ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (174 page)

Reid stood in the middle of the lounge, larger than life, and my body jerked, startled, before my mind put the logic together and recognized him.

“Reid, you scared me,” I said, clutching my chest, trying to get my heartbeat back under control. I took two deep breaths.

“What are you doing here? I thought you left hours ago.”

I looked around the room, looking lost.

“I did,” he said and his voice was low. Finally his eyes settled back on me, a soft green like spring leaves. His face was an iron mask that showed now emotion. But then it was like a dam burst. His face crumpled and emotion gushed over him in waves.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he said. “I can’t. I don’t want to do this without you.”

His voice was shaky, like he was on the verge of tears. But Reid would never cry in front of me. He took two long, fast steps to me, and part of me winced, my body remembering the violence that had come with this last visit even though with my mind I’d forgiven him. He stopped in front me like my feelings were a wall that stopped him.

“I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he whispered. He reached his arms out slowly, like he was moving deliberately slow not to scare me, and pulled me closer to him. At first I held my body stiff. I didn’t want to fight him, but I didn’t know what I was feeling and I didn’t want to open up and let this sudden surge of emotion soften me up.

If he pulled away again and I’d let him in it would just hurt that much more when he left. But he held on to me, and after a while I relaxed, my body melting against his.

“Why are you here?” I asked him, my cheek still against his chest.

“Because I would rather lose my job and the pack than lose you.”

I looked up at him. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“The pack is your everything,” I said.

“So are you. I don’t want to have to choose. I don’t know how to show you that you’re just as much a part of me as they are. I need you both. But if I have to choose…” he took a deep breath. “Then I choose you every time. I love you, Allegra. I know I’m horrible at showing it. I know I make mistakes all the time and I know I should try harder to talk to you. And I will try. Just please… stay.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was scared to believe this was happening. I was nervous to believe what he was saying. But he stood in front of me, his eyes drowning deep and sincere, and he was so raw, his emotions so clear on his face I believed him just because no one could look like that an lie.

Sincerity had a look all its own.

“How do we figure this out? I don’t know how to be the wife you need me to be.

He shook his head. “You already are. You’re doing everything right. It’s me, I’m the problem. Okay?”

He was intense when he said it, eyes fierce, and it was like it was the most important thing in the world that it was okay.

And it was okay. It really was. I didn’t want to lose him either. I closed my eyes and nodded.

“I’m just a human,” I finally said.

“You’re my mate,” Reid countered, and in that statement lay the promise of all the power I had in our relationship, the equality between us, the magic the affected me differently. Somehow, it made me different. I wasn’t a wolf, but being mated to Reid made me not exactly a human, either.

“Please don’t disappear on me again,” I said. “I can’t take it. When you’re home, be home.”

“I’ll stay home from now on. I’ll be done with it,” he said. I knew how hard that decision was for me. I shook my head. The fact that he’d made it was enough for me.

“Don’t. Do what you need to do. As long as I can have all of you when you are home, I’m okay with that. And don’t keep secrets from me.” I pulled a face and he looked guilty. “Don’t lie to me. You’re a werewolf, for goodness' sake. I’m pretty sure anything else you lay on me can’t be that bad.”

He smiled sheepishly but then it drained away again and his eyes were unsure again.

“I don’t know how to be someone else,” he said. “There are sides to who I am…” he took a shuddering breath. “I’m not proud of who I am or the things I do sometimes. But I can’t change it.”

I shook my head, willing him to stop speaking, and eventually he did. I put my hand on his cheek, touched his face, and it felt like forever since I’d been able to do that. Since I’d had my husband back.

“I missed you,” I said, stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. It was like it had surprised him at first, but then he kissed me back. His lips were firm on mine, and his arms tightened around my waist. I put my arms around his neck. His body was hard and warm against me, I could feel his muscles like chords under his skin.

The kissing changed from passionate and careful to urgent and searching. He slid his tongue into my mouth and drew circles around mine with it. I let him explore my mouth, and his breathing sped up, became shallower. My stomach lurched and he pulled my body tighter against his. I was aware of the length of my body against the length of his.

He broke the kiss and looked into my eyes. His eyes were still the human green, but they were glowing now like no human eyes glowed. His pupils were dilated and black holes sinking into the fiery green. He took my hand and led me down the passage to the bedroom.

