Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) (6 page)

Ignoring her response, Michael took her hand and set it against his chest. His heart pounded beneath his shirt. His muscles rippled and flexed as she pressed her palm into his pecs.

“See what you do to me? I can’t even breathe,” he murmured, never breaking eye contact.

Good. At least she wasn’t the only one.

“I remember that kiss like it was yesterday.” His eyes lowered to her lips, and he pulled away a few inches to stare at them. With one thumb, he brushed gently across the upper one and then tugged on her chin to free the lower one from her teeth. “I’ve relived it over and over again in my mind.”

Alyssa breathed heavily, short pants that wouldn’t subside, as though she were running.

“Would you mind if I refresh my memory?” He glanced at her eyes again and cupped her chin with one hand. “I can’t stand the suspense,” he added with a grin.

What?
What was he asking? She stared at him but couldn’t make sense of his syllables. They fled from her consciousness as soon as he spoke them.

And then she looked at his mouth and wanted him to kiss her. More than anything she’d ever wanted in the world, she needed Michael to kiss her silly right now.

“Alyssa?”

She didn’t have any idea what he was asking, but she had a demand of her own. “Kiss me, please.”

The words had barely left her mouth before he descended and pressed his lips to hers. Soft, gentle at first. A series of small nips around her mouth, exploring the outside while she melted into his embrace.

Michael teased her mouth until she relaxed into him, and then he licked the seam of her lips just like she remembered from so long ago. Only this time, he let his tongue dip inside, and she opened for him. She couldn’t stop if she wanted to. She needed his breath mingling with her own, needed to taste him, devour him. She felt wanton.

The taste of mint mingled with Michael’s own personal flavor to entice Alyssa into leaning into him. The kiss lingered, and Alyssa grasped the front of Michael’s shirt with both hands. If she gripped tight enough, maybe she wouldn’t fall through the crack in the universe threatening to swallow her whole.

In that moment, Alyssa might have let Michael claim her right there on the couch in the middle of the day. Lost completely in the feel of his hard frame around her, his lips pressed against hers, she didn’t care about anything in the world except ensuring that feeling never ended.

*

It took every ounce of strength Michael possessed to remove himself from the lip-locked position. He didn’t want to frighten her.

When he did, he only released her soft, sexy mouth, not the grip he had on her shoulders. A grip he’d purposefully maintained in an effort to avoid letting his hands roam all over her curves.

She was tiny, not much bigger than she’d been two years ago. Her frame was small, probably five-two compared to his almost six feet. However, she was not fragile. She had an inner strength that had pushed her to escape an arranged marriage to a man she had no interest in. She’d fled in the middle of the night to an unknown future. She was small, but she was not delicate.

Alyssa Franklin was tough, even if she didn’t have the total confidence yet to realize that fact.

Suddenly she jumped up and backed away from the couch, her chest heaving. Michael was left almost cold where she’d been touching him. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees to catch his own breath and keep his mate from noticing the effects of that kiss between his legs.

He didn’t want to scare her. He wanted to pull her in at her own pace … as long as it didn’t take too long. He didn’t know how long he could keep himself from taking her.

“Wow,” she finally muttered. “Yeah, that’s how I remembered it. Only better.”

Michael chuckled and looked up at her. “Much better.” He pushed off his knees and stood. “And I can’t wait to do it again.” Instead of stalking her like his dick demanded, Michael circled the couch and leaned against the back. He could look her in the eye from that position while not scaring her to death with the bulge in his jeans.

“God.” Alyssa started to pace. “What about…?”

She didn’t need to say it. He could tell her mind had gone to the other wolf she’d met—no, not met, smelled—last week. Michael gripped the back of the sofa and tried to put on a smile. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? It’s been what … four days? And no sign of the guy?”

Alyssa nibbled that lower lip again and nodded. “But I can’t deny it happened, Michael. And I can’t…”

She didn’t finish, but he got the picture. She couldn’t let him claim her until she knew for sure the other man was fictitious.

