The Alpha's Reluctant Mate (20 page)

“Weak little vampire,” the wolf spat as he dug his sharp talon-like claw deeply into the tissue of her neck and dropped her on the ground like a crumpled doll.

A deep below of rage was the only warning before Ryan struck, ripping the other wolf's throat out before he'd even fully turned to face him; then Ryan was over Sebrina, clutching her still form to his chest.

I screamed and twisted beneath my captor, then suddenly I was free as Connor pulled the wolf-man off me, snapping his neck in the process.

Then we rushed to Ryan's side to find Sebrina gasping desperately for air in his arms.

“She's too weak to recover from such a wound,” Ethan said dispassionately from a few feet away. All around them small little skirmishes were being fought as the rest of the rogue wolf pack was dispatched to hell, but most of the battle was finished. The key players were already dealt with.

“You can't just stand there and watch her die!” I cried, horrified by his bored expression.

“I gave her the gift of immortality once and she didn't appreciate it very much. Once I stopped force-feeding her, she stopped eating healthily at all; her choice to exist on substandard nutrition is why we are at this impasse. I refuse to take further responsibility for her; Sebrina made this choice,” Ethan said with a shrug.

Ryan pulled Sebrina's dying body closer and howled with grief.

Ethan cocked his head to the side and studied Ryan. “You can save her if you choose, wolf.”

Ryan sat up straighter and looked at Ethan questioningly.

“Any immortal blood will give her the strength to heal her wounds if you can get her to take it,” Ethan said matter-of-factly.

Ryan looked at Connor, his eyes pleading with the alpha.

Connor turned to Ethan. “If we do this, she is ours. She is pack.”

“Agreed,” Ethan said with a nod.

Ryan immediately ripped his wrist open in a jagged wound and pressed it to Sebrina's pale lips. “You will drink!” he commanded her.

“Sprinkle a little blood directly over the wound first, it will help the wound to heal,” Ethan advised, still watching the whole scene with a sort of detached curiosity.

Before my eyes the gaping wound in Sebrina's throat began to close, then Ryan pressed his bleeding wrist back to her lips and she began to slowly drink. When her eyelashes fluttered open, Sebrina looked up at Ryan in confusion. “Ryan?”

He simply closed his eyes and pulled her to his chest for a moment, his relief palpable. Then he stood cradling her against his chest and turned toward Sebrina's little cabin.

“She will need more blood,” Ethan told him off-handedly.

“She will have it,” Ryan said firmly.

“I don't need any more…” Sebrina began weakly, only to be interrupted when Ryan suddenly stopped to glare down at the woman in his arms.

“You are my mate… mine… you will drink, you will heal, and you will obey!” he snarled down at her.

Sebrina stared up at him for a moment, then simply laid her head back down on his shoulder, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

I grinned, relieved beyond words that my friend would be okay and looking forward to the fireworks soon to be happening between her and Ryan as I watched him carry her out of sight.

“In the future I would prefer you stay out of the fighting,” Connor said gruffly from where he stood behind me.

I turned to face him with a glare. “I'm perfectly capable of fighting with everyone else. I've been training.”

“The wolf I pulled off you could have killed you but chose not to because of Sid's warped agenda. I will not have you continuously putting yourself at risk, Alexandria.”

“What? You've spoken so now its law? I don't think so!” I yelled. I don't know why lately every word out of the man's mouth made me want to scream… well, scream and shove my tongue down his throat, but I was ignoring that impulse.

“If you live on pack land, my word is law,” Connor said succinctly.

“Then maybe I won't live on pack land,” I said vehemently, rubbing my arms, I ignored the gooseflesh on my very sensitive skin and the need rising up in me to submit myself before him.

“I find myself in need of another ambassador from the werewolf pack; perhaps a little time away will give you both the clarity you need,” Ethan said helpfully, totally ignoring the warning growl Connor shot his way.

Never taking my eyes off of Connor's, I snapped at the offer, “That sounds perfect, Ethan, thank you. Let me grab Dizzy and my bags and I'll go with you now.”

