Reluctant Alpha (14 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Airic was riding in front of Bradley on his horse with his one arm gripped tightly around her waist and they were tearing across the field as fast as he could take them. She looked up in the sky and watched Bailey fly over them with her mate Tristan just behind her. She thought they looked like they were playing tag. Looking down, she watched as wolves ran alongside of them, racing and jumping over every obstacle in their path without seemingly seeing them.

Bradley had said he would explain, but there wasn’t time now. He needed to get her to safety then they would talk. Her head was pounding, like a sludge hammer was beating its way into her skull. She leaned back into his embrace.

“
Baby, I’m having a hard time watching the path with your breasts bobbing up and down like that.” His voice was low and very close to her ear. He nuzzled her neck and desire shot though her instantly.

She realized that she could feel his hard cock pressing into her back. Reaching behind her, she ran her hand down the hard shaft and felt him lengthen beneath her hand.

“
Bradley.”

He pulled her closer and moved his fingers in the button gap on her shirt just below her breast. He cupped her and with his thumb and forefinger, pinched her nipple, then tugged at it. “I want you, right now. If there weren’t so many people around, and your safety wasn’t a problem, I’d stop this horse right now, strip you naked, and take you right here. Then I’d ride as hard as I could with you bouncing up and down on my cock. Christ, I want to fuck you.” Closing her eyes, she could see them doing just that and pressed harder against his cock with her hand. He growled at her.

They teased and played with each other all the way to Aaron’s estate. By the time they got there, she was so hot she felt as if she would combust if Bradley touched her right now and maybe even if he didn’t.

Once they were in the mansion, they were ushered to a big room by a dapper-looking man who said his name was Duncan. He offered them something to eat and drink and they declined both. Carrying a large silver tray that somehow seemed to be a part of his uniform, though why she thought that she had no idea, he took them to see the master.

“
Ms. Bennett. How lovely for you to join us. It’s nice to see you again.” Aaron came forward and kissed her hand.

“
You! You’re that vampire that…where is she? That woman who knock me out.” Airic turned when she saw him look over his shoulder.

“
Hello, dear. Welcome to my home. I know you’re angry right now, but we need to focus on the issue at hand.” She patted the seat next to her.

Airic sat in the chair closest to the door. She was being spiteful, she knew, but damn it, she’d like to have one thing go right today. “Bradley, what is she talking about? What issue?” Bradley didn’t answer, but simply picked her up and sat down in her chair with her on his lap. Okay, she thought, this is much better.

“
I’m afraid that since we talked last, there has been another development. Your friend Diana Lake has gone missing, as you know. It seems that Christopher Alastair, the master wolf that had you turned, has taken her and will return her only for you, my dear.” Airic looked at Bradley after Aaron made his announcement. He knew this, she thought, and he’d known this since before they left his home.

CHAPTER THIRTY

He knew the moment she figured it out. Her body became stiff and she sat up. He’d thought to tell her about Diana as soon as they got on the horse, but he got distracted just as he said. Now it was too late. She’d think that he had played with her because he didn’t want to tell her. Okay, well that was true, but not all of it. Damn it, she had touched him first.

When she rose off his lap, he pulled her back down. She was not getting away until he had time to explain. And she was going to listen to him. He was the alpha, damn it.

“
Sit still and listen to me, damn it. You’re not going anywhere half-cocked,” he shouted. He hated yelling, but…

When he felt the cold water hit his face, he opened his eyes.
What the fuck?
He was lying flat on the floor. No not on the floor, he decided, but on the chair, which was on the floor, his legs still hanging off the seat, which was now in the air.

“
Welcome back.” Aaron, smiling, was holding a large bucket that was dripping water on his chest. He had poured water on him. He didn’t remember a thing after pulling Airic back down onto his lap.

“
What…why did you do that?” He had missed something. He wasn’t sure what, but something was… “Airic! Where’s Airic?” He started scrambling to get up when Aaron’s booted foot slammed him back down in the chair.