When we were in the room together he turned and kissed me again. He slid his hands over my body, tracing the rise and fall of it. My skin broke out in goosebumps wherever he touched me, and I could feel the heat that radiated off him building.

Power flowed out of him like he’d been hiding it behind a screen that he suddenly lowered now, and it rolled over me in a wave, caressing my skin like an invisible hand. I gasped with the intensity. He only kissed me harder.

I trailed my hands down his back and pushed them under the belt of his army pants, hooking them there at the top of his ass. His skin was smooth under my fingertips.

He found the hem of my shirt and his hands were on my bare skin. His hand was so big it covered most of my waist. He held me there and his hand burned an imprint into my skin. I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself together. He tugged my shirt up and over my head before he went for the bra clip and then pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. I stood in front of him without my shirt, and he looked at me like he’d never seen me before.

I didn’t feel shy or self-conscious like I usually did when he came home, because I hadn’t seen him in so long. Instead I felt confident, and it felt right that this was happening. For the first time in a long time it felt like when he looked at me, he saw me again.

I fumbled with his shirt, trying to undo the buttons.

“If mine come off so should yours,” I said and looked up at him. He grinned and pulled the whole shirt over his head like a t-shirt, buttons to hell. His skin was a dark tan, naturally because he was a werewolf, and I traced my fingers along the muscles, feeling the ridges rippling under his skin. He let me run my fingers over his body for a while before he kissed me again.

He undid the button of my pants and worked it down over my hips and then my legs. He got rid of his pants as well, and when we were naked completely he pulled my body against his again.

The sensation of skin on skin was incredibly intimate. His skin was hotter than skin usually was, but when I looked into his eyes there was still no sign of his wolf. He was still completely in control. He pushed his body harder against mine, and I could feel him hard and hungry against my stomach. He turned me and leaned me over the bed, pulling me up like I weighed nothing. When I was on the mattress he crawled over me and stretched his body out next to mine.

He kissed me again, first on the lips, then on the cheek, along my jaw and then in my neck. He left a trail of fire behind as he worked his way down. His hand found my breasts and he massaged me while his mouth kept exploring my body. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, giving him space in my neck.

His hips moved and he ground himself against mine, and I could feel the anticipation building for what was to come. He left a slick trail of lust against my hip.

When I couldn’t take it anymore I rolled to him so that my body faced his and I moved so that we were touching, mirroring each other. The length of him pressed against my lower stomach. I looked him in the eye, and he looked back, and without words he told me everything before he kissed me again.

With that kiss another wave of power washed over me, prickling along my skin. My nerve endings were all raw, but not in a way that hurt, and it felt like I was burning too. He rolled me onto my  back and I opened my legs, ready for him. He positioned himself between my legs, positioning himself at my entrance. Then he pushed into me. Air left his lungs in a quiet gasp, and I moaned in unison as he slid into me.

When he was inside of me he lay still, letting me adjust to his size. I could feel my insides stretching and yielding to him, folding around him. I moved him hips slightly, and he took it as his cue to do the rest.

He pulled out almost all the way and pushed back in, and the sensation was just as intense as the first time. He moved in and out, building a rhythm and I gasped in time with his moving. A wave of ecstasy flowed through me, followed by the power that still flowed from him.

His magic was everywhere in the room, thick and palpable, like a giant hand wrapping around us. I didn’t know what it was I was feeling, but I knew that it was a part of Reid, and he would protect me and keep me safe.

Something powerful built inside me, vibrant and electric, and I was on fire. Reid’s skin slid over mine and a thin sheen of sweat developed between us. He slid over my body, slick and muscular, and I writhed underneath him as his hips bucked against mine.

Just before the orgasm rocked through my body his power surged, an increase of magic that slid into my body and up my spine like fur. It was like I was getting a taste of his wolf. I didn’t know how it worked, but I could feel the animal, even though it wasn’t looking at me through Reid’s eyes. It was beautiful and terrifying, majestic and dangerous.

Mine it echoed through my head, and I knew Reid was claiming me as his mate all over again, not just as the person, but Reid’s wolf as well. Maybe it should have been creepy. I should have thought twice about the idea that a wolf was claiming me. But it was weird. I didn’t feel freaked out. It felt right.

The orgasm rocked through my body the same time Reid released, and his body stiffened under my own when I curled my arms and legs around him. He made small grunting sounds, like little growls, and finally he threw his head back. His mouth as shaped in an ‘O’ but he wasn’t howling, at least not out loud. The power in the room was so thick I struggled to breathe through it. And I could feel how it melded us together.

