by Abigail Owen
A glower plastered to his face, Marrok’s face appeared in the mirror behind her. Damn. How had the wolf snuck up on her like that? She couldn’t stop the small growl of warning that vibrated low in her throat.
A much louder, much deeper growl reverberated from him, vibrating through her across the small space separating them.
“I’ve had about all I can take with you growling at me today,” he snarled.
She turned and leaned her butt casually against the counter, arms crossed, and lifted a single brow. “Oh?”
He stepped closer, expression like a thundercloud, though he didn’t bare his teeth. “In my pack growling at the alpha is a challenge.”
She had to admit, at six-foot four, with his broad shoulders, and muscled body, Marrok angry was intimidating. Her wolf, aware of the threat, paced back and forth, glaring at the man in front of her. Tala ignored her, and, using her tried and true technique, kept her heartrate steady, refusing to back down an inch. “What if that alpha is being a jackass?”
Marrok’s head snapped back as if she’d struck him. “Where is this coming from? Last night you came to my bed willingly enough. Sure, I tried to protect you from Kaios, but you woke up angry long before then.”
Tala did her best not to shift uncomfortably at the question. The truth was, she’d been pissed last night too, but the second he touched her, her body took over. Hell, with the pheromones added to the heavy alpha vibes they were both throwing around right now, if he touched her she’d melt into a puddle at the damn man’s feet. This need for him was a complication she hadn’t counted on.
To counteract the desire throbbing through her, Tala glared at her mate. “Have any of your people pulled you aside to tell you you’re not being alpha enough?”
Confusion joined the anger in his expression, pulling his eyebrows low over his eyes. “No.”
“Maybe that’s because you’re acting like the only alpha in this equation.”
Now Marrok crossed his arms, imitating her closed off body posture. “You’re my mate. It’s my duty to lead.”
Tala snorted. “Bullshit. It’s expected maybe. But I’m every inch the alpha you are.”
*****
Marrok stared at his mate, unable to peel his gaze away. Her green eyes practically glowed with anger and power, and her teeth sharpened. Her wolf pushing at her should’ve had him on high alert, but her breasts strained against her vest, nipples erect and begging for his attention. Meanwhile her heart rate was slow and steady, in complete control. And the alpha waves she was giving off were about the sexiest damn thing he’d ever come across. He’d never been this hard, even in his youth.
Before he could say a word, Tala whipped the thin gold chain around her waist off and snapped it at him. One end of the device coiled around his neck—not too tight, a warning. He winced at the bite of the sting, even as his mind recoiled. So her belt was a whip of some sort. Memories flashed through his mind as he thought back over her actions with Kaios. Were the sticks in her hair weapons too? And her ability to produce knives from thin air. A trick? Sleight of hand? Tala was fucking incredible, and he needed to claim her. Now. The musky scent of her arousal told him she was equally turned on.
His she-wolf wanted to be in charge? Okay by him. “Prove it.”
Her shoulders stiffened and her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Show me just how alpha you can be.”
He could see the battle in her eyes. She was angry with him. Angrier with herself for wanting him right now. The second she made her decision, he knew, because her heart rate took off.
She led him by the chain around his neck to the bed, and he went meekly enough. His wolf watched warily, not liking that they were essentially trapped, but also caught up in the desire to claim his mate. At the bed, she spun them both around. With a none-too-gentle shove to the middle of his chest, she toppled him onto the bed. Before he knew it, she was straddling his hips. The chain was off his neck, but before he could touch her, she bound his wrists to the headboard. The coils of the whip wound tighter when he tugged against them.
His wolf growled low inside his head, but no urge to shift and protect himself came over him. At the same time, he grew painfully hard.
Tala made quick work of his belt and zipper and peeled his pants down his body, tossing them on the floor. Before he had any clue what she was up to, with zero teasing or warning, she wrapped her mouth around him.
Marrok practically came off the bed. A groan ripped out of this throat as she took him deep into the hot, wet recess of her mouth. She pulled back, releasing him with a pop, but then ran her tongue up and down his shaft, circling the head each time. Then back into her mouth. He moved his hips, and she let him pump in and out of her. Faster and faster. Before he could explode inside her, however, she released him, sitting back with a wicked grin on those now swollen lips.
“Tala,” he hissed his frustration. His wolf howled inside his head.
She ignored his plea as she slowly unbuttoned her vest, then slipped it, her shirt, and her bra off. The sight of her pink- tipped breasts about sent him over the edge. Then she shoved off him to stand beside the bed and shimmied out of her pants. Every inch of her delectable body uncovered, and every nerve in his body throbbed and strained for her. The coils around his arms tightened, holding him fast.
She straddled his legs again, but not where he wanted her. He bucked, trying to make her move higher.
Tala grinned. “Do you want to touch me?”
“You know I do.”
Her eyes widened at the wolf-roughed timbre of his voice, obviously aware of the edge he rode. The change rippled under his skin, but he held it back.
“Where?” she asked.
He swallowed, and his eyes dropped of their own accord.
