Alpha’s Challenge Read online

  Still, she needed him badly. Baldly. Her vision swam as pheromones pulsed through her body in response to his. His musk, his arousal, his need for her, his wolf calling to hers all set her firmly off balance. Her fingers dug into his upper arms to try and stay alert, to keep her knees when she wanted to rip off her clothes and impale herself on his cock.

  A soft needy sound escaped her lips and his pupils swallowed his eyes. His cock, hard and ready, pressed against her belly. She needed him to fix it, make it better.

  He’d finally found her.

  Need. Need to claim her swept through him painfully even as the joy buffeted his heart. He needed to claim her, mark her, solidify their bond. Protect her.

  “I need to—” she shook her head “—please, Cade. Do you feel it too?”

  Unable not to, he brushed his lips over hers, allowing what he thought was a small taste. He groaned at the music of her, of the delicacy and beauty of her against his lips. She seduced him, enchanted him. “I do, I do.”

  “Take me then, Cade. Mark me and make me yours.” Her hands fisted in the front of his shirt, not wanting to let him go. The desperation in her voice echoed his own.

  He was an Alpha wolf, there’s no way he should have his control so challenged. And yet, his hands trembled, his muscles ached.

  Megan touched his arm. “You have to. Go. Go and perform the bond. You’ve waited so long. You’ll both be stronger for it.”

  Maxwell spoke from the table. “I agree. We all do. You’ve been given something special. We celebrate each and every time a mated pair comes together. Times seem bleak just now so let’s all take our blessings when we can get them.”

  Ben handed him keys. “Three miles up the road. Bear right along the treeline. There’s a little blue cottage. Go on. You need the time. You’re safe here within the walls.”

  No other words were needed. Cade stood back and held his hand to Grace, she took it and let him draw her to the door. There wasn’t anything else in the world then but her. Just her.

  “Come on.”

  In the car, she stayed quiet, just looking at him, taking in every part of his face. She tried not to think about the way the need for him crawled over her skin. Just a few minutes more, she kept telling herself.

  When they pulled into the driveway of the cottage, she yanked the door open before he could come around to get her. She’d let him open doors for her to his heart’s content another day. For now, for now the urgency would reign until he filled her and marked her.

  “Front door? Key?” She danced around like she had to use the bathroom.

  He looked at her as he fumbled with the lock and laughed. “Hungry for my cock?” Her breath caught and she blinked a few times at the visual he’d evoked with his naughty words. Since no words came, she just nodded earnestly.

  The door opened and they tumbled through. He slammed it with a foot and locked it with one hand while the other yanked at her as his mouth descended to hers.

  There was no holding back in his kiss. His tongue slipped into her mouth, demanding her response and she gave it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like sex, but no one had ever been so evocative before. She hadn’t the time in residency and before she’d been very young and involved in school. Since then, there’d only been one person, a quick three-week thing.

  The desire that’d lain coiled, quiet inside her for years roared to life at his touch, at his taste. Heat flushed her skin, her nipples hardened to the point of pain, her clit grew sensitized and each step she walked, the slick flesh around it stroked her, making her nearly pant with need.

  He pulled back from their kiss, slowly tugging on her bottom lip with his teeth. A sort of squeak of desperation came from her and he cocked his head.

  “You need it bad, don’t you?” His voice, low and growly, caressed her skin, making her arch. He traced the tendon from shoulder to ear with his tongue. “I find I like that very much, Grace.”

  “Can you like it while you’re, while we’re, you know, doing it?”

  He backed her through the house, looking from side to side until he finally hummed his satisfaction and they entered a room with a bed.

  “Doing it? Fucking you? Spreading you out beneath me and sliding my cock deep inside you? Is that what you mean?” He paused as he tossed her on the bed and went to work unbuttoning his shirt and getting rid of his tie.

  His upper body was hard and muscled. A nice bit of hair on his chest and a thin arrow leading down into the waistband of his pants. She nearly gulped when she got a load of that flat, masculine stomach. She tried to speak but just shut her mouth when all she managed was a sort of strangled gasp.

  His eyes caught her again. “Look at you. What a pretty woman you are, especially when you blush. Show me your body, Grace.”

  With shaking hands, she managed to get rid of her suit jacket and unmoored the buttons of her blouse, exposing the silk camisole beneath it.

  “Oh very, very sexy. That silk looks almost as good as your skin.” Cade stood before her, gloriously naked, his eyes on her body.

  She’d always felt like a boy, her breasts were small, for a wolf she was especially diminutive, just barely five foot two. Most of the time she wore a lab coat, sensible shoes and drab clothing. It wasn’t like working in an emergency room had a whole lot of opportunity for glamour. But the way he looked at her made her feel beautiful in a way she’d never experienced before. She felt totally feminine and very sexy.

  “You’re blushing.” He leaned down and caught her foot, easing off one shoe, catching the other foot and doing the same.

  “You make me feel shy and wanton all at once.”

  “Let’s work on wanton.”

