Touch of the Alpha (2 page)

“
There isn't much wolf in
me.” She looked at the doodles she had drawn in the dirt, and
Carter could see the shame behind her eyes. Why it bothered her, he
wasn't sure. From what he had read in her file, she had made it
quite clear that she couldn't care less about the wolf.

“
You're wolf enough.” He
smiled, moving a bit closer. The night was chilly. It would be a
good reason to want to steal her body heat. That wasn't the real
reason he was getting closer though.

Carter could feel Karen tense beside
him, though she didn't retreat. He was stalking his prey, waiting
for the right moment. She was more rabbit than wolf to him, and
that made her smell all the more delicious. Already, his body was
awakening with primal need. Could she feel it? He wondered. When
the regional Alpha zoned in on his potential fuck for the night, it
didn't take long before she fell in tune. All lycans were
programmed to bow down to his desires. Why should she be any
different?

“
Can you smell it? My
wolf, I mean.” Her pale eyes glowed in the light of the moon
beneath dark lashes. The insecurity behind them drove Carter wild.
He had had his fill of stuck-up purebloods that never doubted their
nature. It was nice to be around someone humble for
once.

“
You smell delicious.” He
allowed his gaze to fall to her luscious lips, and she traced her
little, pink tongue across the bottom one as if to tease him,
though the gesture was more from nervousness than anything
else.

Then her expression cracked into an
amused grin. “What are you, a big bad wolf?” Her eyes widened for
effect.

If she only knew.

CHAPTER TWO

Karen watched Carter drain the rest of
his beer and crush the can before setting it aside. Just being near
him made her heart beat faster. The reaction was illogical. She
hadn't drunk enough for it to be booze-related. Still, she felt an
undeniable pull to him.

When he had moved closer
to her, his scent nearly bowled her over. It wasn't just wolf
though. It was so many other things—things she had never smelled
from the other lycans at Sky High Ranch. He carried the scent of
the trees, of the dirt, and of the nearby river. There was the
scent of the hunt, the wilderness, and a strong masculinity.
Sensuality and lust seeped from him like an intoxicating pheromone,
and Karen was certainly
not
immune to it.

When he looked back over at her, and
their eyes locked, she knew. Without a doubt, she saw the wolf
there. Strong and powerful and dominant. Her mouth fell agape, and
for a moment, she felt completely panicked over what she had said
to him earlier. “You're the regional Alpha.”

A wolfish grin played across his
perfect lips as he stared out toward his pack, towards the outcast
werewolves he was 'helping' here at the Ranch. He wouldn't confirm
or deny Karen's accusation, but it didn't matter. She knew who he
was now as sure as she knew that the sky was blue.

“
I didn't mean what I said
earlier, about the place needing new management,” she stuttered,
now feeling completely uncomfortable in his presence. It was like
she had slighted a king. He had every right to punish
her.

“
Yes. You did mean it.” He
closed his eyes and nodded, though he didn't look angry. “But
that's just because you don't understand how we do things around
here.”

She wrapped her arms around herself
protectively, suddenly feeling bitter that he was so deceptive. “I
don't really want to understand. I think at this point, I just want
to go home.”

“
You'll understand soon
enough.” Carter's fingertips whispered across Karen's back as he
wrapped his arm around her. The human part of her wanted to shy
away, but the wolf inside of her seemed to awaken from his touch.
Something stirred just beneath the surface of her skin, a longing
to mate so deep that it seemed to be trying to take control of
everything else.

“
What are you doing?”
Karen's body acquiesced to Carter's need to pull her closer. As she
inhaled a deep breath of his scent, pleasure coursed through her,
causing her clit to pulse with undeniable desire. Desire to have
him inside of her.

He angled himself slightly to face
her, breaking the tight contact between them, though the bond was
never stronger. Carter had his hooks into her, and every touch
brought her closer to giving in to him completely. He brought a
hand up to caress her cheek, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb.
Karen knew she was down for the count. She needed to break his
spell, by whatever means necessary. And so she did something
absolutely unspeakable. She bit him.

“
Ow!” Carter withdrew
completely, shaking the sting out of his hand.

Karen took the opportunity to stand.
Placing some distance between them should lessen his pull on her.
It did the trick, though not nearly as well as she had hoped. She
was still ridiculously horny. But more than that, she was afraid.
She had just assaulted the regional Alpha, something that could
potentially be punishable by death. If he didn't still have such a
strong hold on her wolf, she might have been inclined to bolt off
into the woods and never look back. As it was though, she couldn't
escape. All she could do was stand there and wait for him to
recover—wait for him to take hold of her again.

“
I'm sorry.” She rocked
back and forth on her heels, trying to break the metaphysical chain
that kept her from running. “I was just...”

Carter was on his feet in an instant,
and Karen could feel the wolf inside of her cowering down, folding
its ears back, and tucking its tail between its legs in submission.
The regional Alpha was pissed. And nothing good ever came from
pissing off the regional Alpha.

The attack came on swiftly, taking
Karen's breath away and making her drop her empty beer can. Hands
clawed into her hair, holding her firmly in place while his mouth
descended on hers.

As Karen's nostrils filled with
Carter's lusty scent, her body gave way to the divine. He kissed
like a wolf, with all the need and roughness and primal instinct of
a creature ready to rip her to shreds. His tongue pressed between
her lips, and she allowed him inside to explore the slick cavern of
her mouth. She groaned softly into the space between them as she
felt her wolf perk up. Carter was in his prime, ready to mate, and
she had no choice but to be receptive.

In the grand scheme of things, she
wasn't really sure why she was resisting him at all. He was
undeniably handsome; more attractive than any man or lycan she had
ever been with before. And he was the regional Alpha. To bear one
of his pups would make her the pride of her pack. What was going on
between them right now was every female lycan's dream. Yet it
didn't feel right.

