Alec (Keepers Of The Lake Book 3)

by Emilia Hartley

  She’d never had anyone do this for her. Not happily, at least. Alec seemed to take pleasure in his task. He devoured her the way he had her lips, her skin. She could do nothing as he brought her to yet another climax.

  Panting, Charlie’s body became liquid. She had nothing left in her. Two orgasms were much more than she’d ever experienced in one sitting. There had been times when she’d left without an orgasm at all. This wasn’t what it would be like if she had to return home.

  The thought made her cling to Alec. A plea crouched in her chest. She nearly let it out. Instead, she locked it away. She would never beg. She could be stronger than that.

  “Are you ready?” Alec asked, voice a husky whisper.

  Question ready, his cock rubbed her thighs before she could even ask. It was hard and throbbing, waiting for release. She’d already experienced it twice. Could she withstand it again? Could she take the length of him inside her?

  Her heart thumped in her chest. She didn’t wait for him to take control. She rose on shaky knees and pushed him back onto the bed. His eyes widened with surprise. A wicked grin filled his face and sparked heat in her core.

  Placing a hand on his chest, she mounted him, but didn’t take him inside her yet. She grabbed his cock and stroked. A bead of moisture covered the tip. His groan shook the room when she ran her thumb over it. He arched into her, raising her off the mattress.

  “I’m going to fill you,” he growled. “I’m going to reach places inside you no other man has ever touched.”

  His promise would have been hard to follow through had he been anyone else. The cock in her hand was more than enough, though. It was bordering on too much. Surely, he couldn’t expect her to take all of him. She needed two hands just to handle him.

  But Alec grabbed her hips. No human man could have done what he did. His dragon strength allowed him to lift her over his cock. She reached between her legs and opened the way for him. The tip of his cock stole her breath from her. Slowly, inch by inch, he eased into her.

  She had to lean forward, hands on his chest. He watched her the whole time. She thought he was taking in her expression as he filled her. Just as he promised, Alec reached places inside her that she had never felt before. This was what it was like to be filled.

  This was what it was like to be with her fated mate.

  She took control of the rhythm. At first, she slowly rocked back and forth. Just enough to get used to the size of him. Then, as her need grew, she rode him harder. Faster. Pleasure built between her legs. She could barely stand it.

  A third orgasm? Was it even possible?

  Alec growled like he could hear what she was thinking, like he was determined to make it so. His fingers dug into her hips. The way his lip curled told her he needed it just as badly. Just to tease him, she slowed. She took him in long and careful strokes.

  He tried to force her faster, but she was a dragon, too. He couldn’t make her do anything. She held her ground, controlled their pace. She drew pleasure out of him the same way he’d done for her.

  “You’re too good at this,” he groaned.

  She smiled, satisfied with herself. Her own orgasm had escaped her. She mourned it’s loss but was more invested in Alec in the moment. This was more than she’d ever thought. Being with him was unlike anything she could have dreamed of.

  It only made her more determined to stay.

  Alec took control. He flipped her over, pressing her into the mattress. With his weight carefully suspended over her, he slammed into her. Each slam invoked the orgasm she’d lost. It grew and grew, just like his grunts in her ear.

  Together, they came. Their cries mixed and filled the room. Charlie dug her nails into his shoulder. When she could finally tear herself away, it looked like she’d left a claiming mark on him. Instead of teeth, it had been her nails. It wasn’t the same thing, but a sense of satisfaction still curled inside her.

  Alec collapsed in an exhausted heap, panting. When he looked to her, his smile was the one she remembered. It was young and filled with joy. Years had been wiped from his face. He wasn’t a boy, but a man with his whole life ahead of him. A life she wanted to be a part of.

  She dragged her knuckle over his cheek, his jaw. He took her hand in his hand pressed it to his lips. They could have fallen asleep like that, content in each other’s presence, but Charlie had to roll off the bed to clean up.