  She helped him undo the zipper on her skirt and she watched, heart in her throat, as he tossed it behind him. Big hands slid up her calves, up her thighs until he hooked his fingertips in her very sensible cotton panties and pulled them down and off her legs.

  “You never have to be shy with me. I’m yours. No judgment, only adoration. I’ve waited for you for what seems like forever.” She watched, fascinated, as he pressed a kiss at her ankle, then another just higher.

  “Are you all right?” he asked when she hadn’t said anything. She nodded, slowly. “I—I just...”

  He surged up, pressing a kiss right on her pussy and she gasped as sensation flooded her. In another deft movement she could barely track it was so fast, he’d rolled onto the bed, bringing her astride him.

  “Camisole off. I want to see your breasts. And you just what?”

  Instead of trying to explain how totally he overwhelmed her, she lifted up on her knees, reached around and guided the head of his cock, pressing down, taking him deep.

  “Fuck!” He rolled his hips, thrusting into her. Without waiting for her to comply, he whipped the cami off and sucked in a breath.

  She moved her hands to cover herself, blushing. But he growled, grasping her wrists and pulling her away.

  “They’re beautiful, don’t hide them.” He took her nipples between his fingers, pulling and twisting them until she ground herself against his pubic bone.

  “They’re small.” She moved against him desperately.

  He rolled again, this time on top of her. Grasping her ankles, he brought her legs up and apart. “Mmm, very limber. Nice. Now, let’s get a few things straight right now, shall we?” He leaned down and took one of her nipples between his teeth.

  She cried out as shards of white-hot pleasure sliced through her. Her fingers tangled through his thick hair, holding him to her.

  “Your cunt just rippled around my cock. Do you know why?” he asked, his eyes grabbing her gaze and holding her to his. She shook her head.

  “Because you were made for me and I’m made for you. That’s thing one.” He pulled nearly all the way out and plunged back deep. �
��Thing two is that your breasts are fucking gorgeous. Perfect. Just what I’ve fantasized about and very sensitive. Thing three is that you started to tell me something and tried to avoid it by surrounding me with your very hot, very tight, very juicy pussy. And while I have no objections to being buried inside you, I do want you to always talk to me.”

  “Can you please get to the task?” It burst from her lips without meaning to. “Please!”

  He laughed. “All right. But we’re going to talk. Afterward.”

  But he pulled out and she grasped empty air as he moved down her body. “No! Not that right now!”

  His mouth found her pussy and she closed her eyes a moment. She couldn’t help it, it felt so damned good. But she needed him to spill his damned semen inside her and seal the bond. Her body knew it.

  “I need to see you come first. Then I’ll fuck you and claim you. I promise.” He went back to work and she punched the mattress as he chuckled.

  Cade thought he’d come when her honey made contact with his tongue. Christ, she tasted good. She’d protested at first but as he flicked his tongue over her juicy little clit she began to make tiny, breathy sounds as her fingers dug into the blankets beneath them.

  The shy thing did something to him. He wasn’t sure why, he’d usually sought out bolder women. It was just her, the way she looked, the way she fit against him, the taste of her skin. Her cunt was so tight he’d been afraid to hurt her but when she wanted it bad enough, she got bold and demanded it. He liked that too.

  His fingers delved into her pussy while he held her to his mouth, devouring her. Her honey rained on his lips when she gasped and arched. His name on her lips shot triumph through his system as she came.

  Moving quickly, he flipped her over and entered her from behind. The way she pushed back against him told him she liked it this way too. Good. The curve of her spine, the delicate bumps of each vertebrae, drove his wolf wild.

  “Harder,” she gasped into the pillow.

  “Hmm, not as shy as I thought,” he murmured, quite happy to oblige her request.

  Her cunt grabbed his cock in such a tight embrace he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to make it last. So good, she felt so good he never wanted it to end, and yet, his balls drew up tightly against his body and the need to come began to pound in his ears, coursing through his veins.

  She writhed, the honeyed gold of her hair sliding to the side to give him coy glances of her face. He caught the sight of her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes closed, long lashes fanned against her pale skin.

  She had to be there with him, had to come when he did. He reached around to slide his fingers through her pussy, up to find her clit. A surprised moan vibrated through her as she jerked forward into his touch.

  “Mmm, you like that.”

  She mumbled something into the pillow and he laughed even as his cock ached. “Come with me, beautiful.”

  At that moment, her inner walls rippled and spasmed as she came. He heard his name whispering from her lips. The sound, the rightness of it, coupled with the way she felt around him brought his climax with blinding intensity.

  One last thrust deep into her body and he was lost to the pleasure.

  Chapter Four

  Grace felt him push deep and his cock jerked within her body as he came. His hands gripped her hips, held her and her body moved with the last remnants of her own orgasm.

  And dimly she realized he’d moved to the side when the tide of the bond yanked her under. Pulled her down to where all she knew was the crush of emotions so intense she lost herself for long moments as she sweated and trembled.

  Her body ached, hurt and yet, even as it spiraled out of her grasp, it began to rework, her system rebuilding itself back with his, his DNA morphing hers into something new.

  Suddenly, it clicked into place and she gasped, sitting up.

