Summer's Alpha (3 page)

“Damn right.”  He
crossed his arms over his chest and I shook my head at his tough act in
Shirley’s pink sleep mask.

***

“So this is it.” 
I turned the light on and let him into the living room.  The kitchen is through
there, the bedroom just there and the bathroom is in the bedroom. 

“So this is it
then.  This is tiny Summer.  How do you breathe in here?”  He carried his
backpack into the bedroom and tossed it on the bed.

“Well I suck air
in and blow it out.  It’s clean, it’s free, and it was furnished.  My boss owns
the building and she took pity on me.  All I have to do is be home most nights
to deter burglars.”  He nodded and went to the fridge grabbing the orange
juice.  I hand him a cup, which he filled and offered to me.  I shook my head
and he downed it in one gulp.  “I’m exhausted.  If you want to watch TV in the
living room, it has basic cable but I’m going to bed after I shower.”  He
nodded.

“You should eat
Summer.  I heard your belly growling.”

“Then make
yourself useful and make me a sandwich.”  He turned and opened the fridge.  I like
it when he’s agreeable.  I went to the bedroom and grabbed new panties and a
sleep shirt.  He planned to sleep with me.  We haven’t done that since we were
little.  It didn’t ever feel weird to me.  Dad had a problem with it.  When
Jackson hit puberty, Dad wouldn’t allow him to sleep over anymore.  We still
slept curled up with each other out at the pond on lazy afternoons, but it’s
been a long time since that happened too.  I let the hot water pound against my
shoulders easing the sore muscles.  This was a long day and I was ready to
collapse.  I dried myself and got dressed.  I braided my wet hair then went to
the kitchen.  Jackson was sitting in a chair.  God he’s so gorgeous.  How did
the skinny kid with the gapped teeth grow into this?  Who am I kidding?  I liked
him when he was skinny and gap toothed too.  It’s not so much the way Jackson
looks even though he is beautiful with his dark hair, wide shoulders, and ready
smile.  It’s him, his soul, the way he cares about me and for me.  It’s the way
he says my name.  The way he rubs my back when he hugs me and it’s the way he
is always willing to stick up for me.  Jackson is my knight in shining armor,
even if he acts that way because I’m like a little sister that he needs to
protect.  It is still hard to believe that he’s here.  It’s hard to believe how
small the kitchen looks with him in it.  His eyes flashed at me.  “Thanks.”  I
sat down across from him and demolished his creation.  Jackson is a better cook
than I am.  He bothers to put salt and pepper on the sandwich.  I never do.  I
sip my glass of milk. 

“Do you like it
here?”  He asks.  His voice is even and careful, like he’s dealing with a timid
animal.

“Yeah, so far, I
guess.  I’ve only been here for a minute.”  I wipe my milk mustache with the
back of my hand.

“It feels like a
year.”  A funny little smile tips the corner of his mouth up.  He gathers the
dishes and puts them in the sink.  “Summer?”  My eyes meet his.  “Why didn’t
you tell me that you were leaving?  That you felt so strongly about things?” 
He crosses his arms across his chest leans his hip against the counter.  His
biceps have gotten larger.  Jackson gets better looking every day.  “It’s why
you’ve been acting weird isn’t it because you knew for awhile, you planned this
out.”  I nodded.

“I knew you were
promised to Autumn and my dad didn’t want me spending any more time with you so
I had nothing to lose.  It was too hard to say goodbye Jackson.  If I told you,
you would’ve tried to stop me from leaving.”

“Damn right.  You
should’ve stayed and …” My head was shaking.  We both knew that you didn’t defy
or question the old man.  Dad would give me to a stranger and that would be the
end of me. 

“You see?  I
couldn’t.  I couldn’t stay there any longer.”  I was tired and getting whiney.

“She’s mated now
so I don’t have to…”  Jackson started.

“It doesn’t change
my situation though.”  I released a deep breath.  I pushed my chair back and
went to the bedroom.  He followed me and stripped down to his boxer briefs.  I
sneaked a peek.  Damn.  Way better now than when we were twelve.  I climbed in
on my usual side and he sat on the other side to take his watch off.  I closed
my eyes.  “Goodnight Jackson.”

“Good night
Summer.”  He was in my ear now and my core clenched.  Oh for crying out loud. 
I need to find a mate so I can stop this.  I can feel his breath on my neck. 
This bed is smaller than I thought.  I am not going to sleep tonight with him
this close.  He shifts and rolls even closer to me.  I turn on my side giving
him my back.  I’ll pretend he isn’t there, I decide.  Jackson’s arm snakes
around my middle and he pulls me into the curve of his body.  Crap.  I hope I
don’t have that dream if I do fall asleep.  How embarrassing would that be? 
“Sleep.” 