“Alexandria.” Connor's voice held warning.

I held up a hand. “Enough. I'm done talking for now.” I walked away to get my dog and things, ignoring the sick feeling developing in the pit of my stomach. This was the best for everyone… I wasn't ready to make a decision and I certainly wouldn't have one forced on me.

Chapter Seventeen

 

 

It took me a ridiculously short amount of time to get all my stuff together and then I was walking to Ethan's limo. I wasn't sure why we needed a limo but wasn't about to complain as I climbed into the back and Dizzy jumped in next to me, growling warily at Ethan. I cuddled her closer reassuringly and she settled into place.

Connor stood next to the car, his shoulders slumped in defeat, and sadness welled within me.

I shoved the emotions down and simply looked out the window as the car pulled away. I should have taken my own car but I really didn't want to be alone right now; this way I could come back tomorrow night and see Sebrina.

I don't know when the trees outside the window began to blur; I hardly noticed.

“Are you sure you're making the right choice, Xandie?” Ethan asked softly beside me.

I blinked. “What?”

“If this is the right choice for you, why are you crying?” he asked.

“I'm not crying…” I protested but then I reached up and touched wet cheeks—unchecked tears falling from my eyes unnoticed because I was so wrapped up in my own misery.

“Love is quite elusive and relatively rare… each of us only has one mate… not something you should disregard unless you're sure…”

The car rocked over the cattle guard at the entrance to the compound and I suddenly felt like I was suffocating, like my very soul was being wrenched from my body. “Stop!”

I turned to Ethan. “I'm sorry… I…”

“No explanation necessary, Xandie. Go to him. I will see to it Dizzy and your things are returned to where they belong.”

“My things? I need something from my bag,” I cried as I leapt from the car and opened the trunk. I looked quickly through my bag until I found it, the box holding the beautiful pearl choker necklace. My hands shook as I fastened it around my throat, then I turned and ran up the driveway toward home.

Connor still stood staring down the driveway. The minute he spotted me, he straightened but he didn't come to me; he waited.

When I stood before him, he studied me and the pearled collar, saying nothing. I fidgeted for a moment and then I knew what I needed to do; I knelt before him with my head bowed. “I'm sorry I tried to leave. You are my mate, this is my pack and my home.”

He lifted me to stand before him, cupping my face in his hands for a moment and wiping the last of the tears from my face. “You are sure?”

I smiled up at him, suddenly surer of the future than I had been in a very long time. “Yes. I choose you.”

Connor nodded, then dropped his hands and stepped back. “Then strip and run.”

Excitement filled me as I realized his intent, I stripped as he watched, reveling in every bit of skin revealed to him until I stood naked before him and then with a smile over my shoulder I turned to shift, freeing my wolf, and ran.

It wasn't long before I could hear my mate chasing me, bent on catching me for all eternity. He came up behind me and began nipping at my flanks, and I turned and snapped at him with a snarl; the she-wolf not wanting to submit without a fight. When he growled and knocked me to the ground, we wrestled around in the leaves, both of us jockeying to be on top. He finally pinned me and closed his teeth around my throat demanding my submission; with a soft whimper I gave it. I was rewarded with a gentle lick along my muzzle and then he let me up with an excited yip and we were running through the woods.

I ran until I got to the edge of the lake and then with a pounce Connor knocked me to the ground playfully this time; nuzzling me briefly before he stood and changed once more into the tall proud man he was; my mate… my alpha.

“Change,” he commanded and as his deep voice wrapped around me I was once more a woman… a woman ready to be claimed. He took me firmly by the arm and led me over to a large rock; to say I was surprised when he sat down and took me face down over his knee would be an understatement.

“Connor, no!” I cried.

“This is for defying me at every turn and putting yourself in harm's way more than once,” he said as his broad palm began to fall hard and fast on my upturned, naked backside. I whimpered, but instead of fighting him, I found myself wrapping my arms around his leg and holding on tight, submitting to his discipline and finding a peace I never knew existed.