  When she returned, Alec was waiting for her. He folded her into his arms. With her body humming from the energy spent, with her beast sated, Charlie fell into the deepest sleep she’d experienced in years.

  11

  Charlie woke, feeling like a languid cat who got to rest in the sunlight all day. She slowly stretched, feeling each muscle’s quick protest fade. A satisfied sigh escaped her. She gripped the blanket and stared at the ceiling above.

  There was no moment of confusion as she wondered where she was, because she was right where she was meant to be. The only thing missing was Alec beside her. The other side of the bed was empty. She reached for the space, but her fingers only grasped air. She’d hoped to be able to wake beside him, to stare into his bright eyes and know that everything was right in the world.

  For a little while, everything had been right. Now, she had to face the world. Norman’s dragon was still on his way. He would arrive today. And she still didn’t have the claiming mark she’d come for. After she and Alec made love, she wasn’t sure what else would push him to mark her. She’d thought that he would do it in the heat of lust and love.

  Unless it had been nothing but lust. She needed love. While her heart was brimming with it for him, there was no way of knowing how he felt unless he told her. Alec’s lips had been oddly silent. He’d used them for many things the night before. Everything except what she truly needed.

  While she loathed the idea of leaving the bed, she couldn’t let the day escape her. It very well could be her last day with Alec. If she couldn’t get him to say her name or give her the claiming mark, then it would all be for nothing. She clung to the belief that the night before wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t love her in one way or another.

  Perhaps he was conflicted because he still didn’t remember her. Or there was some other outside obstacle standing in his way. The water outside the window caught her attention. Zane was a constant threat. The wrecked cabin was two doors down, evidence that Zane could hurt them without leaving his watery prison.

  He was the reason Alec refused to acknowledge her. Alec must have thought he was protecting her. If he wanted her to be anywhere other than near the lake and Zane, he would push for her to leave.

  It made sense, but a pocket of annoyance sat like a bubble in her chest. Alec knew nothing about what she lived with back home. No, that place wasn’t home. It was an anchor that trapped her, much like the spell over Zane. All she asked for was freedom. She would rather face Zane a thousand times than return to Norman and his clan.

  Charlie was no one’s belonging. She wasn’t a toy for Norman to break when he was bored. She wasn’t a doll he could place in his bed to warm it at night. She was a dragon and she would stand her ground as such.

  She jumped out of bed and prowled into the kitchen, thinking she would find Alec there. Her heart sank when she found it empty. There was no trace of him, not even a whiff of sweet breakfast cereal to tell her he’d stayed long enough to eat.

  “I didn’t run away,” his voice called out.

  She followed it to the front door, where she found Alec sprawled out in a porch chair. Beside him was a glass of amber liquid. At his feet was the liquor bottle.

  “That isn’t a very well-balanced breakfast.” Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. “You should at least add a fruit or something.”

  “I’m fresh out of wine.”

  Why was Alec drinking at sunrise? She thought the night before had been magical. While she was filled with strength and conviction, Alec looked like he was close to falling apart.

  “Look, about las
t night…”

  She held her breath, waiting for him to say it. This was the moment she needed. Alec would finally confess that he knew who she was the whole time and that he couldn’t resist her any longer.

  “Let’s pretend none of that happened. Okay?” Alec downed the last of the liquor in his glass.

  Charlie couldn’t believe him. Her beast snarled. It was a sound that left her body and filled the air with menacing energy. The creature was right beneath her skin, ready to burst out and smack Alec right upside his head. She couldn’t believe he could be so blind. So careless.

  Before she knew it, her eyes were burning. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. She had to turn away to keep him from seeing just how badly he’d wounded her. Facing the water, she turned her eyes to the sky, as if Norman’s dragon would appear and steal her away from this futile attempt at freedom.

  No, she wouldn’t let him. No one was going to take this away from her. She was done being told what to do. No one would command her future any longer.