“What?”  I turn my
head to see his amber eyes watching me.

“I can hear your
mind racing.  Sleep.  Relax and sleep.”  He says close to my ear.  I turn my
face away and close my eyes.  I drift.  It’s the fastest I’ve ever fallen
asleep.

I wake to the
smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing.  My mouth waters instantly.  I swing
my legs out from under the covers and get up.  I brush my teeth and get
dressed.  When I glance at the clock, I want to kill him.  It is six o’clock in
the morning.  He’s nuts if he thinks that I am getting up this early.  I take
my jeans off and get back in bed.  “I thought that you were up.  I heard water
running.”  Jackson is in the doorway to the bedroom.

“It’s six in the
morning.  I get up at nine, I have three hours.”  I mumble.  Jackson pulls the
quilt back and lifts me out of bed setting me on my feet. 

“Breakfast is
ready now.  If you want to go back to sleep after then be my guest.”  He tugs
me toward the kitchen and puts me in a cold chair.  I jump up squealing and go
to find my pants.  I mumble about stupid people who don’t know how to stay in
bed until a decent time and I hear him chuckle.  He’s laughing at me.  He can
hear me and he’s laughing at me.  My temper kicks in partly from lack of sleep
and partly from annoyance.  I want to hit him.  I march into the kitchen, try
to smack him but he catches my hand and sits me down.  His eyes are flashing
amber and I sit.  When a wolf’s eyes flash, it can mean so many things.  Desire,
anger, loss, any extreme emotion qualifies.  His were definitely flashing with anger. 
I dropped my head.  Since when did I submit to Jackson?  Oh yeah since the day
I figured out that we are both alphas.  We have always been equals except the
day that Kelly left.  I really need to figure all of this out some time when I
have a free moment.  “What time do I meet the alpha?”  Jackson said around a
mouthful of eggs.  I heard someone knock at my back door and went to it.  I
prayed that it wasn’t my father.  That he had not followed Jackson.  I went to
the door and scented a strange wolf.  I opened it and stepped back.

“You must be
Summer.”  He smiled broadly and put his hand out for me to take.  I heard
Jackson growl behind me.  “And you must be Jackson.”  He put out his hand to
Jackson.  “I’m Larry, current beta in the East View pack.”  Crap, he just told
Jackson where we were.  There went his plausible deniability.  “I was anxious
to meet you both actually.  We have searched and searched for an alpha.  We’ve
come up with nothing that suits us so far and here you both are.  Are you
mated?”  Jackson sat down and gestured to a chair for Larry.

“Not yet.” 
Jackson answered.  I’d misunderstood that one, I thought he meant to each other
but now I realize he just meant in general.  “Eat.  Don’t be shy.”  My brows
furrowed.  That was my damned breakfast.  Jackson was digging into his breakfast
and ignoring me.  I look into the pan and discover that there’s more.  I grab
another plate and fill it up.  Now that I’m awake, I am hungry.  I pour coffee
listening to their conversation.  He has twenty members, mostly male, a lot of
them elderly.  The pack in this town has been dying off for some time now. 
There are very few females so the males leave to find mates and most of the
males that are left are all older.  I wonder why they don’t mate humans.  It
happens.  Larry is a widow.  His wife was a victim of cancer.  Werewolves can
regenerate quickly, heal quickly but if the cancer is aggressive, even the
strongest wolves submit to that.  I eat standing up while the big strong men
ignore me.  When I finish I start washing the dishes.  It’s only fair that
since he cooked, I will clean.  I open the fridge and see that he’s been to the
store.  What time did he get up?  Walking it roundtrip would take a half an
hour, ten minutes in the store, he showered, that’s fifteen minutes, and he
cooked breakfast.  He’s been up since like four I estimate.  Wow.  We went to
bed around midnight.  Does he not need any sleep at all?  I need at least six
hours and that’s all that he gave me.  I go to take their dishes and Jackson puts
an arm around my waist.  “Like I said we aren’t mated yet but it’s inevitable. 
If it’s a requirement that your pack has for their alpha to be mated, I will
take care of it immediately.”  My eyes go round.  What the hell did he just
say?  That we would be mated?  And it was inevitable?  What was he saying?  I
should’ve been paying more attention to the conversation and less to what time
Jackson got up.  I pick up the dishes and carry them to the sink to wash. 
“Summer and I have been together for twenty years.  We are a great team, we
know what the other is thinking most of the time, and you won’t find better
leaders.”  He can’t be serious.  Is he feeding this wolf a line to get the
position?  I rinse and dry the last of the dirty dishes then put them away. 

