Illusions: Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Seekers Book 1) (21 page)

E
stée breathed deeply
, attempting to control her heart, which had been beating rapidly since she’d pressed herself against the large wolf shifter. She was certain that he could hear it; that he would take it as flattery, a sign of her attraction.

A part of her wanted him to—to know that she went weak-kneed at his scent, or that she wanted to turn to liquid when she looked into his eyes. But another part wanted to keep her distance, still afraid of the repercussions of closeness.

But closeness there was, as every inch of her back and thighs felt his large, muscular frame pressed against her, his left arm draped over her, either for his own comfort’s sake or in a protective gesture.

“So, this is nice,” she said quietly, attempting a little humour.

Dascha didn’t reply.

“You all right?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said, a growl faintly present in his voice.

“You don’t sound fine.”

“I’m just relieved to get to watch you stop kissing Sir Flirts-A-Lot’s ass,” he said.

“Kissing his ass? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on Estée. Your lips may as well have been stapled to the guy’s scrawny buns.”

“You’re jealous,” she said, a smile spreading invisibly over her face. “You are jealous.”

“No, I’m not. I just don’t like watching sycophants at work.”

“You are, though. You want my lips reserved for you.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t give a flying fanny where your lips spend their time.”

Estée turned her head to the left, and as Dascha’s eyes adjusted to the dark he could see the faint outline of her profile.

“I think you do. I think you want my mouth,” she said, no longer joking. “On you.”

Dascha shifted his weight, and Estée was certain that she could feel him move his pelvis away from her, no doubt to hide what might be occurring in his jeans.

“It’s a nice mouth is all,” he said. “And I’m not particularly interested in watching it on another man.”

“Why not?”

“Do I really have to answer that?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Fine,” he said, the arm that had been hooked around her moving so that now his left hand sat on the curve of her hip, his fingers gently digging in. “Because of this, right here. Because of you. I was sent across the ocean to find you. And I did. I’d seen your picture, and I had all sorts of preconceptions about who you are. And I was so, so wrong.”

“So what am I?”

“You’re complicated. You’re definitely intelligent. And…”

“And?”

“Beautiful,” he said, his fingers sweeping along the S-curve of her body, up her waist, reaching the arm that lay across her chest. “You are beautiful, Estée. And I want you.”

Now he moved into her once again, pressing himself to her wordlessly so that she could feel his hard length easing into her backside; all his desire represented in that one motion.

And between her legs she felt it too, the arousal, the sweet agony of want. Twenty minutes suddenly seemed like not nearly enough time to be tangled in a trunk with this man.

Her eyes closed and her hand took his, pulling it over her chest, slipping it into her open-collared shirt and pressing his fingers to her heart.

He could feel it; the rapid beats, the strength and fragility of her. The admission of weakness, of attraction.

“I’m scared,” she whispered as she held his hand in place.

“It’ll be all right…the border…”

“No. Not of that,” she said. “I’m scared of what will happen to you.”

“Nothing will happen to me that’s not meant to happen,” he said.

“You’re going to face an Alpha with a pack on his side.”

“That Alpha is a traitor to our kind. His pack will let us have at it. They won’t interfere.”

“What if he’s stronger than you, Dascha?”

“Then he wins. But he’s not, and he won’t.”

“How do you know?” Estée’s face was turned so sharply that he could feel her breath on his own lips now, only an inch from his own.

“Because I have you,” he said, moving forward so that his lips brushed hers, as faintly as a leaf floating over their surface. “I have you on my side. I have your strength.”

A
lpha’s Hunt
is
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About the Author

C
arina Wilder is
the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Sought by the Alphas and Seeking her Mates serials, the Wolf Rock Shifters series and The Seekers Series.

She loves to write about kick-ass women who know who and what they want and about the men who (almost) deserve them.

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