Mated to the Alpha: The Complete Collection (20 page)

"
I
promise
that you shall be my First Mate, and to be a loyal Mate to you," Kim said, standing in the main hall of the Manor. She felt nervous in the forest green cocktail dress she was wearing, her hair done up in what might not have been a salon level style, but still much more than the practical ponytail she preferred. She was even wearing high heels, something she swore she would only do for Gathering level events.

Then again, the event was, she thought. The ceremony was attended by close to thirty people, including Keith, Melanie, Ben Stormstout, Akiko Thornblood, and representatives of various Clans that were either close by or allied with the Lockwoods. She had seen Peter Alces earlier, and exchanged greetings with him, along with some of the others who could travel. Some of them were there for the reformed Gathering, which was scheduled to start at the Lockwood Towers in one week. A more secure location, the only negative was that it wouldn't coincide with a full moon. However, all agreed with the Gathering taking place in a city, it was safer for all concerned to not have too many Lycans who couldn’t control their change in the same place during a full moon.

"You shall be honored amongst all the Lockwoods, and amongst all Lycanthropes," she finished, completing her part of the pledge she had worked out.

"I promise to be a noble and honorable Mate, and to protect both Clan Lockwood and the Aklark People. May our Mating become a bridge between our two peoples, and create peace for all."

The ceremony was nothing but stage play, both Kimberly and Edward knew it, but it did serve a purpose. With this public declaration, it would answer a lot of the rumors that were sure to swirl around the reformed Gathering. For Kimberly, it took a load of stress off her mind. Now that Melanie was safe, she had to focus on her duties as Alpha Female, and that meant having as few distractions as possible. Even with the temporary unity that the Silver Bringer attack had forced, she was sure that there would be issues to deal with at Lockwood Towers.

The ceremony completed quickly. After all, they had only a few minutes to try and ad-lib something together during the drive from the airport, and the assembled group broke up into a casual party, complete with cocktails for the 'happy couple.' Melanie of course made sure that her drinks were totally non-alcoholic, sipping at a tall fruit juice blend that looked a little bit like lemonade but contained a few other flavors. Kim thought she looked beautiful in the cream colored dress she had worn, even with the swell of her stomach pushing out the fabric slightly.
I wonder if I'll ever look that radiant if I get pregnant?
she thought as she sipped her champagne.

You'll look even better, Sister,
Melanie replied.
Tonight is about you though, remember?

Noted. I just need to peel my fiancée away from his father. Don't tell anyone, but as nice as Edward is, I really don't like my future father-in-law.

I know. By the way, not father-in-blood?

We'll see how it goes.

Melanie and Keith both gave Kimberly a sympathetic smile, Keith sweeping in to help his sister. "Ben Stormstout, if I could have a word please," Keith said in his most official tones, clearly speaking not as Keith Waldwyck but as Alpha of Clan Lockwood. "In private, of course."

The assembled group watched Keith lead Ben over to a corner of the main hall, while Kimberly came over to stand next to Edward. "How are you feeling?"

"Nervous," Edward replied under his voice. "I'm not too good at this cocktail party stuff."

"Don't worry. I just helped Melanie get used to it, we can help you too," Kimberly said with a chuckle. She reached out and squeezed his hand momentarily before letting it go. "I was wondering if you'd like to get out of here for a bit?"

"I'd love nothing more," Edward said, clearly relieved. Even though Kimberly thought he looked very handsome in the suit that he was wearing, she could see he was clearly uncomfortable, and smiled encouragingly. "Where would you like to go?"

"A little bit of politics," Kim said teasingly, before leaning in and whispering in his ear. "We're supposed to be betrothed. As Bonnie Rait said back when I was in college, let's give them something to talk about."

"
B
en
, I wanted to thank you again for sending Eznho and his men. I regret that the Aklark have suffered a loss because of it."

Keith saw from the corner of his eye as Kimberly led Edward upstairs, and closed off his Link with her. Whatever was going to happen, his sister was a grown woman, and was smart enough to do what was right.

"I thank you, Keith," Ben replied. "Eznho said that you fought with great skill and honor. I’m happy for our people to fight by your side.”

"You flatter, Ben. I just did what is natural. But I want to talk to you about an economic tie-up. Peter and Edward have said that your People have quite a lot of agricultural knowledge, which you mostly employ in the area of forestry."

"Yes, it’s one of our primary ways of creating income to offset the cost of having supplies sent all the way up to our lands," Ben replied. "Even with the Aklark who are outside of our territory earning money in other ways, it’s difficult.”

"I understand. What was on my mind was in fact the very tea that we bought at the shop when we visited. Tell me, are all of the ingredients grown locally?"

