Curves for the Alpha Wolf (2 page)

My own temper
finally flared. “If I’m a little under-educated about the subject of shifting,
whose fault is that? I was thrown off the mountain after being shunned by all
you full weres for
years
as a
non-changing human. Everyone who mattered to me—every single member of
the pack—treated me like I was invisible when I didn’t shift. Even you.
Then I got ignored even more after I gained weight.”

“I’ve always
noticed you. I’ve always thought you’re gorgeous.” The flat statements of fact
shocked me and started a buzzing warmth in the vicinity of my heart. I growled
my objection to how vulnerable Justin was making me feel and was about to
object in more blunt terms when he continued: “You could have visited me back
then. I’d have taught you everything I know.”
 

His seductive
insinuation shot a bolt of lust all through me. I clenched my thighs, feeling
the helpless heat and wanting Justin had always inspired.

I had to nip that
in the bud. I made a rude sound. “Me, visit you? Sure. You’d have been thrilled
with a human woman like me showing up on your doorstep, elbowing all your
regular bitches out of the way to ask you for private lessons.”

“Indeed.” He
gave me a wicked little smile that made my heart perform acrobatics. “It’s an
appealing thought.”

Shaken by his
flirtation, I responded with sarcasm. “I guess you missed the part where I’m a
big, curvy woman and not a petite blond werewolf? Like Meredith? Are you still
dating her, by the way?” I cursed myself. Why had I let that slip out?

He shifted
gears more violently than necessary. “You have some misconceptions about what I
find attractive. I want you. And,” he smiled knowingly, “you want me. I can
smell your arousal, Chrissy. Which is a relief, since we have to mate.”

“Huh?” He’d
managed to stun me. Mate with Justin? He’d had me pinned beneath him and
squirming with desire thirty minutes earlier. Then he’d stopped. Talk about
mixed messages. “I’m… confused.”

“Pack land,” he
responded, as if that explained anything. He glanced at me. “I have to take you
home. My home, where I can protect you. Where it’s okay if you howl and scream
when we mate.”

I wanted
nothing else, with him looking at me as if he was already imagining me howling
and screaming. It disconcerted me that he could smell how much I wanted him,
but I could hardly deny it. He’d had a hold on me ever since my awkward
adolescence while everyone except me shifted for the first time to run with the
pack and bring down prey. The ceremonial first kill, to be laid at the feet of
one’s chosen mate.

I’d have
totally given Justin my first kill.

Gorgeous,
confident alphas like Justin didn’t go for girls like me. Yet he still held my
heart in his oh-so-capable, out-of-reach hands. It wasn’t healthy how much I
still wanted him. I took some fast deep breaths, then spoke firmly. “Justin.
I’m sorry you believe, for some reason, that I’m going to leap at the chance to
have sex with you. I don’t need your protection. I certainly don’t need a pity
lay. Take me home immediately. It’s getting dark and I want to go home.”

“That’s
inadvisable.” He didn’t look at me.

“You’re
kidnapping me. Explain yourself.” My voice was as low and menacing as I could
make it.

He spoke
formally. “As your alpha, I don’t have to explain myself.” He glanced over to
me, then quickly added, “But this is a special circumstance. Okay. Your
proximity to a dog rather than wolves influenced your first shift. Your
virginity, your late change, and your isolation from other weres left you
vulnerable. Vulnerable to the influence of your pet. Hence, you changed into a
dog similar to your Digger.”

I mulled it
over. From the little I knew of the rules of shifting, it might be true, and it
made some sense.

I was impressed
that Justin remembered my dog’s name. My cheeks flamed at the virginity
comment. How the hell had he known? Was that one of an alpha’s special powers?
Did I smell innocent or something?

He answered me
as if he knew my thoughts. He still spoke without looking at me. As if he were
ashamed? “Only sexually uninitiated shifters—virgins—find
themselves vulnerable to that particular danger. It shouldn’t have happened. I
mean, if I’d known you were a virgin…”

“You’d have
initiated me? How kind of you.”

His eyes flashed
to yellow, the rising moon shining in them. “But I didn’t know. Or rather, I
knew something that wasn’t true. I’m trying to apologize, damn it!” His voice
came out inordinately loud in the cab of the truck.