Lord, please. Whatever caused that guy to run, please feed him some more of it.
The only thing Michael could think of that would be worse than sharing his mate with another man would be sharing her with a stranger.

Unlike his brothers, Michael had never shared any woman. The thought had never appealed to him.

“Listen, just relax. I’m not an ogre, and I won’t force you to do something you aren’t ready for. Let’s just take this one day at a time and get to know each other, okay?”

And while we’re at it, I’ll pray my dick doesn’t fall off waiting
.

Alyssa nodded. She did that a lot, the nonverbal commitment.

Michael wasn’t an ass. He meant what he’d said about not pushing her, but when he did finally get her to consent to the mating, he’d demand a lot more from her in the bedroom than silent compliance.

He might not be into ménages, but his dominant nature was something he did share with his brothers. Sure, it had been a few years, but he’d had enough experience with women before Alyssa came into the picture to know his tastes. He just hoped his mate would understand his needs in that area and defer to his judgment where sex was concerned.

A car pulled up outside, the tires rolling across the gravel to announce the arrival of some family member.

Michael glanced outside to see his mom returning from her afternoon at Tessa’s. His mother approached the back of the house with leaden feet, and Michael smiled. She was subtly giving him time lest she find him and Alyssa in a compromising position. As if.

Chapter 4

Tyler fiddled with his cell phone for the twentieth time this afternoon, flipping the gadget over and over in his hand just to occupy his fingers.

He’d nearly paced a hole in the carpet of his bedroom in his parents’ house.

Six days. It had been six days since he’d gotten close enough to Alyssa Franklin to realize she was his mate.

After turning his back on her and sprinting for his rental car, he’d sped away from that rodeo with his tires squealing.

He hoped to God she’d not noticed him, but there was no way to be sure.

Tyler spent the next several hours speeding back to Portland to catch a flight back to Oklahoma. During the long wait in the airport, he convinced himself leaving was the right thing to do.

Alyssa was settled, happy. No, she wasn’t mated. But her life there was better than any life with his pack. Before he’d even gotten close enough to her to catch her scent, he’d known he wouldn’t rat her out to Fredrick Wells and cause her to be dragged back to Oklahoma kicking and screaming to mate with a man against her will.

After he’d realized what she was to him, everything had changed. Tyler had pulled over to the side of the road to vomit the meager food he’d eaten that afternoon.

The lies he would have to tell compounded by the minute. Not only was she not mated to Michael Masters, a fact he couldn’t deny, but Tyler’s reasons for not turning her in to Wells now had less to do with just wanting her to be left alone and more to do with his own body’s claim on her.

He’d meant to leave her be, let her live her new life in peace.

Wells had been preoccupied with two gentlemen in his office when Tyler had arrived. Fredrick motioned for Tyler to enter anyway, but the older man had barely given him the time of day. It made things easier. A simple, “yes, she’s mated,” was all he’d had to produce. Tyler shook as he gave the information, hoping neither Wells nor the other two men in his office could tell how nervous he was. Although Fredrick was shuffling around on his desk in search of something, the other two men peered at Tyler with eyes that nailed him to his spot. Tyler didn’t even know who they were, but they gave him the creeps.

Actually, for as urgent as this task had been to Fredrick just a few days before, Tyler found it rather odd that the man didn’t seem even remotely interested in the outcome. Why had he been sent to check on Alyssa after two years? Relief over not having to answer two hundred questions had made him slump into bed exhausted beyond belief.

Tyler’s issues didn’t go away though. He awoke every few hours in a sweat, his dick hard. Alyssa and her sweet smile seized his brain day and night.

He’d gone to a few job interviews the past week, both local and short distances away, but nothing had sparked his interest. Of course, he could barely concentrate on anything.

Shit
.

Tyler tossed his cell phone onto the bed and ran his hands through his hair. A glance in the mirror confirmed the strands were sticking up on end. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hands were shaking. He’d not eaten or slept well for days.

And there he stood making the most monumental decision of his life.

It wasn’t a choice really. He didn’t know why he was deliberating over things so hard. Alyssa was his, and he had to go claim her. He had to leave his family, his home, his pack and never return.

