Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) (7 page)

Bells went off in Alyssa’s head. She knew that wasn’t true. She was sure plenty of women in her Oklahoma pack cringed every time it was their night to sleep with their mate. She’d heard them whispering amongst themselves, groaning over the dreaded act. Maybe it was biological, and Alyssa wasn’t made to enjoy it either by accident of birth.

Kara turned Alyssa in her arms until she faced her. Her gaze was questioning.

“I can see that you and Lindsey and Jessica and even Tessa and Nancy seem to enjoy spending time alone with your mates, but that’s not the way I was raised. My mother appeared to consider the act a chore, and so did most of the members of my pack. I saw the looks on their faces when it was ‘their turn.’ I’m scared.”

“Oh, hon, that’s awful. Why didn’t you ever tell us about it?” Kara shook her head. “Never mind. I understand. Listen to me… That crazy pack you were raised with has things all messed up. There is a natural way among wolves and arranged matings is not it. Of course they don’t like to have sex. They aren’t with the right man. Believe me, when you’re with the right person, it’s fantastic. In fact, I promise you won’t want to leave the bedroom for about two weeks after you get started.”

Alyssa flushed from her cheeks to her fingers. If the response she got from her body every time Michael was around was any indication, there was every chance what Kara said was true.

In fact, the heightened sense she had of all sexual body parts this past week had made her squirm in bed at night. Alyssa had never masturbated or even thought the word until this week. Now her fingers itched to touch herself, and even alone, the idea made her face heat. She hadn’t done it … yet … but if she didn’t let Michael take over soon, she’d find herself reaching for that aching little nub between her legs that had begun to throb nearly all day.

Some of her dreams had left her drenched and bolting upright. Dreams of Michael leaning over her naked body, staring at her nipples in the moonlight. She wanted him to touch them … and other places.

“Go to him. Talk to him. I promise he’ll be understanding. Have you ever seen any evidence to the contrary?”

“No.” It was true. She needed to be talking to Michael, not Kara. But a woman’s perspective had sent her driving over here this morning. A woman who wasn’t within a hundred yards of one hovering Michael.

Mating was inevitable. She was certain of that. Alyssa wasn’t ready to completely give herself to Michael yet, but she could and should at least talk to him. Tell him about her insecurities.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Good. No time like the present.” Kara turned Alyssa toward the door and gave her a gentle shove.

The grin on Kara’s face as Alyssa turned to wave goodbye made her stomach do a somersault. The smile was knowing and teasing. What the dickens had Alyssa gotten herself into?

Chapter 5

Michael paced the floor of the barn from one end to the other. He was a patient man, but his patience was wearing thin. He was tired from not getting enough sleep. His cock hurt nearly all the time, even when Alyssa wasn’t nearby. And he’d had so many cold showers in the last forty-eight hours it was a wonder his skin wasn’t pruned.

“Son…” Richard Masters, his father, stepped into his path. The wry grin on his face perturbed Michael. This wasn’t funny. “I know it’s a dirt floor in the barn, but if you keep that up, I’m going to have to haul in a truckload of soil to fill in the divot.”

“Ha ha.” Michael brushed past his father and continued on his path.

“Can I make a suggestion?” His dad didn’t pause for a response. “Talk to her. Instead of facing this problem head on, you two are avoiding each other as though one of you has the plague.” He chuckled again. “Have you even said more than three words to each other since the afternoon you arrived?”

“No.” Michael paused. “What’s there to say, Dad? We’re mates, and she needs to get over the idea there’s another mate for her out there before she’ll be willing to commit to me. It’s pretty simple.”

“
That
is not simple, nor is it easy. And you aren’t helping out any by pacing around in here avoiding her.”

“Every time I get too close to her, my mouth dries out, and I freeze. I
need
her, Dad. Like I need sunlight and food and water.” Fuck. This was not the kind of conversation Michael wanted to have with his father. He was a grown man for crying out loud.

His dad lowered his voice and his tone when he continued. “I know, Michael. Trust me, I know. I commend you for being as calm as you have been. I couldn’t have gone two days like this with your mother when I met her.”

