Axel (4 page)

She squeezed his dick as she came apart beneath him, clawing at the bedding as her pussy gushed from her release. Axel growled and pistoned his hips faster, pushing himself toward an orgasm that was certain to be earth shattering. He may not want her for a mate, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that she set him on fire. Being inside Amelia was like coming home. And it scared the shit out of him.

With a groan, he found his completion, burying himself deep inside of her. He pulled away and collapsed onto the bed beside her. Amelia turned her face toward him and reached for a strand of his hair, winding it around her finger. He should pull away, put her in her place, but he allowed her the intimacy. He’d never lain with a woman after fucking her. It had always been his policy to send them on their way as soon as they were dressed, but his beast liked the idea of lying with their mate.

He mentally slapped his cat.
Not our mate!

Yes, our mate!
The cat argued.

Amelia inched closer, placing her head on his shoulder and her hand in the center of his chest. His heart gave a kick at the feel of her soft body pressed tightly to his side. Axel wasn’t sure what to do with her. This was the part where he ordered her to dress then threw her out of his room to make an example of her. And yet…he wasn’t sure he wanted to get rid of her just yet. It was soothing having her pressed so close, feeling her breath fan his skin, her heart thump against his ribs.

Oh, fuck me! I’m turning into a pansy.

“You need to go.” He forced himself to pull away and sit up.

“Go?” Her brow furrowed. “But I thought…”

“I don’t give a shit what you thought. This was fun. A good time. But that’s all I can give you, Amelia. You aren’t my old lady. I don’t plan to ever take one. Why should I when I can have any pussy I want? Yours was excellent, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to wet my dick with someone else later tonight or tomorrow.”

He could see his words pained her, but then the stricken look in her eyes turned to fire as she rolled off the bed and began jerking on her clothes.

Uh-oh. We’re in trouble
, his beast warned.
Our mate isn’t happy.

She gave him one last glare as she yanked open the door, stomped out, and slammed it shut behind her. With a sigh, Axel zipped up his pants and went back out into the clubhouse, just in time to see Whisper follow her out. His feline hearing caught the sound of a motorcycle roaring to life, and as he peered out the slats on the blinds covering the front window, he spied Amelia on the back of Whisper’s bike as they headed into the heart of Ashton Grove.

His beast snarled at the thought of the other shifter getting his hands on their mate, but Axel shut him up with a stiff drink, and then joined in the revelry.

Chapter Four

Amelia climbed off Whisper’s bike and handed him the helmet. She was fuming, but she couldn’t deny that she was also very hurt. Axel had slept with her, made her his in the most intimate of ways, and still he wanted other women? Was she defective in some way? Did he not feel the same mating pull that she felt?

Whisper chucked her under the chin. “Chin up, doll. Don’t let that cat’s yowling get your panties in a twist.”

“I’m not wearing any,” she muttered.

Whisper laughed and swung his leg over the bike, standing in front of her. “Look. I’d like to tell you that Axel will come around, and it’s possible he will, but I’m not sure chasing after him is going to get you anywhere. Truthfully, I thought he’d keep you overnight.”

“So what do I do from here? Just ignore him and hope he misses me?”

Whisper shrugged. “Truthfully, if I found my mate, I think I’d want to hang onto her with everything I had. But, I know some of my brothers prefer the feeling of freedom. They equate an old lady with a leg shackle. And others decide to hold onto both worlds.”

“Both worlds?”

“They have an old lady and still keep on partying with the party girls. Their women are wise and look the other way. But those are the ones who settled for one reason or another. True mates don’t fuck around on each other.”

“Tell that to Axel,” she muttered.

“Something tells me he’ll look, but I don’t think he’s going to touch. And even if he does, I doubt he’ll be able to get it up for anyone but you, which means he’s just going to frustrate himself. Eventually, his beast will beat him into submission and he’ll realize he needs you.”

“But when?” Amelia asked. “Soon? Or when I’m old and gray?”

“You could always go puma hunting and lay a trap.”

“Puma hunting?”

