Protector's Mate (8 page)

Felicia’s eyes widened at the sharp burst of uncontained rage that sparked off Alaric. “Did you…kill her?”

“Do you want me to?”

She paused for a moment and started to ask him why the she-wolf had sent anyone after her, but changed her mind. Some things could wait. “No, but what
did
you do to her?”

“She’s been kicked out of our pack and sent somewhere out west. My Alpha’s mate and most of the females of the pack couldn’t stand her so don’t worry about anyone holding a grudge.”

She was surprised he hadn’t done more to Amanda, but at the moment Felicia was more concerned about her own relationship with Alaric.

Before she could question him he closed the distance between them until he stood inches in front of her. “I’ve wanted you from the moment we met. I told Lamont that I planned to take you as my mate years ago, but at the time you were too young. He promised he’d keep an eye on you and inform you of my plans when you were older. I never thought he’d…” He shook his head. “If I’d known he wanted you for himself I’d have claimed you long ago. Or at least asked you to join our pack.”

“Why didn’t you ask me to join your pack anyway?” She couldn’t help the hurt in her voice.

His expression softened. “I didn’t trust myself around you, but if I’d known what his pack treated you like, I swear I would have brought you in to our pack.” Before she could respond, he continued. “For about a year I started that first letter a hundred times. I knew you were ignoring your pack’s attempts to contact you and I wasn’t sure I’d be any different.”

She remembered that first letter. Just a quick hello and he’d asked her if she needed any care packages. He’d also told her he was worried about her. It had taken him a year to work up the courage to write that? The pressure in her chest lifted at his small confession.

She started to respond but he wasn’t finished. “I’m telling you right now that I want you as my mate. I guess I didn’t make that clear this morning, but I promise no one will ever hurt you again as long as I’m still breathing.”

As she digested his words, shock rippled through her. It stunned her that he’d wanted her for so long. “And if I say no to mating?” She didn’t plan to but wanted to hear his response.

“Then I’ll just have to convince you otherwise.” He reached out and cupped her cheek.

Raw, hot desire flared inside her. To go from anger to this intense feeling of need was insane. But this was exactly what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? To feel such intense sexual hunger for someone who wanted her right back. When she’d thought Alaric was mating with another female, it had felt as if someone had hit her in the stomach with a two-by-four. She still needed to clear something up with him though. “I’m sorry I assumed the worst about you and Amanda.”

He was silent for a long moment, as if considering his next words. “You’ve gotten a raw deal from your own kind. If I could rewrite history I would, but from this point forward you’ve got to know I’ll always have your back.
Always.
”

She nodded, knowing bone deep that it was true. They might still have a lot to learn about each other, but the man she’d been exchanging emails with the past few months before she’d cut off contact—the man who’d basically just offered to kill someone for her—was telling her everything she’d wanted to hear. If she didn’t take a chance now, she’d never be able to look at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t keep expecting people to disappoint her or turn on her.

Before she could change her mind, she stripped her sweater off and then her pants, letting them silently fall to the floor. Her hands shook the entire time and all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. When Alaric raked her from head to toe with a scorching gaze, some of her nervousness faded. She was putting herself out there the best way she knew how.

Alaric’s entire body heated up as he stared at the she-wolf in front of him. The thought of her leaving again had shaken him bone deep. It still did.

His inner wolf had howled in pain and frustration and he was having a hell of a time convincing himself she was standing right in front of him. Naked and beautiful.

As she started to cover her breasts, he grasped her wrists and pulled her tight against him, savoring the feel of her lush body. “Don’t ever cover yourself in front of me. You’re beautiful.”

Her cheeks flushed at his words.

“Has no one ever told you how beautiful you are?” he murmured, unable to tear his gaze from the fullness of her lips.

A slight shake of her head. “Just you.”

