“People are trying to kill you,” she protested, but she was already moving her hips against him. She groaned when he lifted her breast and sucked her nipple into his mouth. Pleasure rippled through her body. “You’re a very, very bad man, Coy Vega.”
Chapter Six
COY LAY LIZZY back on the blankets, careful to keep their bodies joined. Slowly, tenderly, he began to thrust inside her. He loved the way her wet heat gripped him tight, milking his cock with every stroke. He kissed her neck, her jawline, her earlobe while they moved as one unit. This time it wasn’t just sex or mating need, it was making love. He watched her face, surprised when her blue eyes glittered with tears.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve never been so happy.”
“Me too.” He kissed her eyes, drinking her joy, a joy that matched his own.
“You feel so good,” she said.
He’d made love to other women, but none of them rivaled the way Lizzy made him feel. In her, he felt as if he were in a place that had eluded him his entire life. A place he never wanted to leave. Home.
Her slick heat took every inch of him, and her rolling hips gave back as good as she got. She locked her feet around his legs. She rubbed herself against the curls above his shaft, and the friction increased the growing pressure.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “Yes.”
She grasped at his back, clinging to him as he thrust over and over in a smooth, even rhythm. Her passion, her fire, consumed him.
“Coy,” she said breathily.
He cupped the back of her neck, holding her to him, wanting every part of him to touch every part of her. He couldn’t get enough, and he knew if given a thousand years with Lizzy, he’d still want more.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful, so perfect,” he told her. “I need you. I need you.” He meant those words more than he could even explain to himself. She was air, food, water—all the basic needs of survival. And without her, he would perish.
“You have me,” she told him as the tears leaked from her eyes. “I claim you, Coy Vega. I claim you as mine.”
The powerful words triggered a primitive and primal yearning in Coy. He was hers, body and soul. And she... “I claim you, Lizzy Langston.” Well, she was his.
His pace quickened, his thrusts less gentle. He could feel the blush of heat and pressure. Every stroke pushed him toward the bright and burning edge of rapture, and he didn’t want to merely fall off, he wanted to take her hand and jump.
“Dios mio, so good.” He kissed her, feasting from her parted lips. She kissed him back, eager and hungry. When she pulled away from the kiss, sweat beaded her forehead, and her face flushed red. So fucking gorgeous. The angel of his dreams, and here she was in his arms. “Come for me, Lizzy. I want to feel you explode around my cock. I want to--”
Lizzy cried out, her body shuddering beneath him. Her back bowed as her whole body vibrated with the throes of ecstasy. Her slick heat gripped him, and he could feel every inch off her squeezing and releasing his shaft.
“Yes,” Coy said, his voice ragged. “Jesus fuck. So good. Ah!” The mounting pressure exploded, and his hips lurched with his climax. When he finished, he collapsed onto her. They both panted, their breaths quick and shallow, and covered in sweat.
Lizzy laughed, more tears streamed down the sides of her face.
“Are you happy?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’m over eighty-years-old, and this is the first time that I’ve ever experienced such unadulterated joy. How stupid is that?”
Coy lifted his head. “Wait. What? You’re over eighty?”
Lizzy laughed again. “I was born in 1931, at the height of the Great Depression. You have a problem with my age?”
Coy chuckled at her mock righteous indignation. While she had a few fine lines around her eyes, a small worry crease in her forehead, he would have guessed her late twenties, at the most early thirties. But, wow, over eighty?
He grinned. “You’re well-preserved.”
“Thank you.”
Eres divina, mi angel.
“What does that mean?” Lizzy asked.
“What?”
“That dee-vee-nah an-hel words you just said.” She waved her hand at him. “You speak really fast. I couldn’t catch it all.”
“Uhm, I didn’t say anything.” Coy studied Lizzy’s face. “At least not out loud.”
Her eyes widened for a moment, and she smiled. Can you hear me?
“Yes,” he said, surprised because she hadn’t moved her mouth.
Answer me with your mind.
Coy concentrated. Like this.
Yes!
How are we talking like this?