It took everything in Karen to break
free from the kiss, and even when she did, she felt herself wanting
to go back and sample his lips again. He tasted so amazing. So
intense.

“
Stop,” she managed to say
breathlessly.

“
Stop?” He made the word
sound like he had never heard it before.

“
You're just doing this
because you feel sorry for me.” Her eyes roved over his expression,
searching for sincerity.

He let out a short huff. “I don't do
anything out of pity.” He dared to trace her bottom lip with the
thumb she had bit earlier. It was a challenge; she could feel it.
He wanted to see if she would defy him again. She didn't. “I'm
doing this because I think you're gorgeous, and I want to be with
you.”

Her last shred of resistance fell away
with his words, and she pressed her body against his as their lips
met in another flurry of heated kisses. What he had said to her
wasn't a lie. She could feel his desire, not just from the signals
his wolf was sending out. The outline of his erection strained
against his jeans, and Karen could hardly believe that it was all
for her. He was all for her.

She relaxed, parting her lips to
receive him. Their tongues did a delicate dance, touching and
massaging and tasting. He was sensual and rough all at once,
kissing her with a fervor she hadn't felt since she was a teenager
necking with a boy who was so eager to get into her pants that he
could barely contain himself. Carter's sheer want for her was
endearing, and although she knew he could be with any lycan he
wished, it made her feel special. Like she was the most beautiful,
amazing creature in the world.

Karen slipped her hands beneath his
shirt to feel the firm muscles below. It felt bold to touch him
like this in front of the other lycans, but he only had himself to
blame. The pheromones he was sending out were too strong—so strong
that all she could think about was their naked bodies writhing
together in forbidden ways. He was the regional Alpha, and she
barely had a trickle of wolf blood left in her—only one short step
above being a human. His attraction to her couldn't possibly be on
the primal level of wolf to wolf. He must really want to be with
her.

“
You never asked me my
name.” She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, taking her
hands out of his shirt to splay her fingers across the broad
expanse of his chest. The thought that he had already kissed her
but hadn't even asked for her name was a bit
off-putting.

“
I already know your
name.” He tilted his head and let out a low growl as he inhaled her
scent. The sound of it was so animalistic that it made Karen's sex
clench. “You're Karen Needham. You're from Lansing, and you're a
bit too mischievous for your pack to handle.”

“
Mischievous?” She let out
a short laugh.

“
Fornicating with humans.
Not shifting with the pack. You're a bit of a rebel, from what I
read in your file. I have just the punishment for you.”

The word punishment should have filled
Karen with fear. Carter was known for being ruthless. For some
reason though, she wasn't afraid.

“
Punishment,” she hummed
the word. “I'm barely even a wolf. My bloodline is so faintly lycan
that we'll be completely human within a generation or two. I can't
even shift during the full moon most of the time. I hardly think
I'm worth you taking the time to punish.”

He took a step back, holding her at
arm's-length while he gazed into her eyes. In that moment, his eyes
were more wolf than human, so amber that they almost glowed in the
dark. It was then that Karen realized the forest around them was
completely silent aside from the crackling of the fire. When the
other lycans had left, she couldn't tell, but it was almost
unnerving to know that the entire party had disappeared, and she
hadn't even noticed until now.

They were alone in the forest. Karen
was alone with the regional Alpha, and he looked as if he might be
about to shift. Perhaps she should fear punishment. Maybe he had
just been distracting her the entire time, so that the others could
leave, and he could carry out her murder in private. Despite that
being the most likely scenario, Karen got the feeling that wasn't
his intent. There was too much heat in his eyes. Not bloodlust, but
something else.

He leaned forward, and Karen craned
her neck in submission. This was the moment. The moment when he
would kill her. The moment when she would pay for all of her past
transgressions with her life.

His breath whispered across her skin,
causing a shiver to roll down her spine. “You try to deny your
nature, yet you submit to me completely. You act like you don't
want to be a wolf, but I can see the pain behind your eyes when you
talk about your weak bloodline. I can bring your pack back into the
fold, but you have to let me in.”

“
Let you in?” Her voice
sounded like a hollow echo of her inner thoughts as his scent
washed over her again. It felt like every blood vessel in her
nether region had expanded with heat the likes of which she worried
would sear right through her panties.

The touch of his fingers as he slid
them up her skirt and thumbed the damp fabric covering her folds
about made her climax right where she stood. “You have to let me in
here.”

A soft whimper escaped Karen's lips as
she felt Carter's teeth descend on her neck. She knew he was
somewhere between wolf and man, his canine's marking her, the small
bite of pain sending a thrill coursing through her veins. Her body
was so alive with sensation that she wasn't sure how to handle it.
All she knew was that there was no turning back. No running
away.

“
It's warmer by the fire,”
he told her before scooping her up into his arms. Karen squealed in
a mix of delight and disbelief. Good lord, was he ever strong.
Never before had a man been able to lift her so
effortlessly.

Carter walked with her towards the
fire as if she weighed nothing at all. And she felt unusually safe
in his arms, gazing up at him in admiration all the while. Perhaps
she had been wrong about him. Maybe she didn't understand how
things worked around here. She was about to find out
though.

In front of the fire, there was a pile
of blankets laid out perfectly to soften the hard ground beneath.
Carter set Karen on top of them and knelt beside her. Before she
even had a chance to sit up, his lips were on her again, kissing a
path from the bite mark down to her collarbone. His fingertips
deftly unbuttoned the front of her blouse as if he'd done it a
million times before. She closed her eyes and laid back, enjoying
the tiny bursts of heat his lips trailed across her collarbone.
Already, she was lost in the thralls of pleasure, wondering how
much more was to come.