“
If you sit up now, you might start the bleeding again and I just got it to stop. Airic is upstairs in the pink bedroom with Sara and Lizzy. I’d leave her there for the moment if I were you. She hit you with Duncan’s tray and opened your empty head with it.” Setting down the empty bucket, Aaron pulled another chair over and sat down next to him.

“
Can I at least ask why she hit me? Or do you, in your all-knowing wisdom, not know why?” He glared at him as Aaron grinned down to him, cocky bastard. “He’s just made it to the top of my ‘To Kill’ list,” he muttered to himself.

“
Oh she told us. Quite loudly, as a matter of fact, and several times since you hit the floor. It was very enjoyable to me, I must say, to see someone else I know make a woman that mad that quickly. Let’s see if I can remember it all…you’re an arrogant asshole, which I must say, we all knew that one. Hummm, let’s see, you will not manhandle her and get away with it, which I’m pretty sure you did not by the looks of that gash. You will not keep secrets from her, that one was a surprise to me. I didn’t think you could keep secrets from each other once you bonded. Oh yeah, she was questioning your parental background and was quite sure you had some snake in your DNA. I’m sure that I missed a couple, I was kind of busy trying to get the tray from her before she cold-cocked you again.” He leaned back after delivering his speech. Bradley wanted to get up and pound his ass, but his head hurt now, he realized.

“
We aren’t bonded, not yet anyway, and you know it. That’s why we were coming here, remember? Shit, that fucking hurts.” He had reached up and tenderly touched the area. His fingers came away with blood on them. Damn woman. He grinned suddenly.

“
Oh, I don’t like that. That cannot be a good sign.” Aaron grinned back with him. Bradley put out his hand and Aaron pulled him and the chair to an upright position. “So, going to use the guilt thing, huh? Could work, but only if you hurry. You seem to be healing already.” Bradley saluted him and took off. He did warn him that they weren’t to be disturbed unless the house was on fire and only then if they were the next room about to go up in flames.

He didn’t knock, but walked in. Sara was standing at the bathroom door and Lizzy was pouting on the bed. He winked at her.

“
I’m very mad at you, Uncle Bradley. You said you’d wait for me to grow up and we’d get married someday.” She was the cutest six-year-old little girl he knew. She was also the only six-year-old little girl he knew.

“
Sorry, love, but things happen. Besides, I’d be an old man by the time you wanted to get married, and you wouldn’t want me then.” His heart melted when she puckered out her lower lip at him.

“
What on earth makes you think you have a snowball’s chance in hell of living long enough to get old?” Alastriona, his mate.

He grinned again and motioned for Sara, who was barely upright she was laughing so hard, and Lizzy to leave them alone. He thumbed the lock on the bedroom door. “Come out of there, Alastriona, we are going to talk.” He tried to sound stern and hard, but he was pretty sure she’d hear the humor creeping in.

The door slammed open. Yeah, she’d heard it. He smiled at the sight she made. Her hair had come down at some point on the ride over and it flowed down her back and over her left shoulder. Her eyes, normally a deep shade of chocolate brown, were glowing golden in her anger. Her breasts, unfettered by a bra, were heaving and tight against her shirt.
Mine.
He had thought that before, but now, right now, she was his. He moved to her, unbuttoning his shirt as he walked.

“
What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She backed up two steps and looked around.

Mine,
he thought again and again. “If you go into that bathroom again and shut the door, I’m going to break it down. And that will only piss me off. Take off your clothes, Alastriona, or I’ll do it for you.” He tossed his shirt toward the chair by the fireplace.

“
I’m not taking anything off and you aren’t either. Stop that, Bradley, this has gone far enough.”

He slid his belt from his trousers and threw it in the same general direction. “No it hasn’t. We’ve almost gotten there a few times, but no, we haven’t gone near far enough, but we will. Take. Off. Your. Clothes, Alastriona.” He could almost touch her now and he could smell her. She was aroused. Very aroused, if her scent was any indication.