An angry
werewolf shouting at me should have scared me. But for some reason I couldn’t
be frightened of Justin. Maybe because he was shouting an apology. “You thought
I wasn’t a virgin,” I said wonderingly. “Why? I was stunted. I was a quiet,
shy, overweight human that everyone assumed would never shift. What wolf in the
pack would mate with the likes of me?” A suspicion grew. “It was Meredith who
told you I wasn’t a virgin. Wasn’t it?”

“I have
regrets. Believing what Meredith had to say, on the subject of you or anything
else, is one of my biggest. I stopped seeing her when I realized what she was,
which made her even crazier. We’re here.” I looked around in confusion.
Nighttime had descended quickly, but the silver-tipped forest surrounding the
circular drive didn’t match my memory of Justin’s home.

Rather than
Justin’s old log cabin I remembered with such detail—my crush on him had
turned me into a bit of a stalker—he’d pulled in front of the pack
master’s home. The tasteful mansion perched in the middle of a small clearing
near the center of the compound. It sported its own courtyard garden, spare
rooms for guests, and an enclosed swimming pool equipped with fur filtration.
It was the largest and best house on pack land. Justin noticed my look. “I’m
pack master now.”

I stared at
him. His small, confident smile warmed me more than it should’ve. When he
glanced down at where his shirt didn’t sufficiently cover my curvy thighs, I
felt his desire for me like a physical touch. My breath came faster. His gaze
met mine and his lips parted with wolflike hunger. Hunger for me? What an
intoxicating thought.

I tried to pull
the shirt down over my exposed flesh. The lustful vibes coming off him had me
wanting to jump his bones again. I forced myself to be cautious. Justin, like
most alphas, radiated their sexual energy in waves. It wasn’t anything
personal.

So he was the
pack master now. I guessed that’s what he’d meant when he’d declared himself my
alpha.

I started to
ask about it but suddenly a familiar ripple shuddered through my body. I
gasped. I hunched over, shirt forgotten. I was about to change again.

Justin’s hand
clamped my leg in a painful grip. “Chrissy. Not yet.” His alpha command surged
over me again. He cursed when it had little effect. “We have less time than I’d
thought. Sorry for this.” I wasn’t aware of anything except the shaking
upheaval of my body.

Suddenly
Justin’s hands were parting my thighs forcefully and his fingers delved into my
slick folds. When his fingertips made contact with my sensitive flesh, I
couldn’t help but focus on the crash of sensation he caused.

I moaned as his
touch intensified, his large, roughly calloused hand spreading my trembling
legs open to a degree I’d find humiliating if I was in my right mind. I wasn’t
in my right mind. I only knew that this was Justin, the man I’d longed for,
teasing my nether lips in exactly the way I’d always fantasized. I groaned with
the gratification of it even as his touch set me on fire. Between the
compulsion of the wild shift tugging at my flesh, and Justin’s fingers drawing
a sensuous figure-8 over my clit, I shook with uncontrollable tremors of need.

He leaned into
me, adjusting his angle until I shouted with the erotic pleasure of his touch.
“Not yet. Hold on,” he murmured. I wasn’t sure if he meant my incipient orgasm
or my unwilling physical shift. I gasped, on fire with the searing need he
aroused in my body. His clever fingers toyed with my clit expertly, growing
delightfully rough when he brought his thumb into play. He wormed one large
finger just inside my tight opening, continuing his steady thumb strokes until
the erotic combination of feelings maddened me.

My thighs
clamped onto his working hand, the dormant sexuality of my body awakened with a
vengeance.

Then he
stopped. I was so close, so achingly close to an explosively ecstatic orgasm,
and he
stopped
? I wailed my protest and
ground helplessly against his hand.

Justin
chuckled. He withdrew his hand. “You’re safe for the moment. Let’s go inside.”

I panted,
glaring at him. “You’re a damn tease.” Then I realized I was still spread out
on Justin’s truck seat like some kind of obscene banquet. I snapped my legs
shut and yanked his shirt down once more to cover myself. “I think I’m starting
to hate you.”

He nodded. He
looked tired. “Fair enough. I’m glad you’re thinking. Think about this: a few
minutes ago you were about to change back to your dog form. I almost lost you.
I tried to concentrate my power to prevent it, but it didn’t work. There’s only
one thing I can do now.” Before I could respond, he opened his door, climbed
out and circled around the cab of the truck toward me.