When the moment passed and the power finally lifted enough for me to gasp mouthfuls of air back into my lungs, Reid pushed up on his arms, still looking at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking by the look on his face, but it was good. He slipped out of me and lay next to me, pulling me against him. With his body against mine he buried his face in my neck, and we lay together in the dark.

“You know this changes everything,” his velvet voice crept over me in the dark.

“What?”

“You stood up to the pack. You took your place as the alpha’s mate. That makes you one of us.”

I thought about that for two seconds, and shook my head. I knew in the dark he could feel it. I didn’t want to be the alpha’s mate. I didn’t have enough power. I didn’t have what it took to be a leader. I couldn’t be an animal purely because I just wasn’t one.

“There’s no way—“

“You’ve already been doing it, baby,” he said and rolled to me so he was facing me. “All you need is practice. And to know what it’s all about. You don’t need to be cursed to be a werewolf. You’re my mate, you’re already where you need to be. And the pack submitted to you.”

“I can’t do it,” I said and my voice held the panic I was feeling. It rose in my chest like dough and I tried to breathe around it and failed. “I can’t be like you.”

He kept quiet for a moment before he said, “I’m not a monster, Allegra. I just can’t help what I am.”

I squeezed my eyes shut a moment and took two deep breaths, trying to calm down. He wasn’t asking me to do anything right now.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” I said, looking at him even though it was too dark to see him. “All I’m saying is that I don’t have what it takes to be anyone’s Alpha. I know what an alpha does, and I can’t keep your pack safe.”

I focused on my heart, trying to keep it steady, to keep my breathing deep. To push the panic away. But it wouldn’t go, not because of his words, but because of what his voice held, what hung between the lines. That this wasn’t over yet. It was only starting. And it was going to be a hell of a ride, especially with me as the official alpha’s mate. What was I going to do with six wolves? The thought made me want to laugh and cry at the same time...

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BONUS

MY ALPHA RANGER WOLF 2

By Sicily Duval

Chapter 1

Allegra

Being a military wife has never been easy. There are countless days alone, where the only thing you really have of your husband to hold onto is your memories of him. And the knowledge that he’s out there somewhere, and he will come back to you.

Being a military wife of a werewolf is even harder, not just because of the animal inside of them that rips free at least once a month, but also because of the fact that they’re so used to hiding half of them, that they get into the habit of hiding all of them.

Reid and I used to have a lot of problems. There were days when he was home from battle that he still really wasn’t with me. I would try my best to be supportive, but at one point it had gotten so bad that I’d wanted to leave.

It’s a big deal for a military wife to be pushed to that point. We’re pretty patient women, I can tell you that.

It was a big story. He was scared of showing me who he really was. I was scared that I just didn’t know who I was married to anymore. It was messy, it was ugly.

But we’d gotten through it.

I’d also unknowingly stepped into the role of the alpha female of the pack. And I’m just a human. How did that happen? Apparently standing your ground in the animal kingdom is a sign of dominance, which I’d only vaguely been aware of. And now they were submitting to me, which meant I had to lead.

Trust me, it sounds about just as scary as it really is.

After Reid had come back to tell me that he wanted to be with me, and we’d kissed and made up, he had to leave again.

I should have known that was how it was going to be. Being an Army Ranger, something I’d only found out about recently, meant that he had responsibilities just as important as I was. And he was on call.

It was months until I would see him again. Months in which I could think about how things had changed. Think about what it meant for me, where I stood with the pack.

I’d gone from a housewife selling beauty products to neighboring military wives, to the alpha’s mate, head of a werewolf pack. And I was just a human. I’d had months to get my head around that.

When I stood on the platform, waiting for the buses to unload, my stomach bunched in a tight fist of knots. I was nervous to see him. I was nervous to know what this had become. We’d fixed us before we’d left, but that had been months ago. And that had been without all the added extras of having wolves want to submit to me.

I spotted him in the crowd. He was tall and proud, and he looked even more muscular than the last time I’d seen him. Like he’d spent all his time away lifting weights. His hair was a golden blond, bleached to a light wheat a color by the sun, and his skin was tan.

He smiled when he saw me, his green eyes glittering, and I felt the warmth of him before he touched me. I put his arms around my waist and pulled me against his body. The moment he touched me a wave of heat surged through my body and the fine hairs on my arms and on my neck stood on end. It was like a burst of power, strong enough that it made me gasp.

