Alpha’s Challenge Read online

  “They’re cold now, but I suppose I’ll power though. Do you think we should tell the two wolves listening at the bottom of the stairs to come in?”

  Grace laughed. “I think they might have been hoping for a pillow fight or something.”

  Startled male laughter echoed up the stairs.

  “We can get into a lot of trouble together.” Nina winked. “You two may as well come in, we know you’re there,” she called out.

  First Lex and then Cade came into the room, both looking wary.

  “Everything okay in here?” Cade tried to hide the beginnings of a smile on his face.

  “Quit it. We know you heard everything. Teeny McAlpha here got all rough with me and threatened to make me wear pearls if I don’t keep in line. I took one for the team and ate her rubbery eggs. I hope you’ll take note of how magnanimous I’m being.”

  “Must be why you ate four biscuits.” Grace’s eyebrow slid up.

  “Must be. So okay, no more chick tension or anything. Détente has been achieved. Now where’s the doctor? I have stuff to do.” Nina tried to reach the phone and Lex took it away.

  “You’ve already called her once. She said she’d be over when she could get here this morning.” Lex kissed the top of her head and Cade put his arm around Grace. It felt remarkably normal and for a moment, Grace forgot they were at war and her brother was attempting to develop a biological weapon for use against his own people.

  “Can you make with the doctor thing and give me the thumbs up? I’ve been in this bed for a week now and I just want to go for a run, shop for shoes, something other than sit in this bed.” Nina looked to Grace.

  “If you like I can speak with the other doctor and take over your care but I don’t want to interfere until I talk to her. I don’t know your history and what she’s got planned for you so it’s not a good idea. If she hasn’t come by in an hour I’ll try and contact her.” Despite herself, Grace liked the idea that Nina trusted her enough to ask.

  “You sure you two don’t want to, you know, pillow fight? Just a little?” Lex grinned wolfishly and Cade burst out laughing.

  Grace shook her head.

  “I think I’m going to see how Dave is doing. I want to take a run. Nina, behave and stay in bed. It’s just a little while to go and then you’ll have the all clear.”

  “I’ll come with you. It’s been a week since I’ve gone on one. And yes, Lex, I’ll take an escort along with us.”

  Without looking back, Cade escorted her from the room, his eyes on hers.

  “You’re a whole bundle of surprises, Grace. You handled that really well.” Cade didn’t want to go on a run, he wanted to fuck her.

  “I notice you’re moving me toward our bedroom, Cade.”

  She didn’t resist though, instead leaning into him as they walked.

  “We can go for a run afterward. If you can still walk.” He moved them through the door, slamming it behind himself. “I’m going to have to share you in the next day or two. With the lab and with the rest of my family. I want to keep you in bed as long as I can. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

  “I’m glad you’re not upset about me handling Nina and my brother.”

  He bumped her and she tumbled back to the mattress, her smooth composure ruffled as her hair tousled and the hem of her shirt slid up, exposing a slice of smooth, pale belly. “More than not upset, turned on. Honey, I’m an Alpha wolf, I like it when you’re hardcore, especially because you’re so normally calm and sweet. When you show your claws, it makes me want to put you on the nearest flat surface and shove my cock into you.”

  She flushed, her lips parting at his words.

  “Oh. When you talk that way, that’s what I want too.”

  “I aim to please you, Grace.”

  One-handed, he unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, shoving them down and kicking out of them. She got to her knees and yanked him to the bed.

  “Good. What pleases me is you being still.”

  She straddled his body and ripped his T-shirt down the middle, kissing over his chest and belly.

  “I notice I’m the only one naked here.”

  “I don’t need to be naked to do this.” She traced her tongue, wet and warm, down the line of his cock and back up again.

  What he loved so much about her was the way she openly approached everything. It was clear she wasn’t an old hand at oral sex but she obviously loved doing it. Loved making him feel good and sexy and damn if that wasn’t hotter than the sun.

  She learned him with her hands and mouth. Tried new things, repeating them when he responded positively. When she dipped her head to trace his balls with the tip of her tongue, he nearly jumped from his skin, especially when she gave a growl. She hadn’t done that yet during sex. He liked it, it was soft and feminine like she was. Sexy.

  “Honey, I’m very close, come on up here.”

  She moved her gaze to his and took him into her mouth as deeply as she could, to underline her point. Okay, she wasn’t going to stop until he came, which was fine. He had a good recovery time and there were other things he could do in the meantime.

  Never letting him go with her eyes, she continued to slowly take him in and out of her mouth, her hands working the root of him and cupping his balls. Her sweet little ass swayed in the air as she sucked him. Total perfection.

  Suddenly, she sucked harder than she’d been doing and it caught him by surprise. Wave after wave of pleasure rocked him as he came, his fingers digging into the blankets, groaning out her name.

  His vision was still partially blurry as he watched her touch a finger to the corner of her mouth and her tongue followed. He nearly came again at the sexy, and yet totally unconscious motion.

  “You’re going to kill me with the sexy. Come here, honey.”

  She slid up his body and came to rest, laying on top of him. He kissed her, lazily, slowly, not missing any nuance of her mouth. He tasted himself and her, tasted what they made together.

