Awakening the Alpha (4 page)

“We think he has teamed up with Lance and Jed. Trouble is never far away here.”

“Then get me the address. It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” Riley asked hopefully.

“You might be right,” Kira conceded and went to the computer, punching in the request for the last known address of Natalie Crow.

When Riley walked out of the sheriff’s office, he had her name and address in his hand. Now he planned to drop Sol off at Fara’s farm. He was sure she wouldn’t mind if, under the circumstances, he skipped painting her house and went to find his mate instead.

The smile on his face was so wide it hurt. Almost as much as his heart hurt not having Natalie near to him.

The croissants were burnt on the bottom. She had never burnt anything in her life; well, except for that time when she was six years old and she had made her mom breakfast on Mother’s Day. But her mom had eaten the toast anyway, telling her how delicious it was and the black bits were a special touch.

Her mom had given her a love of baking, and when she left Wolf Valley, needing to find a career, she had known it was the one thing that could ease her loneliness. She loved creating things, adding new flavours, trying new creations. One day her dream was to have a bakery of her own, but until then she would have to work for her boss, Trudy, who at least let her indulge her creative skills. She was also the closest thing Natalie had to a best friend.

Hastily making a second batch, she put them in the oven and began getting the other cakes and pastries ready for display. The shop would soon begin getting busy, and the chatter of friendly customers would filter back to her. She always felt a sense of pride and accomplishment when she heard so many compliments on her baking. But today was most likely going to lead to the first complaints.

“You OK, Nat? You seem a little off your game today,” Trudy asked, coming in to wrinkle her nose at the smell of burnt pastry.

“Feeling a little under the weather, that’s all,” Natalie lied.

“You look tired. Sleepless night?” Trudy had a shocking thought and then added, “You haven’t found yourself a man, have you? A roll in the hay, was it?”

“Nope. It was not,” Natalie said.
Well, not in real life, but if her alarm hadn’t woken her she would have had an imaginary roll in the hay, or on the ground anyway
.

Trudy returned to the front of the store, leaving Natalie to her chores. Straightening up, she placed her hand over her stomach, feeling the same queasy sensation she had experienced when she ran away from her mate. Would it ever get any better, or would this be her constant feeling? One thing, it might mean she lost a few pounds, because if she was going to live the rest of her life feeling lovesick, then she would shed a few pounds off her curvy body. Although she had always enjoyed having a voluptuous figure.

However, today nothing could tempt her to eat. The lack of food made her feel light-headed, or at least that’s what she thought was making her feel light-headed. Until the sensation got stronger and she realised with a shock that it wasn’t lack of food, it was the very close proximity of her mate that was making her feel faint.

She heard his voice, a moment of recognition hitting her smack-bang between the eyes before an excited-looking Trudy came out to whisper, “There’s a man asking for you.”

“Tell him I’m not here.” Natalie shook her head, leaving Trudy in no doubt that she wanted to avoid the man.

“I can’t. He said he knew you were here. I can’t lie to him. Not a bare-faced lie like that,” Trudy said innocently.

“Lying to men doesn’t usually bother you, Trudy,” Natalie said, looking over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of him.

Trudy laughed. “That’s different; I like to use them then lose them. But this one, well, I might hang on to him if he were mine. In fact, if you really aren’t interested, then maybe I could give him my number and ask him to call me. Waste not, want not,” Trudy said with a wink.

That thought horrified Natalie. What if he did go off with another woman? Her mind was drawn back to the story of the beta of Wolf Valley. Would her mate cheat on her? If he thought she was playing hard to get, might he need some other woman to satisfy his urges?

No. That wouldn’t happen. Most of the time it was next to impossible to even look at another person in a sexual way, not once you found your mate. That was what her mom had told her. Did she really want to test out that theory? No. And certainly not with the luscious, very talented, and very experienced Trudy. If her man ever went to bed with a woman like Trudy, he would never look twice at Natalie.