  His arms held her, he rocked her back and forth, his lips against her temple whispering softly.

  “Honey? Are you all right?”

  She not only heard the angst and worry in his voice, she felt it through their link. When she opened her eyes, she met his hazel ones and felt better than she ever had.

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine now.” Reaching up, she pushed a lock of his hair out of his face. “You’re so gorgeous. I’ve never seen anyone as handsome as you are.”

  “Thank you, honey. I feel the same way about you. Everything in the universe is totally fucked up but for the first time in my entire life I am completely at ease. Satisfied. Full and proud. I’ve waited so long for you I began to wonder if you were just a figment of my imagination.”

  A sob tore from her and she buried her face in his chest, breathing him in. She felt his alarm through their link.

  “Grace? What is it?”

  How could she explain it? How alone she’d been in the world? She shook her head and he stroked a hand over her hair. He was so damned big and she’d been afraid for so long she didn’t know what to do with the absence of both the fear and the loneliness.

  “Tell me, please. How can I help if you don’t tell me?”

  “It’s just... I don’t know how to say it and not sound pathetic. I’m not.”

  He drew her away from his chest with such infinite patience and gentleness, it shook her. “I don’t think you’re pathetic, Grace. But what I do know is you can trust me with your heart, with your soul.”

  “I’ve been alone for a very long time. I’ve had friends, of course, human friends. But when Maxwell shunned Warren, none of the rest of the Pack were allowed to speak to us. I lost everyone. And then of course, I drew away from Warren and the rest of his Group because they’re all horrible, including my parents. Now I have you and it feels so wonderful I guess it just was very apparent, how alone I really was when I didn’t feel it anymore.”

  Her voice became more and more sure as she spoke, as she realized it was all right to share her feelings with him.

  “Since I’ve been back with him to get this information, I’ve been scared. So damned scared that he’d find out what I was up to and hurt me. Use that virus on me. What he did to Gina, what he’s done to those homeless humans, it’s barbaric.”

  “You aren’t going back. You can’t. You’ll be marked with my scent as my mate. He’d know and there’s no way in hell I’d let you be endangered like that. Ever. Know that, Grace. I’d give my life for you and Maxwell can hang if he thinks anything else.”

  He kissed her, hard at first and then softer. “My Pack is your family now. My family is yours. No more being alone. You have me and five of my siblings. All of them but one have mated. My sister Layla has two kids and Nina, my other sister-in-law and my anchor bond is pregnant. My parents are alive as is my grandmother. Lots of family to love you, and they will. Oh, and Tracy, my youngest sibling has a three-legged dog who isn’t all there. Don’t ask.” He laughed.

  Blech, anchor bond? She’d have to face that herself soon enough, she really didn’t want to think about some other woman being his Anchor.

  “I’d be perfectly happy to never deal with Warren or Maxwell again. Both of them are assholes. Warren is worse, but Maxwell’s actions put many wolves in this position.”

  Cade loved the tilt of her chin when she finally got her mad on. She was little but had a heck of a spark.

  “I can’t know for sure what I’d have done in Maxwell’s place, but I’m on your side here. He shouldn’t have shunned you all that way. But you’re Cascadia now and you have my protection and status.”

  He tried to focus on her words because the intensity of what he felt for the woman in his arms nearly felled him. How he could have ever compared his feelings for Nina to a mate bond was beyond him. While he’d protect Nina and for that matter, Lex or anyone else in his family, with his life, Grace was his life.

  He wanted t
o wrap her in cotton and put her on top of the highest mountain to keep her safe. He wanted to take her out into the streets and shout out loud that she was his. Pride, protectiveness, desire, satisfaction, love, above all, love, pulsed through their bond link.

  “I had no idea,” he said into her hair as he breathed her scent, taking it into himself. She turned to straddle his lap so she could look into his face. “About what?”

  He groaned as she kissed along his jaw.

  “I thought I had an idea of what it was to be mated. I thought the anchor bond was enough like a mate bond that I understood. But this is nothing like that. Or rather, that is nothing like this. I’m glad I didn’t know or waiting for you would have been torture.”

  He yelped when she bit him. “Hey! What was that for?”

  “That,” she said, those amber eyes sparking at him, “is for bringing up your Anchor twice with me naked beside you. Is the baby she’s carrying yours?” Her jealousy slid through their link. Shy, yes, unassuming? Nope.

  “No. Grace, honey, I anchored her over two years ago now. It was just the once. She’s my brother’s wife, I’d never betray him, or my bond to her that way. Or you, Grace, or you.”

  She snorted and he held onto his wariness.

  “She adores Lex. Period. I adore you. Period. There’s no issue here, honey. She’ll be very happy for me, and for you. You’ll like her.”

  She scrambled off his lap and the sun streaming through the window blinds caressed her pale skin.

  “You’re so beautiful. I want you again and again.” She rolled her eyes but smiled and he relaxed a bit.

  “I want nothing more than that. But we should be getting back. I haven’t explained why the virus did what it did to the Great Lakes Enforcer.”