It’s part of the mating bond. A part I completely forgot about. When two lycanosapiens mate, they become partners in all aspects. The telepathy helps them to communicate when they run as wolves. This is amazing. Her face lit up with wonder. I never expected to experience any of this.
You’re so beautiful. And so old, he kidded. I can’t believe no one has snatched you up.
Nope, her voice soured, but there was a hint of amusement. No such luck for this old broad.
The luck is all mine, Coy told her.
So, what was the Spanish you said before?
I said, you are divine, my angel. And you truly are. Coy laughed. “I have a lot to learn about werewolves, don’t I?”
“We have time.”
He hoped so. Coy had never believed he’d make it to thirty, let alone eighty. He rolled onto his side, and instantly missed Lizzy’s body beneath him. He lifted his right arm. The bullet wound was completely healed. He glanced at his shoulder. The bite mark was nothing more than a circular pink scar now.
“You’re all healed up,” Lizzy said.
“I noticed. The pain is gone as well.”
He stretched his naked body, and noticed with a measure of satisfaction that Lizzy stared at him with awe and desire. Watching the way her breast swayed when she moved, and the feel of her soft belly against his hard planes drove him wild. Damn, she was dazzling.
“I’m glad.” She put her hand on his chest. “Coy, can you truly give up your past? Leave it all behind?”
In his heart, he’d already answered the question. “What am I giving up?” He turned his gaze on her. “Nothing. I have spent the last two years looking over my shoulder, my parents are dead, I have no siblings, and there are only a few people in the agency I work for who even know I exist.” He dipped his head and kissed her shoulder. “I want to get the evidence to the prosecuting attorney, but after, I will walk away from it all. Hell, I’ll run.”
Chapter Seven
LIZZY GRABBED HER clothes from her bag, quickly dressing. “The tribe will protect you. Protect us.” But even as the words left her mouth, Lizzy worried it was an empty promise.
She had no way to call for reinforcements. All she could think about was how it had ended for her parents, dead and at the bottom of the lake. If it hadn’t been for a couple of muck-divers participating in a drysuit scavenger hunt and finding their weighted-down bodies, no one would have known the mob had executed them. They would have just...disappeared. Is that what would happen with Coy? One day he wouldn’t be there, just disappeared, because the wrong person spotted him?
“I’m sorry I don’t have an extra set of pants for you. Not that you could fit in them.”
Coy smiled. “I prefer taking your pants off to putting them on.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lizzy smiled back. As she yanked on her boots, her stomach rumbled, and she remembered the Christmas deer that got away. She hadn’t eaten anything since the evening before, and her belly was protesting. “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”
“Starved,” Coy said.
“The tribe has a house in Mountain View. It’s stocked with food. We can crash there until tomorrow.”
“Let’s go then.” He stood up with some effort. When she tried to help him, he said, “I’m okay, Lizzy. I promise.” He showed her his wo
und, now just an angry red puckering of healing tissue. “See.”
Even if he wasn’t one-hundred percent, he would be soon enough...as long as she could keep him from getting shot again. “You ready?”
“Yep.” He grabbed the nearest blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. “Ready.”
***
The night sky, clear and bright, lit up the snow-covered ground. The pale moon washed over Lizzy’s face. She bathed in the afterglow of her mating. She moved as if she was gliding over the frozen earth instead of walking. The blanket Coy had wrapped himself in carried the balmy, potent scent of their lovemaking. Lizzy resisted the urge to whistle.
Oh God, I hate myself. Mating had made her soft and sappy, the two characteristics she hated most in mated couples. The way they always loved up on each other gave her the willies, and here she was, doing the same thing. But when Coy kissed her, touched her, held her, it made her heart zing and her spirit soar.
Lizzy shook her head and said a little prayer. Lord, please don’t turn me into someone who cries when she reads greeting cards or watches holiday commercials. She kept vigilant, trying to discern between the many smells around them, but it was hard because the mating fragrance overpowered her olfactory senses.