Ben smiled and patted his stomach. "All of them. We have quite the indoor growing operation. While some of the People may be using those grow lights for other purposes, I know nothing about that."

Of course you don't,
Keith thought, hearing Melanie's chuckled reply in his head. "I see. In any case, one of the Lockwood investments is a small chain of coffee houses in the Tri-State area. I was wondering, would it be possible for your People to grow enough of the ingredients for the tea to make it available in my shops? It could be a win for both sides."

You really want to tie up business wise with this guy?
Melanie asked him over their Link.

Not in the least. However, it gave Kimberly the distraction she needed. Just watch, this man may know how to force my hand when it comes to one deal, but I've been dealing with those like him for a very long time on the business side of things.

"I'm sure we could expand our production. How much would we be talking here?"

Keith considered to think, then shook his head. "Honestly Ben, I don't know. I just own the shops, I don't get involved with the day to day operations. But, I'll get with my people who do know that sort of thing, and we can talk about it later. Do you think you might be able to give me an estimate on your production capacity?"

"I'm sure. You know Keith, this could be the beginning of a very good relationship between our two groups."

The groups, yes. You and I? I think I'd rather do business with a rattlesnake. At least it warns you before it tries to poison you,
Keith thought as Ben clapped him on the shoulder. A regular old shoulder-clapper was Ben Stormstout, and his claps tended to be the type that were meant more as a way to show off his strength than to foster good feelings.

Just remember, Edward is his son. So not all Aklark are like him.

Keith smiled and clapped Ben on his back in reply.
I know,
It's why I haven't thrown Ben into the river.

T
aking Edward by the hand
, Kimberly led him up the stairs towards her private quarters, glancing at Melanie. She intentionally shut her mind off from Keith, not knowing that Keith was doing the same thing, and focused just on Mel.
Wish me luck. I'm taking your advice.

Go get him, girl. And if you need help, I'll be there in ten seconds. I still have my Glock around here somewhere. You remember where?

Kitchen cabinet, next to the Cheerios.

Leading Edward into her quarters, she slipped off her high heels, unfamiliar after wearing flats so often so as to not emphasize her six foot height. "I much prefer regular shoes," she said, sighing. "So..... we're betrothed."

"Yeah," Edward said, unbuttoning his suit coat. "I'll be honest, I'm still kind of shocked."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Edward blushed, and turned away, hiding his face. Kimberly came over, taking his hands and turning him back to face her. "Come on, Edward. Regardless of where this goes, we need to communicate clearly to make this work. What's shocking you?"

Edward looked down, then to the side before looking Kimberly in the eyes, still holding her hands. “I don’t know. I was angry that my father did this, I don’t like being told what to do, especially putting me on the spot. But that was before I met you."

Kimberly let go, surprised at his words. "Wh... what do you mean?"

Edward huffed with self derision and looked down at his body. "Come on, Kimberly. I know you’ve noticed. It should be pretty obvious that I’m attracted to you, but I never thought this would work out. The wolves I do know outside the Kenai seem to despise us.”

"But you really think we had no chance?” Kimberly said. "Even after the kiss?"

"Before then, I didn't know what to think. I knew as soon as I saw you in that cheap ass diner that you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever know. Since then you have become more and more beautiful in my eyes, with a brain and a heart just as amazing as your looks," Edward said softly. He never really had to be 'smooth' with women, and beautiful women had always thrown themselves at him back at home, but Kimberly made him trip over his tongue when he wanted to express his feelings. "Then when you kissed me, all I've thought about in my private moments since then is that I'd do anything to have another."

Kimberly smiled and stepped forward, reaching up to tug on the tie at Edward's throat. Freeing the fine silk from around his neck, she looked him in the eyes, and rested her hands on his chest, spreading her fingers and rubbing his massive and chiseled chest with her hands. "Well, I'm right here. Take what you want.”

Edward looked down at her, gobsmacked for a second, before his hands came up to rest on her hips. Pulling her closer, he bent his head to hers, their lips coming together in warm affection. His hands slipped closer around her waist, drawing their bodies closer together, Kimberly's soft breasts flattening against his massive chest. Their tongues came out, tasting one another until both of them felt drunk, and Edward had to release her, gasping for oxygen. "I need to get Melanie," he said breathlessly.

"Why? Are you okay?" Kimberly asked, her skin flushed with arousal, but her voice filled with concern. She had been told she was a good kisser before, but she'd never given anyone a heart attack. Still, she could feel her nipples aching inside the cups of her dress, and a warm glow between her legs that she needed satisfied. They couldn't stop now, she didn't care what else happened.