  He rolled her to her side and kissed down the line of her graceful neck and over the edge of her collarbone, swirling his tongue in the hollow of her throat. He feasted on the frantic beat of her heart, breathed deep the desire that rose from her skin until it made him drunk with her.

  She simply gave in and lay back, letting him touch her, caress her, kiss her. He drew his fingertips down the sleek skin of her inner arm, up to her side, following his fingers with his mouth. She squirmed beneath him with small sighs and gaspy moans.

  “So beautiful, so precious and soft. I love the way you are, Grace.”

  She brought a gentle hand to his face, cradling his cheek as his mouth found her left nipple. It beaded against his tongue, elongating, the skin of the areola drawing tight. Barely an A cup but God above, he loved her breasts.

  She arched into him and he settled between her thighs, rubbing the length of his cock through her slick pussy. Her breath caught each time the head of him brushed over her clit.

  He made to continue kissing his way toward her pussy but she held onto his upper arms and shook her head.

  “What? Honey, I want to lick you, taste you, make you come.”

  “I...oh—” her breath stuttered as he stroked over her clit again “—that, more of that.” The heat of her blush reacted to his skin and suddenly he was ready to fuck her again. But first, he had a job to finish.

  “Ahh, you like this?” He rolled his hips again, this time putting a bit more pressure when his cock hit her clit.

  She jumped and moaned, nodding.

  “Fine with me. Your cunt is so hot and wet. I can’t wait to feed my cock into your gate, filling you up. And then I’m going to come inside you, your tight body wrapped around me like I was born to be there.”

  She sighed, her fingers digging into his shoulders. Her
legs, strong and smooth, wrapped around his thighs as she rose up when he flexed.

  “That’s it, take it, honey.”

  The growl again and her calf muscles tightened as she came, her honey hot against his cock. The scent of her drove him insane.

  One arm around her waist, he spun so he sat up in bed, his back braced against the headboard and she sat over his lap. One minor adjustment and he brought her down over his cock.

  A low, bass groan echoed from her lips as her head fell back, her lips slightly parted. So fucking beautiful. Unable to stop, driven by the scent of her pussy, the scent of her pleasure and her need, he leaned in and drew his teeth over her nipple, sending her writhing over his cock as he drove himself into her body again and again.

  She came, pussy fluttering and clutching around him when he bit with just enough pressure to mark her. Her wolf surfaced, shining in her eyes and his responded. For long moments, he hung there on the edge of climax, staring at the other half of his mate.

  Her wolf shimmered around her for a brief moment and he lost it then, lost that battle he’d been waging with his control. One last shove into her pussy and he came, holding her down on him tight as she spoke soft words against his chest where she leaned her head.

  “We need to run. My wolf needs to see yours.” He picked her up and walked her to the deck. He called down to Dave whose room was right below theirs that they were going on a run and stood back as she got on all fours.

  The rush of power as she transformed bit at his skin like a thousand tiny shocks and suddenly she was there, small, honey gold, staring up at him. She jerked her head and he transformed and stood next to her, sheltering her smaller body with his larger one.

  A bark and he led her around the decking and out to the forest just behind the house. He scented Dave and several other wolves who’d be their guard on the run before leading Grace out into the wilds, never getting less than a few inches from her.

  His wolf was moved by her, moved by the precise way she ran, by the mark her footpads left in the soft forest floor, by the grace of her muzzle and the quiet of her movements.

  He wanted her all to himself, wanted to mount her, dig his teeth into her neck and bury himself inside her. Wanted to see her hanging heavy with his children. It was real to wolf and man, the immenseness of the presence of Grace in his world.

  No one would threaten that.

  Chapter Nine

  Grace looked at the information on the screen and then back to the slide.

  “What we need to do is create an anti-virus. I’ve got what Warren has so far. It’s not a complete or whole copy of the lycanthropy virus. But you have that here. We can take elements from that and elements from what Warren has and go from there.”

  It was the end of the first week she’d been working in the lab and to her great relief, the rest of the staff had taken to her authority with relative ease, despite her familial ties.

  “Those newest bodies in Montana are bad news. They’re getting closer, I think.” She sighed. “What I think we need is to focus on something to inoculate our wolves with. We’ve got the virus here, a perfect copy. And we’ve got a working copy of what Warren has. At least two versions. They’re close enough in structure and I think we can work with it. I’m going to bring it up to Cade. For now—” she looked up from the slide to the wolf who was just below her in power “—let’s get a team on that. Keep two people on the data I brought with me and the samples we were couriered today from Montana, but let’s get working on a vaccine.”

  The wolf she’d spoken to raced off to obey.

  Dave cleared his throat. “Grace, it’s nine thirty and Cade has called four times. Just five minutes ago he threatened to come here and carry you back home himself. You’ve been here since seven this morning. You’ve got to get some rest.”

  The lab was a state-of-the-art facility with special lighting and it had been built with all the latest biohazard security precautions. No windows to the outside, layers upon layers of security. She’d been inside for fourteen hours and hadn’t noticed.