Reid seemed unaware of it. He nuzzled my neck and when he pulled away and looked at me again his eyes were softer than I’ve seen then in a long time.

“I missed you,” he said. “It’s good to be home.” It’s good to be home, his words pulled me out of my daze. Had he ever said that? He stepped back and glanced around him and I felt his presence like a line of heat in my body even though he wasn’t touching me anymore. His eyes were searching the crowd, for what I didn’t know, but I felt his need. A pull that tugged at me.

“Reid?” I asked, and he turned to me again.

“Let’s go,” he said. He picked up his huge camo-colored bag with one hand like it weighed nothing. He took my hand in his free hand and laced his fingers through mine, that same burst of power flowed through the contact, but then it simmered down to a gentle hum, like I was touching an electric current.

We drove in silence most of the way. It wasn’t strained, it was comfortable. I kept my attention on the power that I felt between us. It had never been there before, not like this. Maybe at times when he lost his temper. But never like this when we were just meeting up, or holding hands, or driving together.

“Can you feel that?” I asked after a while.

“Feel what?” he asked and glanced at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

“It’s like a current.”

He frowned slightly. “Can you feel it?”

I nodded. He was quiet for long enough that I thought he wouldn’t answer me. But then he spoke again.

“If you can feel that, you’re there,” he said.

“Where?

“Where you should be, in position as my mate in the pack. I didn’t think a human would be able to feel it, but I’ve heard stories before.”

His conversation was half-cryptic and it made me feel left out. I shook my head, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. The power was rising in the car, pressing down on me like a hand.

“Is this the magic?” I asked, my voice breathy, almost a whisper.

“It is,” Reid said, and his face was serious, like it wasn’t the best news. “I wanted to talk with you about your role in our pack.”

“Oh?” I said and my voice sounded thin. Dread filled my body.

“I want to invite the boys over later. We usually meet in the woods but I think it would be good if you met them.”

“I’ve already met them,” I said. I wasn’t sure I wanted a lot of army guys in my house the first night of Reid’s homecoming.

“You haven’t met them as your wolves yet. You just know them as people. If we’re going to do this, and I mean really do this, you need to take your place among us now. Besides, there are two wolves you haven’t met yet.”

“I don’t know, Reid. I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing.” I was starting to panic. It had all been good and well that I’d stood up for myself among the wolves so many months ago. I’d taken the authority and ordered them to do things, to stand down from a bad situation. They’d listened, accepted my authority as Reid’s wife. Reid was their alpha, which put me at second in command.

That had been great, especially when the big boys backed down because little ol’ me had said so. But being the leader of a pack of wolves?

“I’m just a human, Reid,” I said.

He nodded because he knew. I was just scared he didn’t realize what that meant anymore. He hadn’t been just a human for a very long time.

“I know. But it has happened before. There have been humans in history that have taken their place in a wolf pack. Or among vampires. They’ve accepted the monsters in the people they knew, and that’s the first step. You’ve already done that.”

Monsters? It was fine to accept my husband and his unfortunate changes. But I didn’t want to refer to them as monsters. Somehow that made it all feel wrong. It made me want to squeeze my eyes shut, hide under the covers, call for someone to tell me it was all just a dream. I suddenly wished I’d never stood up to them that day. If this was what it meant, that I had to suddenly control a pack of six – or eight? – wolves, I wasn’t so sure anymore. But then again, if I hadn’t done that, Reid and I might never have worked out.

And losing him was a lot worse than having to deal with a couple of pups. I chuckled at the thought. Pups that could tear my head off.

Reid reached out his hand and put it on mine. Magic snapped where his skin touched mine, more like an electric shock than a hum this time. I jerked my hand away and rubbed it. 

“Sorry,” Reid said, like he’d done it. Which made me wonder if he did.

The evening was watered down in light of what was going to happen later. The food tasted like cardboard to me and I struggled to swallow it down. I didn’t want to meet a pack of werewolves. I didn’t want to take a stand and become their second.

When I said as much to Reid, he put his fork down gently and folded his hands on the table.

“Baby, you can’t back out of it now.”

I didn’t like those words.

“Can’t, or shouldn’t?” I asked.

Reid looked down at his half-eaten plate and then back up at me again.