  “You might want to throw it away,” she told Alec, “but it was very real for me. It means the world to me and no one is going to take that from me.”

  She descended the porch steps before he could stop her. There was no point in sticking around to explain her situation to him. She wasn’t going to beg him to change it. If he didn’t care about her now, he wasn’t going to care much more if she told him the truth. He might feel guilt, but guilt wasn’t love.

  Charlie had come for love.

  The least she could leave with was strength. Her beast was still close to the surface. She could feel its power, refreshed and ready to strike. Charlie had never been a submissive girl. Even as a kid, she’d been rebellious and filled with life. This was the woman she was supposed to be.

  The fresh air and good food she’d gotten among this clan had reinvigorated her. She didn’t need Alec. Over and over, she told herself that she didn’t need a man to save her. Yet, she still needed someone to spend her life with. She was devastated when she thought it might not be Alec.

  Sex wouldn’t have felt so amazing if they didn’t have something. She clung to the thought, a small part of her still holding out for a happily ever after with her one and only, the man who had occupied a part of her mind and heart for fifteen years.

  “Ugh!” Asher cried out when she sat by him on the lake dock. “You reek of sex. Go take a bath.”

  “I’m sure your fingers smell like vagina. You’re not one to talk.”

  “I’ll have you know that I haven’t slept with anyone since I arrived,” he shot back at her, his pride falling away with each word. “It sucks.”

  They swung their feet in the water, each unafraid of the monster lurking below. Charlie had a whole lot more to worry about than Zane. Even if Zane wished her harm, he would deliver a quick death. What awaited her was suffering, dragged out through her life. She was a shifter now. Her human life would be dragged out until she outlived the people she went to high school with. There was so much suffering ahead of her.

  “Hey, I’m sorry I couldn’t find that dragon you told me about. I really tried.”

  “It was my fault,” she confessed. “He will probably arrive today. It takes a while to fly from Washington to Michigan. I just…panicked.”

  “Are you on the run from someone? Because we could help you. You don’t have to do shit by yourself. You’ve been a part of this clan since the day you met us. Not the day Alec changed you. You were one of us long before that.”

  She gave him a somber smile and laid her head on his shoulder, not knowing what to say to that. It made her chest tight. This was where she belonged all along, but she hadn’t been able to stay. Not when she was fourteen and still bound to her parents.

  “I don’t know if I could stay. If Alec doesn’t…” she pressed her knuckles to her chest, trying to force the words out. “If he doesn’t want me then I don’t think I could stand seeing him every day and knowing that what I feel isn’t returned. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Nope. Not at all. Alec wants you more than he’s ever wanted anything. He has since day one, but he’s crap at letting himself have anything. The idiot gives so much more of himself than he takes.”

  “Oh, he was very giving last night,” she said with a smirk.

  “I did not need to hear that. If Alec even suspects that I have that mental image in my head, he’ll kill me. I don’t need to think about you naked.”

  When Charlie laughed, there was something bright in it. Asher’s words had rekindled a bit of hope inside her. She didn’t cling to it as tightly as she had been, but she did let it warm her empty chest.

  “Are you waiting for the dragon to come get you? This isn’t a bus stop.”

  “How did you know?” Her attention snapped to him.

  “Well, you’ve been watching the sky and not the water. I’ve been waiting for Zane to try something, but you’re looking up like it’s going to start raining flaming meteors and the world is going to end.”

  For so long, it felt like her life was ending. Her entire world had been filled with the promise of pain, both physical and mental. Norman had done everything in his power to bend her to his will. The threats he made had been very real. How many times had she tested his limits and bore the consequences?

  That was always because she’d gone quietly. Despite the wild streak she wanted to cling to, she’d given up on it. Now, with a lake monster at her feet and a loving clan at her back, she was going to try to ignite that streak once again.