  “I’m so sorry, Dave!” She stood and buzzed the wolf she’d just spoken to. “Go home. I apologize, I didn’t realize it was so late. Please, next time just tell me if I’ve kept you here over twelve hours.”

  Dr. Stewart, the other wolf, shook her head. “This is important. Really, please don’t apologize. I’m just glad you know so much about virology.”

  “Me too. I had no idea that my fascination would actually be of such great use someday. Heck, I’m an ER doc, I sew people up, pull weapons out of them, set bones, that sort of thing. The lab stuff was sort of a weird hobby.”

  They cleaned up, discarded their lab clothes and all headed out. She had two guards on her now. Cade insisted since she’d begun to work in the lab and he couldn’t be with her all day. She understood, he had his own work do to on Pack business and as a member of the Council of War.

  “I’ll drive,” Dave said, opening her door. “You call Cade and let him know we’re on the way.”

  Hiroshi, the other guard, sat on her other side in the back seat as Dave took them home. They were only ten minutes away but she pulled out her phone and called.

  “You’d better be at the gates right now, Grace.”

  “Fine way to answer the phone when your wife calls. We’re leaving now and on the way. Do you want me to stop and pick anything up?”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “Um. Yes.” At lunchtime.

  “You forget I can feel you through the link even when you’re miles away. When was the last time you ate?”

  “You sound really tense. What’s up? I’m sorry I’m so late in coming back. I just got caught up in this new strain.”

  His voice softened and his anger lessened through the link. “No, it’s not you. I’ll talk when you get here. I take it you haven’t eaten since noon so I’ll make us dinner and you’ll eat it after a hot shower. I love you. Get home safe.”

  The rest of the ride went relatively quickly as she continued to work through the issues they faced with the virus.

  Cade met them in the garage, sent Dave and Hiroshi to bed and escorted her to their bathroom. “Shower. I’ll be in shortly with dinner so just get in bed.” He kissed her softly and disappeared after turning on the water.

  True to his word, when she emerged from the bathroom in a puff of steam, clean, warm and more relaxed, the scent of stew and fresh bread greeted her.

  “You’re so good to me.” She crawled in bed and he tucked her in, putting a tray over her legs. She realized how hungry she was and wasted no time in getting started.

  “Grace, you really shouldn’t go so long without eating. You of all people should know how bad it is for your metabolism.” Wolves had fast metabolisms. They needed about eight thousand calories a day to stay healthy and she’d not even gotten a third of that.

  “I know. I didn’t do it on purpose. I just got caught up. I want to talk to you about something but you need to tell me what’s up first.”

  He put another big bowl of stew before her, removing the empty and slathering another slice of bread with butter before settling in next to her.

  “There were more attacks today. A family in Northern California. Their five-year-old was beaten severely, the wife as well. The male and female managed to repel the attackers but he later died. In Charleston, a female was attacked in the parking lot of her bank. She’s in serious condition but they think she’ll pull through. Two attacks using silver injections. Both of those wolves died. There weren’t any wolves nearby who were strong enough to bring their wolves to heal them. They died in human form.”

  Grace heard the pain in his voice. The pain of an Alpha whose people were suffering and he hadn’t protected them. It didn’t matter that they weren’t Cascadia wolves. They were wolves. The Alpha and th
e doctor in Grace felt that pain. She put her tray on the floor next to the bed and snuggled into him, holding him tight.

  “We need to get the word out about this silver dilution. And we need to find those labs.”

  “You know Ben and his people went into the lab location you gave us in Chicago. It was deserted but they couldn’t take all the equipment so we were able to destroy it. Nina is providing some help with the computer stuff. Ben and Benoit are working together to find the other locations. You said there were several in Chicago. Lex may go out to help with tracking if they need him to. We’re working with the Enforcer from Mid-States Pack and Eastern Seaboard on tracking labs there as well. Nashville seems to have a problem with your brother’s people so they’re concentrating there as well. Can you work on something to combat the silver in the lab?”

  “We’ve tried for decades. The most effective thing we’ve found is to bring the wolf. Once it’s in the bloodstream, it’s fatal. Over half the time it’s fatal even if we can bring the wolf. Dialysis would take too long and it’s not convenient. If someone happened to be at a kidney center or a hospital with dialysis machines right when they were injected, it might work.”

  “I’ve advised Cascadia people who are farther out from this area to take their children and go away into the Clan haven. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t risk our children to a monster like Warren and his insanity.” The haven was a failsafe, a bolt hole of sorts where the Pack would send the weakest members to safety. Children and their mothers came first and then the elderly.

  She sighed and rubbed her hands up and down his back. Wishing she could comfort him more. “That’s a good idea. You said the haven was the safest place and no one but you and Lex and the drivers of the busses know the exact location. That’s for the best.”

  “I think you should go too.”

  She laughed. “Cade Warden! I’m Alpha of this Pack too. I don’t run and hide. My place is at your side. Anyway, I’m needed here in the lab. I think we should move most of the personnel to creation of a vaccine. I’ve advised all but two people to move to that. We’ve got two of Warren’s strains and the clean strain you had here before. I think that’ll be enough to come up with something. I’m afraid if we don’t we’ll regret it.”