“I want you both
to come out and meet the pack.  There is a house for you to move into
immediately once the pack has voted.  I’m sure that it will be unanimous.  I’m
no leader and we are all anxious to get alphas into place.  The first thing
that we will ask is that you get new young members here especially mated pairs
and females.  We want the pack repopulated quickly.”  Jackson nodded and shook
Larry’s hand then saw him out.  They were on the back porch for a few minutes. 
I was in the bedroom when he returned.

“That went well.” 
He said and I nodded.  “We are going to get this Summer.”

“What did you mean
that we would mate if it was required?”  He grinned wolfishly. 

“That you and I
would mate if their pack insisted.”  I chewed on my bottom lip.

“That’s as bad as
what my dad was going to do.”  Jackson is shaking his head.  “It is so.  I want
to fall in love with my mate.”

“You already love
your mate.”  He pointed at himself.  “I’ve always been yours Summer.  You know
that.”  I’m shaking my head.  “I know that you think about it, I can smell you
thinking about it.”  My cheeks flush crimson.

“Sure I think
about it, about sex.  Who doesn’t ?  But that doesn’t mean I’m thinking about
it with you.”  I tell him without looking at him.  He’ll see the lie on my face.
 He’s been a walking lie detector lately.  I think it’s his alpha genes kicking
into overdrive. 

“Uh huh.”  Jackson
crosses his arms over his chest.  “So last night while you slept, while you
were calling my name and humping me, you were thinking of another Jackson?  Not
me?  And when you climaxed and told me that you loved me, it wasn’t me that you
were thinking of?”  Damn it.  I knew that was going to happen.  Those damn
dreams were a curse no matter how much I enjoy them sometimes.  “You felt so good
against me, moaning, and writhing.  I wanted to bury myself inside of you
Summer.”  Gooseflesh chased over my skin and heat crept up my neck flaming my
cheeks.  He’s on his knees at my feet with his hands on my thighs now.  I can
feel the heat of them through my jeans.  His irises are deep steady amber, that’s
desire.  I hadn’t seen it before, but I knew it now.  I wondered if my eyes
were similar.  “I came here because I missed you.  I came here because as soon
as you went missing, I felt like I had a hole in my heart.  I realized the
second you were gone how much you meant to me.  I knew before that I loved you
but when you weren’t there anymore, I realized that I
love
you.”  I gave
him a confused glance.  “That I wanted to mate with you and that I can’t live
without you.”

“I’m calling
bullshit.  You have never felt that way about me.  I can see why you want this
job Jackson but you don’t have to mate me to get it.”  I get up and go to the
window seat.  I pull my knees to my chest and stare outside.

“You think that I
don’t want you?”  He’s angry.  I shake my head.  “You think that I’m faking
this because I want an alpha position?”  I nod but I can’t look at him because
he will see the tears in my eyes.  Sure, we could mate and probably be happy
for the rest of our lives but it would always bother me.  It would bother me to
find out if he wanted the job or me.  Before today, Jackson has never had a
romantic notion toward me.  He has never told me that I’m pretty or that he
likes me in that way.  I want him to feel that way but I know that he doesn’t. 
“Summer I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember but it wasn’t like that. 
We were friends and I didn’t want to destroy that relationship by rushing you
into something that you weren’t ready to have.  Lately though, I’ve realized
that you want me too.”

“It was just a
dream Jackson, it didn’t mean anything.”  I say quietly.

“Don’t lie to
me.”  He snarls.  “Don’t lie.”  Jackson pulls me from the window seat and
throws me over his shoulder.  We are going to the bedroom.  He’s going to rape
me.  I have not consented to this.  I bite my lip with worry.  I can’t fight
him off because he is too strong.  If he wants to claim me as his mate there is
nothing that I can do about it.  I’ll never find the mate that I was supposed
to have if he does this.

“Jackson, please?”
 I beg quietly.  He puts me down on the edge of the bed and drops to his knees
in front of me.