Whisper looked at her belly and gave her a pointed look. Amelia placed her hand over the flat expanse of her stomach and looked up at him, unsure what to say. She didn’t want to trap Axel, not really, but there was a small chance she was already pregnant. He hadn’t used protection tonight. She’d lost track of time during her captivity so she wasn’t sure if it was near her fertile time or not. If it was, they were well and truly fucked. The females in her family had always conceived rather easily, regardless of who the father was.

“Just something to think about,” Whisper said. “I’m not here to tell you how to live your life, Amelia. But if you want Axel, you’re going to have to do one of two things: either wait him out, which could take a really long time because he’s a stubborn bastard, or fight for him.”

“I tried fighting for him tonight. He fucked me then threw me out! So obviously, that plan didn’t work.” She threw her hands up in the air.

“Axel sees you as a damsel in distress. He’s always despised weak women. Now, you showed some spunk tonight, throwing that slut out on her ass.”

“But?”

“But it’s not enough. In his eyes, you’re still weak. In need of protection.”

“Then how do I prove myself?” she asked.

“Go to the pack. Ask to see Colin Tierney. He’s the cousin of the main alpha, and brother to their secondary alpha.”

“Secondary alpha?”

Whisper nodded. “There are two, but Connor has been deferring to Gabriel a lot lately, from what I’ve gathered. But it’s Colin you want to speak to. I’ve heard he’s good at battle training and that’s what you’re going to need if you want to impress Axel.”

“Battle training,” she muttered. “And who the hell am I supposed to fight?”

Whisper smiled. “How about the bastards who captured you? The woman was the ring leader, and her men are dead. The ones who were present anyway. I heard some rumblings this morning that lead me to believe more of them are out there, and a lot closer to home.”

“You mean here in Ashton Grove?” she asked.

Whisper nodded. “Just some rumblings from Lagoona Paradise, a local bar. I’ve heard it’s the place to be if you want local gossip, so I went to check it out today. And what I heard, leads me to believe the men are still here and they aren’t done yet.”

“Then use me as bait to draw them out.”

“And if we fail?”

She shrugged. “I’ll have known a few days of freedom before they lock me up again. I won’t be any worse off than I was before you found me. But I can’t sit back and let them attack some other unsuspecting woman.”

“Good. I’d hoped you would say that.” Whisper smiled. “I’ll brief Axel and let him know we have some bait for our trap, but I won’t tell him who it is. I’ll just wait and let him figure that out when it’s too late. Might wake him up and make him realize you’re important to him.”

“Thank you, Whisper. I’ll take a quick shower and go find Colin tonight. When are we going to spring the trap?”

“I’ll give you three days. I’m worried if we wait longer than that, it will be too late and they’ll have their prize and move on.”

Amelia nodded and made her way up to her apartment. After a quick shower and change of clothes, she set out to find Colin Tierney. She paused on the lower level of the apartments and knocked on the first door she came to. A brunette poked her head around the corner of the door.

“May I help you?”

Amelia smiled. “I need to find Colin Tierney and I thought maybe you could tell me where he lives?”

The woman nodded, gave her brief directions, and then shut the door in her face.
How rude!

Amelia didn’t have a vehicle of her own so she started the long walk to Colin’s house, not arriving until well after ten o’clock. She paused before she knocked, uncertain if she would be disturbing him by coming so late. Amelia waited several minutes and was about to turn and walk away when the door opened. A tall, rumpled man answered, a day’s worth of growth on his cheeks and his hair standing in disarray.

“It’s awfully late,” he said.

“Are you Colin Tierney?”

He nodded.

Amelia held out her hand. “I’m Amelia Juarez. Your alpha took me in yesterday so I haven’t had a chance to meet everyone yet. I hope I’m not bothering you by coming by so late. I would have been here sooner, but I don’t have a car.”

“You’re one of the captured women, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

Colin stepped back and opened the door wider. “Please, come in and tell me what’s troubled you to the point that you’re wandering the streets late at night.”

She winced. He had a point. It probably wasn’t her best idea, especially after hearing that the men responsible for her capture were still at large, and in town. She followed him further into his home and settled on the sofa when he told her to make herself comfortable. Now that she was here, she wasn’t certain exactly what to say to him.

“I need your help,” she said.