“Get used to hearing it.” Her mouth curved up and it soothed his inner wolf to please her. Though he wanted to pounce and take what was his, he knew he had to play it smoother than that. Especially now. Rubbing his thumbs over the pulse points in her wrists, he was entranced as he watched her lips part seductively. An invitation.

“It’s not fair that you’re still dressed,” she finally said, breaking the silence.

He didn’t plan to stay that way for long. Not with Felicia pressed up against him like this, lust rolling off her in potent waves. And not with his own just as strong.

Knowing how much it had taken her to bare herself to him in this way—literally—he felt awed she was putting her trust in him. He wasn’t going to screw things up either. He couldn’t afford to.

He scooped her up and headed for his bed. With shaking hands, he placed her at the foot of it and stripped off his clothes in seconds. Later, when they had time and he had the patience, he wanted her to take his clothes off piece by piece. So he could feel her hands stroking over his entire body.

It was hard to think straight with her so very naked in front of him. Especially since he’d already seen what she looked like when she climaxed, had tasted her… That was a memory he wouldn’t soon forget. And planned to repeat very soon.

When she placed a gentle hand in the middle of his chest, he tensed.
Did she want to stop?

“I’ve never done this before,” she said quietly.

A startling protectiveness completely filled him at her admission. The most primitive part of him was glad he’d be the first and only man to touch her. Because after this there would be no one else. Feeling humbled, he placed his hand over hers and squeezed gently. He planned to make this special for her and take care of her and the fact that she trusted him with this. It made his throat clench tight with emotions. Emotions he didn’t even know how to voice to her. “I’d kind of guessed” he rasped out.

At his words a trail of unease wove its way off of her, bitter and slightly acidic. It was a thin thread but he sensed it just the same. He guessed she was uneasy for a multitude of reasons, the main one being he was a big guy and this was going to be her first time. More than anything he wanted to soothe her. He’d never been good with words but knew he had to try. “I haven’t been with anyone since I met you.”

Her blue eyes widened and for a split second, disbelief flared there. “Really? Why not?”

A bark of laughter escaped at her bluntness. “My inner wolf recognized you on a basic level. I knew you were my mate the moment we met and I didn’t
want
anyone else. Letting you go…let’s just say I almost didn’t, but I knew it would be selfish to take you when you weren’t ready.” Slowly, he stroked his hands down her sides until he settled at her hips. His fingers tightened around her. She was lean but soft everywhere and he loved trailing his fingers over her body. Pulling her close, he let her feel his erection—not that there was any chance she’d missed it.

She linked her fingers around his neck. “How did you know I wasn’t ready?” Her voice was unsteady.

“Because of what I wanted from you.”

“And that is?” Now her voice was barely a whisper.

He dipped his head until their lips grazed each others. “Everything.”

Her breathing was uneven and shallow, the same as his. Without giving her a chance to respond, he pressed his lips to hers, tasting and devouring her.

He’d wanted everything from her years ago and it was even truer now. While his wolf might have recognized that they were intended mates, his human side now knew without a doubt that he wanted Felicia to be his forever.

Not just wanted—needed.

They might not know everything about one another but he knew the important stuff. She had the kindest spirit of any person he’d met and he planned to spend the rest of their lives making sure she was protected and taken care of. She’d have no doubt of her place in his heart and the pack. To him, she’d always come first. He would do
anything
for her. Even defy his Alpha if he had to. That knowledge jarred him, even while it awed him. He wanted to tell her he loved her, but the words caught in his throat. Talking was overrated anyway, especially when he could show her what she meant to him without words.

When her fingers threaded through his hair and cupped the back of his head in that proprietary hold he found he was coming to crave, he shuddered, knowing this was
her
touching him. He slid his hands around her body until he grasped her from behind.

Hoisting her up, he lifted until she wrapped her slim legs around him. He might have already seen her naked and even tasted her, but it did nothing to alleviate the tension and desire humming through him.

He wouldn’t be sated until he sank deep inside her and marked her. The world needed to know she belonged to him. His canines ached as he thought about it.

