy.”