“I’ll do whatever I can. May I ask why you came to me and not Gabriel or Connor?”

“Whisper said you would be the one to see about…training.”

His brow furrowed. “Training?”

“I need to learn to protect myself, and I only have three days to do it. The men who took me are still out there and the M.C. is going after them again. I’ve volunteered to be bait, but I’d feel better about it if I knew how to fight back, should the men get too close.”

“Does Gabriel know about this? I can’t see him allowing you to be bait, not after everything you’ve been through.”

“I’m doing it whether he likes it or not.”

Colin smiled. “You have spirit, which is a good thing. You remind me a little of my mate. No way she’d go down without a fight.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“I’ll do you one even better. I’ll get Kendall to help you, as well as Kinley. I’m sure Adriel will want to be there. He’s Kinley’s mate. And I’ll tag along, but I think you’ll learn better from a woman. I still have the wooden practice knives that were used when Kendall and Kinley were trained.”

“When can we start?”

“Eight o’clock sharp? Kendall and I will pick you up and we’ll go to the woods outside of town. People might find it strange if they saw us practice fighting with wooden weapons. And the less attention we have from the locals, the better.”

Amelia rose. “That sounds perfect.”

Colin motioned toward the front door. “I’ll give you a ride home. If you truly believe those men are still hanging around, it isn’t safe for you to walk home.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tierney.”

He smiled. “Colin. Please. Mr. Tierney makes me feel old.”

And he certainly wasn’t old! Older than her twenty-three years, perhaps, but he couldn’t be older than her mate. The morning wouldn’t arrive soon enough. She couldn’t wait to get started on her training. It would be amazing to know how to defend herself if she should get into trouble again. Maybe if she’d known how to fight before, she wouldn’t have been taken. But then, if those men hadn’t snatched her, she wouldn’t have ever met Axel. And that would have been a tragedy.

****

Amelia blocked the arcing wooden knife with her own wooden blade. Sweat gathered between her breasts and down her back, soaking her shirt until it was plastered to her skin. They’d been at it all morning and her rumbling stomach said it was nearing noon. Her arms trembled as she pushed back against Kendall. The woman was bigger than her and wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.

“Harder. Faster.” Kendall swung at her again. “Focus, Amelia! Your life has to be worth something. Fight for it!”

Amelia struck at the woman again, only to have her blow knocked to the side, and then she felt the bruising tip of the Kendall’s knife press against her ribs. She was tired of losing! No, she thought, as she heaved for breath. She was just tired.

She waved her hands. “I need a break.”

“Do you think your enemies are going to give you a break?” Kendall asked, swinging at her again.

Amelia fell to her knees. “Please. No more for right now. My arms are killing me and I can’t breathe.”

Kendall propped her hands on her hips. “You’re weak, Amelia. You have no stamina, and that’s what it will take to get free of those men if they should catch you again. Didn’t you say you had a mate? Do you want to be taken from him?”

“No.” Her stomach rumbled again. “But I need some food, and maybe a bit of air conditioning, before we go at it again. I’ll do this all day every day until the trap is set. I know three days isn’t much time, but I’m hoping I can learn enough that I won’t be taken.”

Colin and Adriel faced them, their arms folded over their chests.

“Amelia. Maybe knives aren’t a good choice for you,” Adriel said. “What if we tried hand to hand combat? I’ve been taking a few jiu jitsu and kickboxing classes. Maybe I could show you a few things.”

“Would you?” Amelia asked. “I’m not very big, but maybe you could at least teach me how to get away?”

“I’ll teach you more than that. But first, let’s feed that stomach of yours.” Adriel smiled. “Why don’t you ride with Kinley and me over to the diner? You can tell us a little more about yourself and what you’re hoping to get out of this upcoming battle.”

Amelia nodded and followed them to their car.

Chapter Five

Axel pinned Whisper with a deadly stare. “What. The. Fuck? You said we had bait. You didn’t say a damn word about it being Amelia.”

Whisper shrugged. “One pussy is as good as another, isn’t that what you always say? Well, one piece of bait is as good as the next, as long as it has breasts. What do you care anyway? It isn’t like she’s your mate, right?”