They were close to where she’d parked the truck. She could see it in the clearing up ahead. She scouted the open space, adjusting her vision to take in the large area. It looked clear, but she was still cautious.
“Wait,” Coy said. He put his hand on her shoulder.
Then she smelled them too—a mixture of acrid oil, gunshot residue, and cheap cologne.
“Get down,” she hissed, as a loud bang sounded a split second before the bullet tore into her stomach, just below her ribs.
“Lizzy!” Coy shouted as he pushed her out of the way when another shot rang out.
No, no, no. How in the hell did these assholes find them? She pressed her hands to the bleeding wound.
A heated barrel pressed against the back of her head. Lizzy spun on the man, her fist connecting with his throat. He dropped into the snow, gasping for breath. She heard the semi-automatic’s slide as someone chambered a round behind right behind her.
“Move and I’ll shoot you again.” He directed his anger at Coy. “Do you hear me, Aviles? I’ll fucking shoot her again.”
Aviles?
My undercover name, Coy mind-spoke. There had only been two men with Salazar earlier, but now there were two more, and they had their weapons pointed at Coy’s head.
Lizzy could tell he was wound up and ready to spring. Don’t do anything rash.
She was losing a lot of blood. Damn it. The shot had to have knicked her aorta. If she didn’t shift, she’d bleed out. Her mate was still in the early stages of the change, and she worried he’d lead with his emotions, not logic. She needed Salazar thinking about her and not Coy.
“This is private property, asshole. You’re trespassing.” She snarled. “Don’t make me kick your ass.”
“Cállate, puta. Shut up!”
“Leave her alone, Manny,” Coy growled, but Salazar’s two thugs pinioned his arms.
Manuel Salazar smacked the back of her head with his free hand, and Lizzy fell to her knees. “Do you hear, chica? He wants me to leave you alone. Good. I’m glad he cares. It will make this all the more satisfying.” He tapped her head with the grip. “Get up.”
She held her stomach wound with both hands. “I can’t,” she said through clinched teeth.
The husky man grabbed her by the arm. “Get up!” He hauled her to her feet. Lizzy let out a sharp bark of pain.
Under normal circumstances, she could take out all three men quickly. Her training made her an expert fighter, but she was gut shot and had a lethal weapon to her head. While she was tough, she wasn’t immortal, and a bullet in the brain would end her.
Lizzy? She heard Coy’s voice invade her mind.
I hear you, she sent back.
She could feel his fear for her. How bad are you hurt?
I can manage for a little while longer. The pain in Lizzy’s gut burned as her blood spilled out.
Coy cast a worried glance at her then glared at Salazar. “Let her go,” he said. “I’ll go with you. I’ll give you what you want. Just don’t hurt her.”
Manny laughed. “You have nothing to bargain with. We’ll kill her while you watch, and then after, we’ll cut your tongue out, slice your throat, and dump your body in some landfill for the rats to eat.”
Coy’s gaze narrowed. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me. The file is in the hands of the DEA. If you don’t add killing a federal agent to your list, you might be able to make a deal for your life, Salazar.”
“You think I care about the file, cabron? You betrayed me. No one betrays Manuel Salazar and lives.” The middle-aged man waved the weapon in his hand, gesticulating wildly.
The guys holding Coy shoved him to the ground.
Manny laughed. “I should stake you down in the snow by the balls, amigo.”
Headlights came over the rise and then the car parked next to her truck. Lizzy closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, concentrating on detecting scents beyond the blood, guns, and goons. The person who got out of the vehicle had an unfamiliar scent.
Another man walked into view. Tall, thin, and Caucasian. “Hello, Coy.” He held a large envelope in his hands. “You holding up okay?”
“Que Carajo? What the fuck?” Coy’s expression ran the gambit from surprise to betrayal to enraged. “Joe?”
Manny laughed at Coy and waved the lanky man closer.
“That’s right,” the paunchy drug lord said. “I already made a deal with your boss. Did you really think you could get away with trying to blackmail me?” He pointed at himself. “I am Manuel Vallejo-Salazar. I am not some bitch.”