  Just like she thought, a shape descended from the clouds above. The dragon had traveled above them for cover. Now that he was over the lake, he thought he was safe. She recognized the beast as one of Norman’s more thuggish shifters. Vincent? Was that his name?

  It didn’t matter.

  “Zane?” she whispered. “Could you do me a favor?”

  The lake was quiet. Not even the waves hit the shore. She held her breath, wondering what would happen next. Before long, she heard his unearthly growl in her ear. She had summoned him. Now, she would have to deal with the consequences.

  Vincent swooped over the water, rushing toward them. Charlie couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her hand as she laughed. Beside her, Asher leapt to his feet, ready to fight. Charlie didn’t move. She wouldn’t need to.

  A geyser sprung out of the lake. It crashed into the beast soaring over the water. There was a cry, a beast’s roar. It was gone, drowned. The water fell. Droplets filled the air and cast a rainbow.

  “What the…?” Asher whispered.

  The beast soaring toward her was gone. Vincent had been sucked under by Zane. Asher looked to Charlie, disbelief written all over his face.

  “Are you sure Zane isn’t your mate?”

  Alec couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. The display of power Zane had just given them, all because Charlie asked. Alec had heard her whisper. He’d been standing behind her and Asher, listening to their conversation the whole time. When the dragon dropped through the clouds, Alec had prepared for a fight. Asher had, too.

  Then, Charlie whispered Zane’s name and the fight was over before it began.

  Asher turned to Charlie and asked her if she was Zane’s mate. The question brought a growl from Alec. He tried to hide it, but they both turned and found him. Charlie stared at him, her lips parted. He remembered what they tasted like.

  Strawberries.

  No, Strawberry milk. Sweet and filling. He wanted more and more. He’d told himself that the only way to save her was to let her go home, but he saw that wasn’t the case. Zane really did like Charlie. He wasn’t going to hurt her. She was safe here.

  She was safe with them.

  But this meant something else, too. Zane might hate his clan for what happened to him, but he wasn’t going to end the world. Zane wouldn’t go on a rampage to hurt others. There was still good in their friend. If they could get him out of the water and show him that they were sorry, then there was a chan
ce they could make the clan whole again.

  Zane would be different. It was already obvious that the spell had changed him, but they’d all changed. Not a single one of them had stayed the same as the passage of time dragged them along. Alec thought he’d escaped unscathed, but he was seeing that wasn’t true.

  He’d just hidden behind stasis.

  “Is everyone okay?” Jude shouted from her cabin. She rushed toward the edge of the lake to join them.

  Cole wasn’t far behind her, like a threatening shadow. He glowered at the rocky surface of the lake. Alec knew what he was thinking. Someone had to have seen this display. The dragon. The water. It was all too dangerous.

  Charlie nodded, then a scream left her. Alec jumped to grab her, but it was too late. Something dragged her under the water. He wasted no time jumping in after her. Zane might kill him, but he couldn’t leave her.

  She was Charlie. She was his everything. Even if he couldn’t tell her, she still owned a part of his heart. And nothing would ever hurt her again.

  His eyes adjusted to the dark water. It wasn’t Zane who had grabbed her. The beast from the sky held her ankle. She kicked at him, looking like a furious medusa, but it didn’t bother the dragon holding her.

  Alec dove toward her as a dark shape appeared behind the unfamiliar beast. All Alec had to do was grab her. Zane could handle the rest.

  He let his beast take over. The new shape burst free. He used his wings to beat against the water and dart toward her. She was sinking. Every moment, they went deeper and deeper. The dragon holding her grinned, a sadistic fool. Alec would tear him limb from limb if Zane didn’t do it first.

  But first, they needed to free Charlie from the dragon’s grasp. If Zane grabbed him while he still held Charlie, they would both be dragged deeper. Alec fought against the water, trying to reach her first. His lungs burned from the lack of air. It’d been a long while since he’d been underwater as a beast. He worried that he wasn’t fast enough, that he’d never make it in time.