I couldn’t take
my eyes off him. There was an air of wildness about his tall figure. His easy,
muscular gait made me think of a wolf’s sleek and powerful lope. He was
sinfully beautiful.

It almost
distracted me from my fear. “Lost me?” I asked him though the windshield. I
knew his keen werewolf senses would allow him to hear me. “What happens if I
accidentally change into a dog again?”

He opened the
door, paused as he smelled my fear. He frowned. He didn’t bother with
gentleness as he dragged me into his arms while speaking bluntly. “Then you’ll
stay one permanently.” He must’ve felt me flinch. He kicked the car door shut
behind him. He strode to his house, carrying me. “I’ll prevent it, Chrissy, I
promise. It’s my duty as an alpha. I’ll mate with you. Just stay with
me—hey!”

I’d cocked my
fist and aimed it at his jaw. I might not be a full-fledged werewolf, but I was
outraged enough to put some strength into the blow even from the awkward
position reclined in his arms.

Instead of
feeling my knuckles meet his face, I connected with his blocking hand. He’d
caught my fist and twisted it around my back in one smooth maneuver. He stopped
walking as I tried to wriggle free, then suddenly he dropped my legs, pulled my
upper body against him, and pressed his lips down on mine in another fierce
kiss. A strangled gasp escaped my throat and I struggled within his grip but I
couldn’t break his hold. Again, his mouth was insistent, distracting and
seductive, his tongue probing. He tasted like fire, wood, and the night. The
magic of his kiss unfurled throughout my body until I forgot everything but
him. I couldn’t help noticing we fit together wonderfully.

As soon as I
stopped resisting, Justin nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply. “You want me. Just
accept me.” His large cock throbbed at the juncture of my thighs, bulging
against the confines of his jeans.

I danced back.
“Whoa there buddy. I’m might not be the pick of the litter or have much of a
life lately, but I’m not so desperate that I need charity sex. I do
not
want to be just some duty you perform.” I was glad
my voice didn’t reveal my hurt.

I should’ve
known better. Justin stilled, scenting my mood. His body moved against me as he
shifted his weight. He hugged me. His voice was a soft murmur on my skin.
“You’re not just a duty. You’re so much more than that, Chrissy. You’ve got me
all wrong.”

I stared at
Justin, willing his words to be true. “How so?”

“Who do you
think has been watching over you since you left? I know where you live, where
you work… what type of dog food you buy Digger... everything. I know you don’t
have a boyfriend.” His hug tightened. “I also know you had a crush on me. What
you don’t know is that you were always my first choice. The one who got away.
But now I’ve gotten you back. I plan to keep you.”

My eyes opened
wide. “What?”

He gazed locked
on mine and his eyes glinted golden. His sensual lips quirked into a slight
smile. “I wanted you the first time I spotted you
 
hiding in the bushes, watching me inside my old house. I was
a damn idiot for letting Meredith turn my head. But none of that matters now.”

“It matters,” I
stated firmly. “She’s an evil bitch that you slept with. And there were
others.”

He sighed.
“Alphas are supposed to find a mate. A werewolf mate. I tried. Nobody measured
up to you. Losing you tore me apart. One minute you were there—all big
eyes and developing curves, sexy as hell and smelling like heaven—and the
next minute you were gone. You were supposed to be mine. Then you were kicked
out. You were raised to become a pack member and they just… evicted you.” His
eyes turned more yellow. “I couldn’t change pack policy, and I couldn’t change
Meredith’s mind, but I could take down the pack master.”

I gaped. “You…
you challenged him? For me?” I knew what that meant. It meant the old pack
master was dead. I remembered him, that alpha of alphas, but not very well.
Full eye contact with a pack master was bad form and also a bad idea:
lower-echelon wolves shouldn’t look too long at an alpha unless they meant to
offer a challenge. I remembered the leader’s ferocity and his unforgiving scowl
when he issued the proclamation that turned me out of the only home I’d known.
I couldn’t be sorry he was dead.

Now I was
having trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of Justin challenging such a
powerful creature. For me. “Wow. You defeated him?” A surge of warmth flooded
my body. Justin was badass.