“Here?” she purred. She raised her own hands to knead her breasts. She tossed her head back as she plucked at her nipples with her fingers.
“Tala.” Her name ripped out of his throat.
She lifted her head. “More?”
He doubted he could take much more.
“Maybe here?” While keeping one hand on her breast, she trailed the other down her flat belly to the apex of her thighs.
A small whimper escaped her as she touched herself.
Ours, his wolf snapped in his head.
“Stop,” Marrok demanded. As much as it turned him on to watch her, giving her pleasure was his right as her mate. He should be the one touching her.
Those gorgeous green eyes twinkled at him. “Or what big boy?”
Did she just challenge him? He’d show her who was in charge now. With all the strength his form afforded, he strained against her bindings until the chain dug painfully into his skin. What had she tied him up with?
He was so focused on breaking free so he could show his mate who was boss, he didn’t notice her moving until she sank onto his shaft in one long stroke. His body jerked under her and he stopped struggling, his entire attention on what she was doing.
Tala continued to touch her own body as she rode him—her strokes long, deep, and torturously slow. In that instant, he and his wolf forgot the need to dominate, too wrapped up in the sensuous moves of her body, the erotic image of her hands as they played across her skin, and the sensation of every motion against his own body.
Gradually she increased the pace. Her lips fell apart as she panted her need, her own release as close as his. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and pinned him with a look that was pure alpha.
“Now,” she commanded, using her alpha’s voice with devastating effect.
Damned if his body didn’t obey, his orgasm slamming through him in waves. At the same time, she screamed as her body clamped around him like a vice. Tala continued to ride him as the waves crested over them both over and over. Slowing and then stopping finally, their ragged breathing the only sound in the room.
With languorous movements, she reached up and, with barely a touch, the coils unwound from his arms. He needed to ask
her where she got that thing. She lay her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, both he and his wolf oddly content, despite the fact that another alpha had dominated them both.
The conversation was far from over. He knew that. But, for now, he and his mate rested quietly, bodies still intimately connected.
A warmth built inside him—happiness and satisfaction mixed with something else, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. A deeper emotion he was strangely reluctant to identify. Certainly a sensation he’d never fully experienced. His wolf gave a pleased hum as Tala curled into him more.
His mate certainly kept him on his toes—alpha in charge one second, vulnerable woman in his arms the next.
He pulled her closer and closed his eyes. They’d figure out the rest later.
CHAPTER 8
Tala sat at the oak conference table, projecting her usual air of confidence and control, though her foot jiggled under the desk and her wolf wouldn’t settle. Keeping her attention on oil rights in Texas proved difficult when other issues pulled her in so many directions. The room reeked of werewolf, earth and musk, and she longed to crack a window.
Marrok caught her eye and held up his cell phone. He’d only interrupt this meeting for something important. Which had to mean something to do with Kaios. She gave him a small nod of acknowledgment, and together they stood.
“Excuse us for a moment,” Tala murmured as she smoothed her white, figure-hugging dress over her hips. Sleeveless with a square neckline and pencil skirt, she’d paired the outfit with killer black stilettos. Always present the image you want to be known by. She made sure her clothes screamed class, control, and power. Plus, the heels on her stilettos doubled as weapons in a pinch.
What she found interesting was how Marrok did the same, dressing for meetings in power suits meant to drive home his position in the pack. But the second they were alone, the jacket and tie came off and sleeves were rolled up, as though he didn’t enjoy the confinement.
Perhaps they weren’t all that different. If she had her druthers, she’d been in jeans and t-shirts. Dresses and heels weren’t a reflection of her true self. Maybe, if they figured this me-alpha, you-lesser-alpha thing out, then she’d show Marrok her true self. Maybe. A deeper connection with her mate was a seductive idea she refused to give much weight to right now.
With a hand to her back, Marrok escorted Tala into the hallway and across into the Ranch Room. They’d been using rooms in the Lodge, the smaller hotel built in 1910, for all their business dealings during their week of mating celebrations.
He closed the door behind them with a loud click. Neither bothered to take a seat, both opting to stand.
“Castor and Leia are conferencing us in on a call with Delilah.”
Checking the information provided, he dialed. After a perfunctory hello, they waited.
Then a beep signaled something happening. “You have all of us on speaker,” Leia’s voice came over the speaker.
“There’s been a development since I called earlier.” Delilah jumped straight to the point.
Tala grimaced. They didn’t need any more developments. They could barely come to an agreement on things as simple as where to live.
“What kind of development?” Castor asked.
“The warlock is dead.”
“What?” Leia’s shocked voice echoed Tala’s own gut reaction.
“I guess the Witch’s Council didn’t want to anger the gods. They sent their best hunter after him,” Delilah explained.
“I guess that takes care of that,” Marrok said, tone dry. Tala blinked up at him. How could he be blasé about this?
He gave a small shrug at her incredulous stare and tapped the screen to mute them. “One less detail for us to deal with.”
She hadn’t thought about it in those terms. “Good point.”
He took them off mute, and they focused on what Delilah was saying now.