“
You…you hurt me. And lied to me. Why? Why, Bradley? I…don’t touch me, I’m trying to…Bradley, you…you have to stop that.” Her moan nearly had his knees buckling when he touched her cheek.

“
I want you, love. Come to me. Come and let me make love with you, Alastriona.” He gently ran his knuckles over her nipples that were poking tight against the shirt. She bowed into his touch.

Bradley pulled her to him a slow step at a time. She resisted it, but not very hard. When he had her just inches away, he began undoing the buttons for her. She watched him work the tiny little buttons through the equally tiny holes. Or had his fingers just grown too large for such a simple task?

When he got them all undone, he lifted her chin up so that he could look her in the eye. Not touching any other part of her body, he pushed the shirt off her shoulders and let if fall to the floor. Neither of them seemed to notice.

Her eyes were golden and sharp. His need for her, all of her, was reflected back to him from them.

He unsnapped his own pants, pulled the tab down to the bottom, and then let them fall to the floor with her shirt. He put his thumbs into his boxer briefs and pushed them down over his hips, and then he leaned down and pulled them off. Dropping to his knees before her, he placed his hands on her hips, over the pair of his boxers she had put on this morning.

“
I want to make love to you, baby.” He didn’t move, didn’t breathe for fear she’d turn him down.

“
Yes, please, Bradley. Please.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Slowly, he pulled the pants down her hips. He kissed her skin as he revealed it. She tasted delicious, he thought.

He lifted her leg and pulled the pants off, then did the same to the other leg. Sitting back on his feet, he looked at the wonder before him.
Mine.

“
You are beautiful, the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. And you’re mine. All mine. I thought that I was in love before, but I wasn’t. This, this that I feel for you right now is love. I love you, Alastriona. I love you with all that I am.” He stood up, leaned over, picked her up, cradled her in his arms, and carried her to the big bed. Gently, he laid her down and stood over her, between her legs, and just looked at her.

“
Bradley, I…I’ve never been in love before, had never thought to after the accident, but I do love you. You irritate me to distraction most times, but I love you.” She reached up for him and he knelt before her.

Lifting her legs, he placed them on his shoulders. It was then that he noticed the tattoo encircling her left thigh. It was his pack’s tribal, a duplicate of the one worn around his own bicep, the one his grandda had put there when he had reached manhood. He touched it reverently and looked up at her. She was watching him.

“
Where did you get this, love?” He ran his finger around it again, feeling her shudder in response. He was not at all surprised to feel her response move along his tattoo as well.

“
I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before…please, touch it again.” She was breathless and when he touched it, she moaned. “Bradley, please…I need, I need you to bond with me. Now, right now.” Her urgency pushed him forward. He licked her nether lips and tasted her cream. Her whimpering became begging.

Standing up, he moved up on the bed, taking her with him so that she was beneath him. With is cock positioned at her core, he lifted her chin to look at him.

“
I don’t want to hurt you, baby, but I can’t wait. I need…holy Christ!” She took him into her, not far enough to break through her virginity, but enough to set him on fire. He surged forward hard and fast. And made her his.
Mine, she’s finally mine,
he thought.

Tight, she was so fucking tight around him. He didn’t move for a full minute even though it felt like an eternity. He wanted to pound into her again and again, but he waited. He looked down at her and grinned at her expression.

“
What’s the matter, are we done already? That didn’t seem all the much fun after all that build up at my house and this morning. I’m sorely disappointed, because I gotta tell you, Bradley, you aren’t very good at this. At least not as good as I thought you’d be anyway.”

He burst out laughing. She had to hurt, he knew he was larger than most men, and she was making jokes. At least he hoped it was a joke. He slid his hand down along her hip, pulled her leg up over his, and rocked gently into her.