“Just give them a chance. Don’t knock it until you try it. You don’t know anything about this side of my life. It’s not as bad as it sounds. We’re just wolves, sweetheart. Not monsters.”

Right. “You told me earlier that I’d already accepted the monsters. That was what you really were.” I sounded accusing but I couldn’t help it. I was supposed to feel comfortable around a bunch of wolves? I used to, but that was before I had to be one of them. Minus the magic and the power. I also realized that he hadn’t answered my question. It made the nervousness that much worse.

When Reid touched my hand, I jumped.

“Don’t worry,” he said. He held onto my hand, looked into my eyes, and his eyes changed. The green bled out until it was a pale blue, and they became drowning deep. I felt the fear leave me, like it was being pulled out in one thin line. Reid was doing it. And I was very aware of a lot more than just emotions. It was like I’d developed a sixth sense.

“I don’t know if I like this,” I said.

When I looked into his eyes again, I saw the beast slide behind them, the wolf close to the surface. I knew those eyes. I’d feared them once, when he’d lost control and nearly strangled me.

Now it was just a sign that his beast was there. It wasn’t a threat.

“What did you do?” I asked when I finally let go of my hand. I was calmer, now. I still felt panic swirl inside of me, but it was different. Sedate.

“I took the edge of,” he said. “It’s my job as alpha to protect the pack. I can draw power and I can give power.”

I shook my head and closed my eyes.

“That’s not supposed to work with me,” I said.

Too much. It was all too much. I suddenly realized that having months to get my head around the concept just hadn’t been enough. I’d known from the start that Reid was a werewolf. And I’d never really understood what it meant.

Reid wrapped fingers around my wrists, and only then did I realize I was covering my face.

“Come,” he said and his voice was soft and gentle. His hands were warm on my arms. He pulled me up so that I was standing, and folded me against his body. That power surged through me again, but I didn’t try to pull away from it. In a way it was comforting, safe.

“They’re going to be here soon. We have to be ready to receive them,” he said.

I felt the fear build inside me again, but Reid took my hand and we stood side by side in the living room, looking at the front door. The power grew in the room. It was like he was filling his own shoes as alpha.

“They’re here, Reid said. I looked at him, frowning, and then the doorbell rang.

Chapter 2

Reid

Harry was the first to arrive. I’d heard his lazy gate long before he’d rung the bell. And he’d brought Sarelle with him. It wasn’t what I would have chosen, but it was a pack matter, and Sarelle was pack. I couldn’t exclude her now, not when all the males away so often already.

Harry was a redhead with freckles and blue eyes and a smile that made you wonder how he was still a teenager inside. He was the good guy in the pack, the boy-scout that saw the good in everything. On the battle field he was a cracker. And at home he was so tame I could treat him like a lap dog if I wanted to.

It was Sarelle that was the dangerous one between the two of them. She had jet black hair in an A-symmetric cut, and gray eyes that always looked like she was on the verge of a storm. When she turned into her wolf, it was the gun-metal gray fur that told you that she was a force of a nature.

I introduced them, and Harry nodded at Allegra. He was polite and he’d already accepted her dominance. He was a good wolf. Sarelle eyed Allegra and then glanced at me before she turned her eyes down. She didn’t like Allegra.

And I knew why.

I could smell Allegra’s fear. It hung in the air like fog, and her whole body language was submissive. She had her arms folded across her chest and her chin ducked in, looking up at whoever faced her, and not down at them. She wasn’t very tall but she could still be the head of this group if she wanted to.

Sarelle wouldn't just give in to her. She was the newest member to our pack. Harry had gotten serious with her when we’d been home the last time. Before that she wasn’t pack. She was a conversational topic. When I’d let her in I’d thought Harry would be able to control her. The look in her eyes now, like there was a storm brewing, made me doubt that.

The doorbell rang again. It was John. I gave him a hug and clapped him on the back. He was my third, my second until Allegra had decided to step up, and he was like a brother to me.

“Allegra,” he nodded at her.

“Where’s Charlene?” she asked.

“At home,” John said carefully, glancing at me before he carried on speaking. “This is a pack meeting.”

“And Charlene isn’t pack,” Allegra said, putting two and two together. I could feel her hopes sink. Charlene and Allegra were close. They spent all their time together back here when we left. But Charlene was human and she’d made it clear that she loved John for his human side, accepted his wolf side, and wanted nothing to do with pack business.