“TMI, Dad. Just … ew. Stop.”

Richard laughed. “It’s natural. It’s not a secret. It’s the way of wolves. Go to her. Let her get her feelings out. Women need that sort of thing. They need to express themselves. And this won’t be the last time. She’ll need you to listen to her occasionally for the rest of your life. And you need to man up and suffer through it.”

“Suffer?”

“Well, suffer isn’t really a fair word. I’ve never felt listening to your mother was a task. I love her more than my right arm, and I’m glad every day that I have her to listen to. The moment I can no longer hear her voice in my head, in my heart, and in my house will be the worst day of my life.

“The suffering I’m referring to is what you are experiencing right now before claiming her. It will be hard. I understand that. But you need to use your big head and open the communication lines between you and Alyssa. Now.”

“You’re right, of course.” Michael paused and stared out the barn door. As if he’d conjured her up, Alyssa’s car pulled up the driveway at that precise moment. She’d spent the morning at Kara’s, probably doing the same thing Michael was doing with his father. Getting advice.

Michael’s father didn’t say another word. In fact, he wasn’t even in sight any more. Michael glanced around and headed out into the cool morning air to meet his mate at her car.

“Hey.” He stopped a few feet away and watched as she climbed warily from the front seat. Michael stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled like a teenager in the gravel.

“Hi yourself,” she murmured as she shut the door. Her jeans hugged her to perfection, and he kept his gaze low, wondering how long it might take to peel them off her … if he had the opportunity.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?” He lifted his gaze to hers, her sky-blue eyes penetrating his soul.

“I was going to suggest the same thing.” She smiled, and her perfect white teeth sparkled at him. Her lips were so pink, even though he knew she didn’t wear lipstick. She barely wore any makeup at all. And she didn’t need it. Her skin was so smooth and perfect and unblemished it would be a shame to cover it with some girly powders and rouge.

The wind kicked up, and Alyssa hugged her coat tighter.

“Let’s go inside. It’s too cold out here.” Michael reached for her hand, and she placed hers in his palm. Sparks flew from one of them to the other and back, but Michael kept himself in check and pretended he didn’t notice.

He tugged her closer and headed for the back door. With any luck his parents would make themselves scarce for a while.

Thankfully, he was correct. Not a soul was in sight. He knew they were in the house, but they must have gone to their bedroom to give Michael and Alyssa privacy.

“Can we go to your room or something?” Alyssa looked around, a grimace on her face. “I feel like we’re putting everyone out lately.”

“Of course.” Did she not realize how dangerous that idea was?

He’d be lucky if he could avoid plastering her to the inside of the door the moment they entered and taking her against the wall.

Deep breaths. Control yourself
.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Alyssa headed over to the window and stared out across the rolling hills of land. “It’s so beautiful here. Can you see it? Or is it so normal to you that you can’t appreciate the view?”

“No, I see it.” Michael didn’t take his eyes off his mate’s ass. He wasn’t lying. The view was perfection.

She whipped around all of a sudden and glared at him. “Were you looking out the window at all?”

“Nope.” No sense lying. He grinned and tipped his head to one side. “Sorry.”

“I love your family—”

“They are as much your family now as mine. Don’t you know that?”

She smiled and came over to sit on the side of his bed. With her feet dangling, she kicked off her shoes, and then she scooted back, tucking her legs beneath her Indian style before she glanced back up. “I’m sorry. Do you mind?” She gestured to his bed with both arms.

Baby, you can sit on, in, next to, over, under, beside, or across my bed any damn time you want.
“Of course not.”

Michael pulled out a chair from under his desk with trembling fingers and prayed she didn’t notice how nervous he was as he sat.

Alyssa cleared her throat, intent on continuing. “What I mean is … your family has been the best thing to ever happen to me. And I admit I’m worried about messing that up. The last thing I want to do is muddy the waters where your parents are concerned. I adore them … love them.”

“How would that ever change?”

“If something went wrong between us I suppose.”