“Before he died, we did get some information from him. Based on his comments, it sounds as though Kaios never wanted Tala and Marrok to mate, something about it giving them too much power in the werewolf community.”
Tala sat down heavily in the closest chair as her heart took a nose dive into her stomach. “What does that mean? Is Kaios after us too?”
Her wolf, already unsettled, now snarled. A glance showed her Marrok was equally disturbed, if his tense shoulders and dark scowl were any indication. Instinct told her his wolf was at the surface, barely contained.
“Could be, at least to discredit you,” Delilah said.
Tala closed her eyes, fists clenched in her lap. Just one break. Why the hell was this so damn hard at every single turn? Couldn’t their people see how ending the feud and joining the packs in peace was a good thing? No one could even remember what started the feud in the first place. Fighting each other had become rote.
A gentle hand on her shoulder settled her. She opened her eyes and gave her mate a tight smile of thanks, secretly shocked at both his caring and her urge to lean into his touch.
“Why not say something at the wedding?” Marrok asked.
Or why bother coming at all? His presence had been perceived as a blessing on the mating.
“Perhaps he didn’t have proof,” Delilah suggested.
“He didn’t have a clear view of Leia from where he was standing,” Castor said. “I doubt he knew of her involvement in the prophecy fulfillment until he got it out of the nymphs when he attacked them.”
“Plus he’s a psychopath who handles things in a way difficult to trace back to him,” Leia reminded the group.
Castor had explained to Marrok about Leia’s history with Kaios. Millennia ago, the nymph had rejected the werewolf. In retaliation, he’d manipulated Poseidon to enact his revenge—burying her spring in lava.
This just kept getting better. Tala put a hand to her head. “Any sign of Kaios?”
“Not yet, but I have my feelers out,” Delilah said.
“We should all be careful until he’s found,” Marrok advised.
There wasn’t much more to discuss and they ended the call.
Tala glanced up to find him watching her, an oddly intent light in his eyes. If she hadn’t known better, she’d say concern lurked in those blue depths. At her confused frown, he smiled, and Tala found herself distracted by the crinkles around his eyes. Laugh-lines she found seriously sexy when combined with that knock out grin of his. But when he was kind, like now, she could lose her heart to that side of him.
She glowered. Sexy didn’t change the fact that he continued to try to take over every single meeting and leave her out of the decision making. Even this morning with the oil rights. Her alpha mate was going to learn to share soon, or she would have to make him.
*****
Almost twelve hours later, Tala’s cheeks ached from holding her smile in place all night. She resisted the urge to rub her tired eyes, made worse by the smoke rising from the crackling bonfire. Her pretty blue sundress, the color of Marrok’s eyes, was now saturated with the scent of campfire.
Werewolves celebrated matings with a week of revelry. Tonight’s party was being held deep in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. They hadn’t allowed any of the packs to shift—deeming it too dangerous for both packs to shift together yet. Relations needed to improve before that happened. Instead they’d hunted together earlier and cooked their prizes over open fires. Shyla had also managed to produce beer and fixings for s’mores.
Exhaustion hung heavy over Tala’s body. God, she was dragging like a swimmer caught in a rip tide. She and Marrok had spent every day in various meetings and negotiations for their combined packs, every evening celebrating, and most of the night making love, if such a romantic term could be applied to what they did. Fucking was probably closer.
Love wasn’t part of the equation, though she wished…. No! She didn’t wish anything other than peace between their packs. Never mind that her mate was sex on a stick, and she had an all-consuming urge to lick. Sho
uldn’t those damn pheromones be waning by now?
Marrok stood across the clearing from her. Usually glued to her side, he seemed to have read the giant Give Me Space sign written across her forehead. Now, as she watched, a child, no older than five or six, approached him.
Tala tensed. Most werewolf males, especially alphas, couldn’t be bothered with children. She’d seen kids get snapped at, growled at, even cuffed or shoved, for approaching their alpha. This child wasn’t part of the Canis pack, but Tala wouldn’t let that happen. Intending to intercept, she started around the fire, only to stumble to a halt. Instead of acting irritated, Marrok knelt down to the little girl’s level and listened to her with all the focus he afforded any adult werewolf.
Unable to turn away, Tala observed how the girl, obviously one of his pack, had no fear of her alpha. After several long minutes of earnest conversation, the girl giggled. Shock sizzled through Tala, and her mouth went dry as Marrok chuckled and tapped his cheek. The child gave him a sweet kiss before she ran off into the night.
“Those pheromones must be crazy.” Shyla appeared at her side.
Tala peeled her eyes from her mate with difficulty. “What?”
“Your heart could start its own drumline about now. I’m turned on just standing next to you.”
Holy hell hounds! Shyla was right. Her heart beat a strong tattoo against the inside of her chest. She never allowed herself to show inner turmoil in public. Never. With more effort than the ability typically took, she forced her heart to calm. What a chump. Here she was all worked up over her mate treating a child with kindness. Granted, she’d never seen anything like that with other alphas. Didn’t mean she needed to go all gushy on him. What was wrong with her?