Again and again his hand fell until I was sobbing softly over his knee and then he flipped me upright and kissed the tears from my face “I love you, Xandie. Never try to part from me again.”

“Never, I love you too,” I said tremulously, reaching up to stroke his cheek as I sank into his comforting embrace.

Then he lifted me from his lap. “Get on your hands and knees,” he said, his voice rough with an urgency I shared as I felt the moisture practically dripping from my hot core.

I moved quickly, looking over my shoulder at my mate as I spread my legs wide and wriggled my hips suggestively.

Then he was there thrusting inside me to the hilt with one sure stroke, and we both groaned at the pleasure of our joining. I felt his teeth sink into the flesh where my shoulder met my neck, marking me, and I came instantly with a keening wail.

His hand gripped my hips firmly as he began to take me in a pounding rhythm that stole my breath.

“Yes, Connor! Please!” I cried, desperate for more. Then I pressed my chest to the ground and moved my legs even further apart to take him even more deeply.

In answer to my call he began to hammer in and out of my grasping sheath relentlessly, driving me from one orgasm into another until I could only hoarsely cry out my pleasure. One of his hands reached around me for the top of my clit and rubbed it against his shaft with every thrust. The pleasure was never ending, going on and on until he lunged inside me one last time with a fierce growl and I felt the heat of his seed fill me. We collapsed together onto the ground and snuggled for a moment.

“My precious mate, my heart,” Connor said softly as he pressed a kiss into my shoulder.

“I love you, Connor,” I said as I kissed the arm cradling me so possessively… so tenderly.

My world suddenly spun as Connor sat up and lifted me over him to straddle his waist; his hands cupping my still sore bottom as I sank down onto his rigid erection; the stinging heat in my ass somehow intensifying the pleasure of our joining.

He kissed me deeply as he drove into me hard and fast, using his hands to grip my bottom and move me up and down his thick cock. I stiffened in his arms, screaming his name as an intense orgasm claimed me. This time Connor swallowed my cries, stealing my breath and then giving it back to me. He locked my body tight to his as he powered into me with one last savage thrust, roaring his release. As I felt his hot seed splash my inner walls, I was catapulted into orbit and left free-falling through the stars, but he was there to catch me.

We stayed there, locked together as our breathing returned to normal… skin to skin… chest to chest… heart to heart.

I was lost… I was found… I was home, safe in the arms of my mate, where I knew I belonged.

Epilogue

 

 

I waited on my knees in the clearing for my mate. In Connor's arms I'd found my fears all groundless and discovered the greatest joy I'd ever known. Tonight I would give him everything. He'd taken me many times over during the last month but I'd never given him my ass.

Tonight I would submit to him completely and he would own every part of me; I'd finally accepted that I was his to take in any way he pleased.

I felt the brush of his dark fur against my naked skin before I saw him; then his skin pressed tight against me as he shifted and took me in his arms. He was on his knees behind me, cupping my breasts in his hands and tweaking my nipples as he nibbled along the side of my neck.

I groaned in protest as he released me and pressed my chest down to the ground with a firm hand between my shoulder blades, leaving my bottom arched high. Connor brought his hand down sharply on my vulnerable bottom, making me whimper as the sting filled my ass. “Who does this ass belong to?”

“You, Connor, always you,” I cried as his hand continued to fall, filling my entire backside with heat.

He wrapped one hand in my hair and pulled my head up as he continued to pepper my bottom with hard slaps, as I lifted it to meet his hand. Then he sank two fingers deep inside my hungry sheath, making me cry out.

“Who does this belong to?”

“You… everything I am belongs to you until I draw my last breath,” I cried as my body tried to chase his fingers as he withdrew them.

Then he was there, thrusting deep inside of me and filling all of my empty places. He rode me hard and fast; every slap of his pelvis against my ass reawakening the sting as we rocked together.

Connor bit down sharply on my shoulder where it joined my neck as he took me from one peak straight into another. I came hard with a scream and still he pounded into me quickly, forcing another hard orgasm from me.