“Babe, nothing is going to go wrong. It doesn’t work like that. It’s like fate. We are destined for each other. It’s not like we’re teenage humans, and the novelty is going to wear off and leave one of us needing to move out. We’re wolves. We mate for life.”

“What if…” She bit that damn bottom lip again and glanced at the ceiling. Her voice was nearly a whisper when she continued, sticking her hands under her butt to hold them still. “What if you don’t … I mean what if you aren’t pleased with… Oh, shit.” He’d never heard her cuss. And she hadn’t either apparently because she quickly covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes wide.

Michael couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips. “It’s okay, Alyssa. You are allowed to cuss. I do it all the time.”

She relaxed infinitesimally but let her gaze wander around the room as though searching for a secret exit or hoping she could push the eject button and be flung from the house.

If he had a clue what she was trying to say, he’d gladly put her out of her misery, but he was drawing a blank.

To urge her to continue, he prodded, “What won’t I be pleased with?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he had a suspicion.

“I don’t have any … um … experience … with men, I mean. I might not measure up to what you’re used to and then—”

She froze when a sharp laugh escaped his lips. Her face fell. Michael jumped up, the chair flipping over behind him as he dashed to the side of the bed and climbed up to face her. “Hang on…”
Damn boots
… Michael pulled them both off and then faced his contrite mate head on. He had to work to get his legs to bend the way she had, but finally he sat in front of her in the same tangled fashion she’d contorted into.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. I wasn’t doing it at your expense. You just shocked me is all.”

Alyssa’s face turned bright red, and her gaze dipped to his lap before embarrassment caused her to jerk her eyes to one side instead.

His cock leaped at her naiveté and inexperience. The fellow wanted her worse than anything in the world.

“First of all,” he began, “you could never ever do anything in my bed that wouldn’t ‘measure up’ as you put it. There is no measuring to be done. I would never, for a moment, compare you to any other woman I’ve ever met. In fact, in your presence, I can’t even remember any other person in the world anyway. You wipe my mind blank just by being in the room. Besides, I haven’t been with anyone since the day I met you. It seemed … like I would have been cheating on you after that day.

“Second of all, it makes me shake with pride and tenderness that you have no experience with any other men. I adore that. Not that it would matter if you did, but the idea that I’ll be the only man you ever have inside you makes my cock swell with need.”

Alyssa flinched at the crude word.

“Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me and humor me with my language. I’m pretty blunt in the bedroom. I’ll try to tone down my language for a while until you get used to it.

“And lastly,” Michael reached to run his fingers through a long strand of golden hair, “there is no ‘and then’ as you put it. I wouldn’t and couldn’t walk away from this. It’s permanent. There’s no going back. You’re mine. I want you so bad I can taste it.” He leaned closer, knowing he was pressuring her but unable to stop himself. He wanted to taste her again right now. Press her into the mattress and feel her curves beneath him as he kissed her.

Alyssa had other ideas. She leaned back. “Okay, but, there is still that little problem of me having another mate. I know what I felt. As much as everyone keeps glancing at me sorrowfully, the poor girl who mistakenly believes she scented her mate, you are all wrong. What happens when this other wolf comes forward? Hell, what happens if he doesn’t? Do we just tiptoe around on eggshells our whole life?”

Michael sat back and gave her the space she needed.

He took a deep breath. “We’ll deal with it when and if it happens.”

“No.” She spoke sharply and abruptly. “That’s the problem. We have to deal with it
now
. You made yourself perfectly clear that you weren’t willing to share me. How is that fair to him?” She shivered. Her body shook so violently the entire bed moved.

She had a point, damn it. He’d not considered that perspective. Suddenly he realized how wise his father was to insist Michael talk things over with Alyssa.

“You’re right. I’ve made you worry about that eventuality, and I take the blame for that. Being with two people has never been a dream of mine, not even two women. I’ve not even experimented in that area, as I know some of my brothers did in their youth. However, it would be unrealistic for me to insist you are mine and mine alone considering the track record of my family. It must be one of those strange things that hit the men of my generation or something.

“Secretly, I must’ve been hoping it would pass me over, but if you truly believe there’s another mate out there for you, then you’re probably right.”