The mating bond
, she reminded herself, but she didn’t know if she trusted anyone completely, not after her father had been so let down by the old beta.

“I’ll see him,” she said, untying her apron and removing the hat from her head. Although why she was bothering to make an effort, she didn’t know. He was hers if she wanted him; after all, it couldn’t have been easy to track her down. Not in such a short space of time. No one from Wolf Valley knew where she lived; she had cut all ties, including those of friends she had known all her life.

Trudy’s eyes followed her out and although she stayed out of the way, Kira knew the other woman was listening to every word, intrigued by what was happening, because Kira had never had a man come in asking for her. Never.

“Hello,” she said, cursing her voice, which had gone all breathy as she approached him. The pull was incredibly strong and if he opened his arms she would have fallen into his embrace; she wouldn’t have been strong enough to fight him. Thankfully, despite the strained look on his face, he didn’t try to make this hard on her.

“Hi. I wondered if we could talk?” His eyes flicked back towards Trudy, before he added, “In private.”

She stood staring at him, wallowing in his eyes. They were deep pools of unchartered emotions. His hair was dark brown, and she was reminded of his rich brown wolf pelt. Her fingers itched to thread through it, to feel each strand against his skin and then drag his head towards hers so they could kiss.

Get a room.
“I can come outside, but only for five minutes, I have something in the oven.” What could happen in five minutes? She would get through this.

Trudy had other ideas. “Oh, I can watch those. You take your time, Nat. Take all the time you need.” Natalie shot Trudy a look that shouted
help
. Trudy just smiled and made a shooing action.

With an effort, she moved one foot and then another forward. This felt like a death sentence: she could no longer outrun her fate, and once they touched, once she spoke to him, she knew she would never escape the true force of the bond.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Riley.” He offered her his hand and she stared at it as if it was a trick. In some ways it was. She knew that if she touched him, skin to skin, they would be connected at a deeper level. She didn’t want that.

Damn it, she did
. Her hand lifted, subconsciously needing to make contact with this man, her man. Her lonely life began slipping away almost before they touched; the connection was made and her eyes flew to his, wanting to see the knowledge, the understanding there. It mirrored her own. He smiled, his eyes lighting up as though she had switched on a part of him that had been dark and dim for his whole life.

“Natalie.” A mixture of ecstasy and foreboding filled her; the emotions battled for dominance in her brain. Should she be happy? Or should she be mourning the loss of a part of herself, a part that had gone, replaced by him?

“I am so pleased to actually find you. I was worried that I had lost you forever when you ran.” His voice was rough with emotion, and sexy as hell. Her insides turned to liquid fire and she leaned in towards him, wanting him to kiss her.

“I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand from his, breaking the contact, but not the spell. “This … isn’t what I want.”

“I know you’re scared, it must have come as a shock. I know it did to me. We can take it slow. A date? We could start with a date?” He frowned, and then he grinned nervously. “I sound like a desperate man, don’t I?”

“A little,” she said, smiling despite herself. He sure was sexy, broad chest encased in a T-shirt that hugged his body in all the right places. His stomach looked toned, hard like his chest, and then her eyes travelled down to look at his narrow hips and strong thighs.
I bet he knows how to use that body.
She sighed, letting out the breath she had been holding since she put her hand in his.

“Oh, I have this for you. I think you dropped it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pendant her father had given her. “May I?”

He reached up, putting it over her head, his fingers stroking the skin on the back of her neck as he let it fall between her breasts. She shivered, the sensation making her legs go to jelly. Placing her hand on the tooth that had been won from a cave bear so many hundreds of years ago when her ancestors first moved to Wolf Valley, she said, “Thank you for returning it to me.”

“You are welcome,” he said, his breath a caress across her skin.

Shuddering with a deep need to be with him, to mate with him, she lifted her face to his and offered herself to him.
Weak she-wolf
.