He couldn’t even tell his mother goodbye. The break had to be fast and clean. Everyone knew he had an interview tomorrow in Denver, and they believed he was flying out tonight for that purpose. Carrying no more than what he’d managed to sequester in his car over the last few days, and the overnight suitcase stuffed as full as possible, Tyler was about to walk away from his life of twenty-four years, never to return.

He wasn’t heading for the airport. Instead he was going to
drive
to Denver for the interview. He hoped it went well, and he’d be offered a job. His next stop—Corvallis, Oregon, where he intended to claim Alyssa. God, he hoped she liked the idea of living in Denver because that interview was very promising.

He glanced around the room at his childhood. Trophies, trinkets, mementos from his life in high school and college. His father would be pissed, and his mother would cry when he didn’t return. By the time they realized his disappearance was permanent, he’d be nowhere near the state of Oklahoma.

* * * *

Alyssa sat at Kara’s kitchen table, turning the mug in front of her around in circles. The liquid was cold by now and untouched. Didn’t matter. She wasn’t overly fond of coffee anyway.

Kara plopped down in the seat across from Alyssa and took a deep breath. “The kids are finally napping.” She leaned forward and rested her chin on her palms. “Talk to me.”

Guilt flooded Alyssa as she considered her encroachment on Kara’s only free hour each day.

“And wipe that look off your face right now. I’m all yours for as long as you need me. You’re like a sister, and I love you.” Kara smiled warmly and reached with one hand to grab Alyssa’s.

Tears filled her eyes … again. She was like a leaky faucet these days.

“Michael’s been here two days. He’s the most patient man I know, but I can’t put him off forever. I can see it’s killing him. And…” Alyssa choked on a sob. It was killing her too.

In fact she didn’t think she could sleep another night under the same roof as him. The house was big, and she had her own room in a separate wing from his, but that didn’t keep the entire place from filling with his scent to drive her crazy.

“Why are you hesitating?”

Alyssa stared into Kara’s eyes. The woman knew.

“Look,” Kara began, “I know this is hard. You’re convinced you crossed paths with another wolf who is your mate last week, and you’re torn. I get that. But, Alyssa, sweetie, no matter who or what that other man is to you, it doesn’t take away from the fact Michael is your mate. It’s not your fault the guy took off. You may never see him again. And wouldn’t it just suck if you spent the next thirty years guilt-ridden, feeling like any relationship with Michael meant you were cheating on the mystery man?”

And there it was, plain as day. How did Kara know her so well? Alyssa smiled and wiped a tear off her face with her free hand. “You’re right. That’s exactly it. I feel like I’m cheating on another guy. And it’s not fair. It’s not fair to me, and it’s not fair to Michael. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Exactly. So you can’t take the blame.”

Alyssa pulled her hand from Kara’s grasp and stood. She had to pull on her big-girl panties and mate with Michael. And that thought was almost as scary as not mating with him. “What’s it like?” She stared out the window now, her back to Kara.

“What? Mating?” Kara’s voice was low and gentle.

Alyssa nodded.

“So simple. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Michael will handle everything, and I know for a fact he will keep your feelings at the forefront of his mind the entire time.”

That didn’t answer her questions. Alyssa wrung her hands. Until two years ago, she’d understood the basics about sex from reading. Her mother had told her very little except that her mate would handle things “in the bedroom” when she was claimed. The woman was so old-fashioned it was a wonder Alyssa even knew her vagina from her urethra. Thank God for the library, but reading about sex in books hardly compared to putting the act into practice.

After two years surrounded by her new family, including five women who were built strong enough to put up with nearly a dozen men, Alyssa wasn’t completely ignorant about what mating entailed, but there were still plenty of holes that needed filling.

“Are you worried about having sex?”

Alyssa nodded again.

“Oh, honey, we all were the first time. Don’t think so hard. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”

“What if I hate it?”

“You won’t. Trust me.” Kara came up behind Alyssa and hugged her tight. “No one does.”