As he stretched out on the bed with her underneath him—her legs still firmly tangled around him—it took all his control not to plunge deep inside her. But he knew he couldn’t do that. No matter how much his primal side wanted it.

Surprising him, she reached between them and grasped his cock. It pulsed in her hand and the sheer pleasure of her soft fingers wrapped tightly around him was almost too much for his control. But he refused to lose it this way. When he came it would be deep inside her.

She pulled her head back from his, breaking their kiss, and stared at him. Her blue eyes lit up with a deep-seated longing as she watched him. When she lightly squeezed his shaft he nearly came undone.

“I feel I’ve been waiting forever to have you inside me,” Felicia murmured.

He could barely think after that blunt honesty, let alone manage a response. There was nothing coy about her. Everything she said she meant and he loved that she was about to belong to him. When she began to lightly stroke him, he grasped both her wrists and held them above her head. He couldn’t take her touching him like that. Not yet.

She didn’t struggle against him, but simply arched her back, rubbing her breasts against his chest. The feel of those perfect, rock-hard nipples against him made him shudder. She was soft in all the right places and the contrast of her body to his was wildly erotic.

Holding her wrists with one hand, he slid his other down the flat plane of her stomach until he cupped her mound. She rolled her hips against his hand as he teased her with his fingers.

Gently he stroked between the lips of her wet slit, barely penetrating her. She let out a frustrated moan when he slowly inserted one finger. She was wet but he needed her to climax before he took her the way his body demanded.

As mates he didn’t have any doubt she could take him, but she was still inexperienced and he didn’t want to hurt her.

When she let out another agitated sound, he bit back a chuckle and increased his stroking. As he did, she kissed and teased his neck, intermittently raking her teeth and lips across his skin. The feel of her stretched out beneath him and kissing him was almost too much for his control. All he wanted to do was sink deep into her until they were both sated.

Moving his finger in and out of her, he paused only to add another, gently stretching her body. The moment he did, the pressure of her teeth on his neck increased and she let out what he could only describe as a purr. Satisfaction surged through him, knowing he’d elicited that reaction. But he wanted to do more than just make her purr. He wanted her to moan and shout his name.

“I need more.” Her voice was ragged.

That he could do. Burying his two fingers inside her, he kept them still as he began circling her clit with his thumb. The moment he started teasing her, she writhed under him. Her heels dug into his ass and she actually bit his shoulder the faster he moved. Not hard enough to draw blood but enough that he noticed. And liked it.

Felicia felt as if she might combust if Alaric didn’t give her what she wanted. It was as if she was riding a wave and had reached the crest but it wouldn’t break for her. She was just hanging on, waiting desperately for relief.

Her entire body was strung tight. The way Alaric held her wrists above her head, keeping her lightly restrained, only turned her on that much more. Now if he would just give her that release she craved.

As if he read her mind, he increased his pressure against her sensitive, pulsing bud and began moving his fingers inside her once again. Her inner walls clenched around him the faster he moved. It was hard to breathe or focus on anything other than the toe-numbing pleasure she was experiencing.

When he raked his canines against her throat, it was exactly what she needed. The feel of his teeth against her neck—knowing they’d soon be mates, knowing she finally belonged somewhere, to Alaric—was like an erotic drug.

Arching her back, she let the release flow through her. She was vaguely aware Alaric had released her wrists only because she found herself clutching his back for dear life as her climax hit.

It was more intense than the first two he’d given her. Maybe because she finally felt completely connected to him. Whatever the reason it was hard to care why when she felt so good. Waves of pleasure rocked through her, hitting all her nerve endings until she was panting and murmuring Alaric’s name over and over. After what felt like an eternity, the lust-induced haze cleared from her vision.

Alaric still had his head buried against her neck but as she loosened her fingers from the death grip she had on his back he finally lifted it. The look in his dark eyes was pure male satisfaction.