So irresistible
. But here was not the right place, despite the hardness of his cock in his pants and the overwhelming desire to take her by the hand, drag her round the corner, and take her up against the wall. In public. In daylight.

She would never forgive him. Or would she? No. That would be wrong; he had to be strong for both their sakes.

“What time do you finish work?” he asked, stepping back from her, feeling the pull of that invisible thread as it stretched out between them.

“Four,” she said, her voice husky, filled with emotion and longing. Her she-wolf was there in her eyes; he had to bring her to her senses.

“Then I’ll be waiting here for you.” He looked to where an interested Trudy was ignoring a customer to spy on them. He hoped it was because she cared. He lowered his voice. “Does your friend know about you?”

“What about me?” she asked still dazed.

“You know. The
other
side of you. When you let your hair down, does she know how
wild
you become?” To him that was subtle, but Natalie just burst out laughing.

“Wild,” she repeated, coming to her senses.

“Yes. Wild. Does she know?”

“Trudy? She’s my boss, and no. No one knows.” She turned and looked at Trudy, who was still staring at them. Natalie lifted her hand and waved. Trudy waved back and, looking satisfied that her employee wasn’t about to get abducted by a strange man, went back to work. “She watches out for me.”

“Good. I mean, it’s good that someone does.” He wanted to ask her why she lived here. But this didn’t seem like the time, so he saved his questions for later. “Four.” He emphasised the time, making sure she understood he would be here, would be waiting for her. Forever.

Natalie looked down at the ground and he knew a refusal was coming. “I don’t know. I never wanted this. I have a good life here.”

“Do you think you can ignore this? That you can live your life never knowing what it’s like to be with me? You might live in a town with no other wild people, but that hasn’t dimmed your needs. Has it?” He had to restrain himself; the thought that she might run away again made him capable of impulsive behaviour. Like throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off. Although it took all his strength not to sway her thoughts in his favour, he gave her the time she needed.

She was quiet, thinking, searching inside herself and he hoped she would be honest with herself. “No. It hasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m not scared.”

He smiled shyly. “That makes two of us.”

“You don’t look like the type of guy who would be scared of anything.”

“I am absolutely terrified right now that you are going to walk away from me and I’ll never see you again. When you ran… I didn’t know who you were. Where to find you. It was only because of the pendant that I managed to track you down.”

“Cinderella’s slipper,” she whispered. Then she asked louder, “How did you find me?”

“Kira. She recognised it. Gave me your address.”

“Kira? She doesn’t know my address.”

“She looked it up on the police database. She shouldn’t have, but, well … it was important.”

“So you know who I am?” she asked, sounding saddened.

“Thankfully, yes.” He could not tell her how happy he was to have found her, and how much he wanted to take her home to his ramshackle house and make love to her on his broken bed. On second thought, perhaps her place would be better.

“Four.” He backed away as Trudy came to the door.

“Croissants are done.”

“Thanks, Trudy.” Natalie turned back to him. “Four.” Then with a great effort, his mate turned and walked away.

Riley felt the thread between them stretch, thinning but not breaking. Looking around, he saw a coffee shop across the street. That was where he would wait for her; he doubted he could get much further. The need to be close to her was almost too much.

But he could wait.

Natalie avoided Trudy’s knowing gaze as she went back inside, but her employer was not going to let this slide by. Natalie having a man in her life was that much of an anomaly.

“He is
hot
,” Trudy said, breathing out the last word in her seductive tone.

“Is he?” Natalie asked, heading for the kitchen, her sanctuary. But Trudy was hot on her heels.

“I always thought you lived like a nun. Now I see you have a secret side.”

“Secret?” Natalie asked, her face flaming red, and not from the heat of the oven. “What do you mean?” There was no way Trudy could know her real secret. Was there?

“Yes. You must tell me everything.”

“Must I?” Natalie asked, banging the croissants down so hard one of them flipped off the baking tray. Her normally cool, calm exterior had imploded, leaving her red-hot core exposed.