"Because she's the only one here with a gun. She needs to shoot me now, before I wake up from this dream," he said, grinning. “But then again, if this is a dream, I don't want it to ever end."

Kimberly stared at him for a moment before she gave in to the joke, laughing with him. "It's no dream, Edward. Or if it is, it's for both of us."

Edward stared at her in pure adulation. “I never expected this, but this could be the greatest day of my life."

"Well, maybe it’ll get even better," she said, taking his hand and leading him to her bed. “In the time since we met, I've found you just as sexy as you've found me, and maybe I was hoping that you'd want me as much as I want you. Maybe, just maybe, this could be more than just political.”

Edward's face looked like a man in a trance, unbelieving of what was in front of his own eyes as she reached behind her, undoing the zipper on her cocktail dress and letting it pool on the floor at her feet, her glorious body revealed totally to him other than her black bikini panties. She finally reached out and slapped him lightly on the cheek, smiling at him. "Hey, Edward? What I'm saying is that I want you to make love to me."

Edward started, coming back to reality, Kimberly's words soaking into his brain. Sinking to his knees, he leaned forward, kissing her stomach before resting his cheek against her baby soft skin, his hands coming around to pull her to him again. Whispering unintelligible words into her skin, words that Kim still understood, he kissed her stomach again before looking up into her eyes. "I swear, I will be the best First Mate I can be," he said, reaching up to stroke her hair as it cascaded down her back. "I will always honor you."

Kimberly knelt down, taking Edward's face in her hands. "And I’ll honor you, and be your First Mate as long as you want me to," she promised, kissing him again. Her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer and feeling her already aroused nipples brush against his shirt, sending tingles through her body.

She thought about the words they had said in front of everyone, and how they had felt so empty before. Meaningless. But here, their words were from the heart, full of meaning, and worth more than any thousand words sworn before an assembly of others. Still, the time for words was over. "No more talk, Edward. Show me."

Edward nodded, kissing down her neck and reaching down, his hands cupping Kimberly's butt, pulling her into him. She was thrilled as he stood up lightly, as if she weighed little more than a feather before laying her on the bed carefully like something precious that needed to be cherished. She supposed that to him at least, she was, and it made her feel sexier than she had ever felt in her entire life. Keeping her arms wrapped around him, she pulled at his shirt, not caring when it tore with a purring, zipper sound as it parted down the middle.

Edward's enchanted lips wrote burning runes on Kimberly's skin as he shrugged off the remnants of his shirt, finding her right breast and leaving her gasping. His broad tongue traced her nipple while his hands roamed over her legs and hips, stroking and massaging. Kimberly had never felt such restrained power, and she hungered for more.

"Oh God Edward," she moaned, delicious heat filling her belly from his touches. She had always been sensitive over her backside, she thought most Lycan women were, but whatever the reason, Edward knew just how to touch her, to thrill her and send liquid desire shooting through her body. "More."

"As you wish, my Lady," he said, kissing lower. He lowered his lips farther and farther, until he was pushing Kimberly's legs apart, tracing the silky flat V of her panties as they narrowed and disappeared in between her legs with the back of his knuckles. Kimberly writhed and wiggled, wanting to feel him against her most tender places, but every time she moved, he somehow shifted away just enough to keep his fingers skirting the edge of her mound. "You're so beautiful. So fragile.“

"Take off your pants," Kimberly said, smiling even as she felt the playful frustration build inside of her. "I want to see all of you."

Edward nodded, unbuckling his belt before pushing the trousers down to pool at his feet, then stepping out. He looked at them for a second before chuckling. "I wonder, does that ruin dress pants, sitting there like that?"

"We'll get them dry cleaned," Kim growled, her canines extending slightly. "Now take off my panties before I go feral on you."

"That could be fun every now and then,” Edward said, the flecks of blue in his gray eyes glowing slightly. "But not tonight. Tonight is about more than just our animal instincts."

Hooking his fingers in the waistband of her silk panties, he eased them over the swell of her hips and down her long legs, kissing her toes with their freshly washed and quickly pedicured nails as he finished pulling them off. Kissing the swell on the pad of each toe, he smiled as she giggled. "I'm ticklish there!"

"Good to know," Edward replied, setting her foot aside to take in the rest of her. His gaze traveled up her legs to the space between, where he was shocked.

She had taken the time to carefully shave just that afternoon, and her skin still glistened with the moisturizing lotion she had rubbed in to prevent irritation. She wondered if even then she had known what she was going to do, but then decided it didn't matter. "You don't like it?”

“Oh, no, I love it," Edward said, blinking. “It’s just….not what I was expecting."