“You want me
Summer, don’t lie, be honest.  Do you want me?  Do you want me to make love to
you?  Was it only a dream or was it your mind engaging in a fantasy that you
don’t think you can really have?  I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me
the truth about how you feel.  If you can tell me that, we are only friends,
fine.  However, if you want me, say so.  Don’t tell me what you think I want to
hear or what you think you believe is true.”  Jackson’s eyes were focused and
intent on mine.  Shit.  When he does that penetrating alpha stare, I am
compelled to do whatever he wants.  I want to please him.  I want him so much
but even more so, I want him to want me.

“I have that dream
all the time.  There are more of them, different versions.  They started a year
ago.”  I say quietly looking away.

“Answer my
questions.”  He commanded me and turned my face back to his with his
fingertips.

“Yes Jackson I
want you but I know that you don’t want me like that.”  The tears begin to well
in my eyes again.  “I don’t want to mate and have a tepid relationship.  I want
passion and desire.  I want mind numbing.  I don’t want us to be best friends
for the rest of my life, well I do, but I want more.”  My chin quivered and my
throat was closing up.  My heart has started to pound and he’s going to sense
these roiling emotions if I don’t get them under control.

“You think that I
don’t want you?”  My head shook slowly.  “Or you don’t believe that I could
want you because you aren’t little and blonde like your sisters.”  My head
shook again.  “You couldn’t be more wrong sweetheart.”  I made a face and he
grinned.  “I’ve waited so long to call you that.  God I’ve waited so long for
everything.  Do you remember when your dad said that I couldn’t stay over
anymore?”  I nodded.  “He told you that it was because we were going into
puberty and that it wasn’t proper anymore.  That wasn’t why.  It was because he
caught me looking up your nightgown.  We were sleeping in the den in sleeping
bags.”  He smiled whimsically.  “You had kicked yours off and scooted over next
to me.  I was looking under your nightgown at your boobs.  Do you remember? 
They had just started growing.  He walked in and scared the shit out of me. 
Your dad said that I would not be able to stay over anymore that we were too
old and that I was a little pervert.”  Jackson laughed.  “It could’ve been
worse.  He was actually cool about it.  I mean he could’ve torn me to pieces
and it would’ve been justified.”  I smiled.  “I want to see them again.  I mean
I’ve waited a really long time for it.”  I pull my shirt up and let him look. 
Big deal.  We’ve been swimming a million times and he saw them a couple of
weeks ago.  “That’s not what I meant Summer.”  He shakes his head.  “My point
is that we were twelve and I was interested in you then, desired you then.  I
want you Summer.  I have always wanted you.  I know that way back then you
weren’t into it but I hoped that we would find our way to each other.  Then you
left.”  His head dropped to my lap and my fingers wove into his thick hair.  “I
don’t want to mate you just so I can be the alpha of this pack.  I want to mate
you.  If you decide that we want to go home and wait until I can challenge your
dad then that’s what we will do.”

“Jackson.”  I say
softly.  He leans up and kisses me quickly.  I gasp surprised.  His mouth is
softer than I expected.  I didn’t expect this.  Not any of it.  A few minutes ago,
I thought that he was going to rape me and claim me.  It wouldn’t be unheard of
in my world in fact it happened often.  I thought of Kelly.  He leans up again
getting to his feet.  His hands are on either side of my hips and his lips are
crushing mine.  It’s beyond nice.  It’s better than the dreams I’ve had.  His
teeth nip at my bottom lip and his tongue finds a way into my mouth.  It’s
exploring my tongue, my teeth and the roof of my mouth.  I moan.  I can’t stop
it.  Jackson pushes me back then drags me up the bed until my head is on the
pillow.  His knee is separating my thighs and my core is weeping, clenching.  God
I want him.  I want to trust him, to trust that he wants me too, that it’s not
a ruse for an alpha position.  My body needs him, needs satisfaction, and needs
love.  His nimble fingers are pulling my shirt off and before I realize what
he’s up to, he’s pulling my jeans off.  I’m in only my underwear and he is
still in his clothes.  I want his clothes off him.  I want to feel his skin.  I
tug at the hem of his tee shirt and Jackson reaches down between us and rips it
off, his jeans follow.  He is still kissing me.  “Have you done this before?”  I
ask.  My voice is all breathy and not one that I recognize.  I know he has gone
on dates usually at the request of his mother to take someone’s daughter or
niece out.  “Jackson?”  He looks up at me now, his eyes glazed and I know that
look is desire.  He really wants me, or he really wants sex.  Don’t think about
it, I tell myself.  “Have you done this before?”  He gives me a half smile and
nods.  “But you’ve wanted me for years?”  I start to pull away.