Coy’s handler shrugged and held out his hands. “Sorry, Vega. I have a mortgage and two kids in college. Nothing personal.”
Coy spat at him. “Go to hell.”
“After you,” Joe said.
Lizzy felt faint. She was losing too much blood.
You’re so pale, amorsito. Stay with me.
I’m here. We have to shift, Coy. If I don’t...
Manny grabbed her hair and yanked her head back hard. He pressed a 9mm barrel hard into her cheek. “Are you ready to watch your whore die?”
Lizzy’s face burned with fury. Who the fuck was he calling a whore? The anger fed her beast and gave her strength.
“I will rip out your goddamn heart and feed it to you.” Coy stared at him, venom in his narrowed gaze. He sent his thoughts to Lizzy. We have to act. He’s going to kill us no matter what.
He hadn’t needed to warn her. He only knew Lizzy as a nurse. He didn’t know she was combat trained as well. If I can manage a full shift, I can heal. I can fight. But I can’t turn with their weapons trained on me. I’ll be too easy a target.
She could take one or two out, but not before they riddled her and Coy with bullet holes. She stared at him, searching for an answer. He nodded, quick, almost imperceptible. I’ll distract them. Get ready.
Without any other warning, he threw himself sideways, landing an elbow into the gut of the man on his right. Shouts of surprise echoed as everyone took their attention off her and onto Coy. Lizzy punched the guy to the left of her in the throat, and he dropped to the ground gagging. The blood loss made her weak, slowed her reaction time, but she forced her concentration on the shift, working her energy to convert her body into the strongest form she could take.
Her movement drew the drug lord’s attention.
“Que Puñeta!” Manny shouted, his finger jerking the trigger.
The bullet ripped through her shoulder, and Lizzy screamed. When she could suck in a breath, a sudden deafening roar drowned out the rushing pulse throbbing in her ears. She looked up and stared at one of the largest werewolves she’d ever seen. He effortlessly batted away the two men near him as if they were annoying flies.
“Lizzy,” he roa
red, his voice powerful and strange.
Her pulse froze, but the agony coursed through her. Even though she felt on the verge of passing out, she was taken aback by Coy’s full anthro-form. He was nearly eight feet tall, and his massive chest was over three feet in width. His long arms, ending in razor sharp claws, swiped at the cartel thugs. Their screams of terror shattered the night. Blood darkened the snowy ground. The pungent fragrance of urine mixed with the aroma of fear, spilled guts and werewolf rage.
Lizzy cast a glance over her shoulder. The dark stain on the front of Manuel Salazar’s slacks as his hands shook so badly he could barely hold his pistol was tell-tale. The man had pissed his pants.
One of the men Coy fought managed to get away, and he put himself in front of Salazar. He trained his 9mm toward Coy. Lizzy turned on the man, her fury the only fuel she had left, she used all she had to take him down.
He punched her, knocking the air from her lungs. She lashed out, her nails wicked sharp claws, and sliced his throat open. When he dropped to the ground, his lifeless eyes staring at her, she succumbed to the torment. She doubled over. Her vision clouded. The blood loss was too great, and the gut punch had made it worse. So much worse. It was too hard to concentrate, to bring about the change.
But watching Coy, watching her mate, she knew he would live. He would survive. And in the process, he would kill them all. The rough embrace of an arm around her neck made her cry out. The steel barrel of a pistol pressed against her temple.
The corrupt DEA agent had caught her. She struggled but didn’t have the strength left to break his hold. Lethargy took hold, and her arms fell limp to her side.
***
Coy stood over his fallen prey, his hands and forearms saturated with blood. It was such a strange and wondrous feeling of supremacy. New, bulky and powerful muscles covered his new taller and broader form. He saw his surroundings as if it were daylight. As well, he could hear every gurgle and hiss from the cartel’s newly dead bodies, along with the whistle of the wind up the mountain, a trickling stream, falling ice, and the soft hush of ragged breathing.
Joe Florrick had grabbed Lizzy by the neck, and vengeful rage replaced Coy’s elation.
Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More Page 136