Kimberly giggled sexily as she looked at Edward. His cock was already jutting out hard and heavy. "Well, I think it’s very, very sexy," she said. "Or can't you see?"

She stroked her fingers up and down the lips of her labia, spreading them for Edward's gaze. The moist excitement made the pink folds shine in the light of her room, and her body was already opening, excited and ready for him. "Edward, do your people have anything special about Mating?" she asked suddenly, sitting up and reaching for him. She rubbed his chest and stomach, letting her hands play lower and lower, but not touching his cock at all.

It was Edward's turn to growl in frustration, as he knew exactly what Kimberly was doing to him, and knew she was paying him back for his teasing caresses earlier. "No, it's a mental and spiritual thing more than anything else. Why, do yours?"

"Yes, there is a very specific physical thing that must be done" she said, her mind awhirl with the possibilities and wondering if she had the courage to do what her instinct was screaming for her to do. "If we do, we will most likely form a bond similar to what Keith and Melanie share. It's why for us, there is a difference between having sex and Mating. One can be for fun, the other had a lot deeper meaning."

"I see," Edward said, coming forward again to kiss her lips. “Well, I do hope that day comes. But first, I want something else."

"What?" Kimberly asked, kissing him back. His hand cupped her breast, teasing her nipple and sending a small spark through her that made her jump.

"This Bear wants some of your honey," he joked, pushing her back and spreading her legs. Kimberly's laugh was cut short as his tongue dragged across her clit, a thick moan replacing it. "Delicious."

Edward licked her up and down, slowly relishing the delicious flavor of the woman he could now call his wife, his mate. He knew that now, in his heart, she would be the one. He had always sought someone like Kimberly, and had almost lost faith that it would happen. Now, with her spread before him, powerful and vulnerable and commanding all at once. Darting deeper, he found the source of her nectar, lapping it up greedily into his waiting mouth, her taste searing its way into his mind, unique and superior to anything else in the world.

Kimberly could only throw her head back as Edward licked her. She'd had a few lovers in her time, and some of them were considered good, but Edward, perhaps because of the fact that she knew deep down that he was the one, or maybe because of his actual skill, was doing things to her she had never dreamed of. Her mind flashed with colors as he licked and sucked on her pussy, and more than once her eyes rolled back involuntarily it felt so good. When he pulled his tongue back, she had barely a moment to catch her breath before the feeling of his tongue on her clit sent her reeling again. He circled and fluttered over her clit before tracing up and down again, his tongue searching every fold of her pussy until Kim couldn't stand it any longer. Grabbing his head, she ground her hips into him, her body feeding its need as she rushed over the edge of orgasm, her legs pushing on the bed as he fluttered his tongue inside her, she cried out, biting her lower lip to prevent her screams from echoing around the Manor.

Sagging into the bed spread, Kimberly let her body relax as Edward came up, his face covered in her wetness. "Damn I didn't know I was that messy," she said, stroking a droplet of wetness off his forehead. "Sorry about that."

"I did it on purpose," Edward said, smiling. "I want your scent all over me."

Kimberly stroked his face, looking Edward in the eyes. "Edward, you're a fine man, and you make me laugh. I have a very serious question for you. Can you answer me honestly?"

"I swear," Edward said, his fingers stroking her hair and along the curve of her ears. "I will never lie to you, ever."

Kimberly nodded, semi-distracted by the feel of his fingers on her sensitive skin. "Edward, can you accept Lycan law and my position as Alpha Female? And damn that feels good."

"I'm glad," Edward replied, continuing his caresses. "And yes, I can. I don't care about my or your standing in any Clan. I just want to be with you."

"Even though you may face prejudice and racism?"

"Even though. If anything, Melanie can help me. From what some have told me, she faced it bravely."

Kimberly nodded, smiling that Edward already had such a high opinion of her Sister. She wanted Edward to make the Waldwyck trio a full quartet, and still be just as close at they were before. There was one more question to ask. "And if we Mate, would you be willing to have a child with me?"

“That would be a dream come true,” Edward replied, stroking over her belly.

“Good," Kimberly said with a smile. “I don’t recall it ever being done. We’ll make history.” Pulling him down, she kissed Edward slowly and sensuously, reaching down with her free hand and finding his cock still hard and ready. "Give me some room," she said, turning over and getting on her hands and knees.

"Edward, do you know what this means?" she said, wiggling her backside at him. It was hypnotic and frisky at the same time, and the look in Kimberly's eyes was so sexy it stunned Edward for a second.

Finally, he blinked and shook his head. "You like it from there? Not that I mind, I've heard it is very popular with many people."