“Yes?” he asked, his attention already on his next caress.
“What are you doing?”
“Loving you, darlin’.”
“Yes, but… What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to give you so much pleasure, you’ll be roaring, Mate.” Unbeknownst to him, his lion had come to the forefront of his soul again, making his voice husky and predatory. That hadn’t been his plan at all, but maybe the animal hadn’t been able to control himself once he’d seen her in such a submissive position. She was nearly on her hands and knees now, her ass in the air, her hair trailing down her back. God, she was beautiful. And his. All his…
He bent down and nipped the curve of her ass, leaving his mark on her, relishing the fact he could actually do that to her. He wanted her covered in love bites. He wanted to admire her smooth creamy skin decorated with the shape of his teeth, from her neck to her dimpled thighs, her breasts to her round ass. Her body would announce to the whole wide world that she was his. His mate.
He shook his head and forced himself to focus. The mating frenzy was still hot inside him, even though they’d been making love for hours on end. He knew it wouldn’t lessen that easily though, not with him being an Alpha and Alexa a dominant female. He smiled and purred once again.
“Jay?” She looked at him over her shoulder, the sight hardening him even more.
“Are you ready for me?” he asked, his voice now more a growl than anything else. He smoothed her sex with his fingers, spreading her juices all over her. “So fucking wet, baby.”
She wriggled her hips, the universal signal for “More!”
He smirked and let his thumb travel upward, teasing her rose with a light touch before he pressed against the tight rim of muscles. It popped right in. She gasped. He groaned. “Fuck yeah.”
“Jay! What the—”
He thrust into her, cutting her off, forcing her to concentrate on him instead. Her walls widened to let him through, the position making her that much tighter. That much better. Especially when he twisted his thumb and she gasped, her hips rocking up, her pussy clenching around him.
He grinned and went to work. He had a mate to make scream after all.
* * * *
He’d fucked her senseless. Alexa lay on her back, her breath still bursting out of her parted lips in short gasps. Her body was still wracked with aftershocks every few seconds. She should have been tired. She really should have been telling him off for that stunt he’d pulled, that caress unlike anything she’d ever felt before. And yet, all she could do was lie there with her lioness purring inside her.
Her mate was something else, all right. She grinned at nothing in particular, her eyes closed, but her mind buoyant.
“I’ll give Nate a call. If he can give you a check up today, we should be able to go home afterward.”
And just like that, her mood took a downward turn. She moved onto her elbow and looked at him, sprawled beside her in all his naked glory. “Home?”
“Our Pride?”
“I don’t live there.”
“You do now.” His eyes flashed, but she didn’t heed the warning.
“I don’t think so. I might be your mate, but I have a life, Jay. My life is here. I have a job, this apartment. Friends!”
He sat up, all the better to stare her down. “You’re my mate, yes. That means you’ll live with me, in our Pride. You’re not a mixie any longer, Alexa. You’re the future Alpha’s wife!”
“I don’t care!” She slid out of bed and grabbed a clean T-shirt from her chest of drawers. She slid it on and smoothed it down her thighs. It didn’t hide much, but it was a start. “You can’t force me to move back there. Sure, I want to be there when Alistair finds my stepdad, but after that, I’ll leave again.”
“No.”
“Don’t you use that tone of voice on me!” she snapped back, aware his lion was close to the surface. His eyes had changed colors again, a warning sign all on its own. But she didn’t care. He couldn’t order her around. He couldn’t!
“I will use whatever I want on you. I’m your mate. I’m also your Alpha. Look at me, Alexa.”
She refused to obey, fighting her instincts, fighting her lion self as best she could. She’d spent years battling her own body, living amongst mortals as soon as she’d understood how her family, her Pride, didn’t want her there with them. She’d left and built a life of her own. Sure, she might not have been truly happy, but at least it had been hers.
“Alexa!” This time, she couldn’t ignore the injunction. She met his gaze, albeit reluctantly. “You will stand beside me at all times,” he said, his voice echoing around the room. If she’d have been in lion form, her ears would have been flat against her head. But right now, she couldn’t do anything but listen to him…and obey. “You will live within the Pride, with me, at all times. You are my mate, Alexa, and I am your Alpha. Do you understand?”
Oh, she understood all right. She nodded because she didn’t have a choice, but left the room almost straight away. She made a big deal of taking a shower and cleaning herself before his brother arrived. All the while, however, her mind buzzed. If he thought she’d happily lay low and let him order her around, he had another thing coming.
She hadn’t survived the past years by being weak. No, Jay was in for a surprise.
Damn him.
Damn them all!
Chapter Nine
“Dominant, eh.”
Jay flipped his brother off, his gaze never leaving the woman sitting across the aisle. She’d been ignoring him ever since he’d turned Alpha on her. He should have known she wouldn’t take it well, but his lion had reacted to her independent words, and he’d let him. He really should have expected she wouldn’t play along. She was, as Nathan had said, far too dominant to just do whatever the hell he wanted. And he loved that in her. He did. He just couldn’t imagine his life in the Pride without her.
Sure, he’d only known her for a few days, but he didn’t care. She was his mate now, body and soul, for better or worse, and all that jazz. They were as good as married, and she was talking of living away from him. From his Pride! What the fuck, right?
His hands grasped the armrests of his seat and clenched, his nails springing forward to dig into the brown leather. She didn’t move a single inch at his obvious display of testosterone. She kept on reading whatever book she’d grabbed from her purse. His brother laughed at his side, and he fought the urge to hit him. Instead, he took a deep breath and forced his lion deep inside him. His nails retracted, letting his hands relax on the armrests once more.
It was a good thing this was their Pride’s plane; otherwise there’d be hell to pay. But it wasn’t the first time a lion had lost control in the air and probably wouldn’t be the last. He waved the stewardess away, aware of her curious gaze and yet not giving a damn what she thought. He wouldn’t think of her or the last time he’d been in this plane with her. Alone. If Alexa learnt of it, she’d be on the other woman in a nanosecond. He forced the thoughts away and instead focused on the problem at hand.
His mate was so strong, she could avoid his orders to some extent. He knew she thought she’d gain something by acting like this, by ignoring him as if he wasn’t the most important person in her world right now. He just had to find a way to make her understand she was wrong. No, not that she was wrong, but that this was meant to be. Yes, that was it.
He closed his eyes and figured out his next plan of action.
* * * *
Alexa stood in front of her Pride’s Leader for the first time in her life. Alistair was an older version of his eldest son in almost every aspect, his brown hair graying but still curly, his sharp grey eyes missing nothing as he stared at her. Unable to stop herself, she gazed at him for a second too long before looking down at her feet.
He laughed. She looked back up, startled.
“Alexa. Welcome, child. I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better.” And with that, he pulled her into a hug. She stiffened, unsure of what to do. This was the man she’d been warned for years would kill her. And here he was, smiling down at her, welcoming her as if she was someone important. She stood there, unmoving, until Jay’s arm wrapped around her waist. He tucked her against his body, his warmth seeping into hers, awakening her from this strange mood.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Son. I guess you forgot to mention you got mated.”
Jay didn’t even react to his father’s words. She’d have been terrified, but he appeared completely at ease as he smiled at Alistair. “You knew already.”
“I had an inkling.” The older man’s eyes twinkled in the late sunlight.
“Of course, you did. What’s the news?”
And just like that, Alistair turned into the Alpha she’d imagined him to be. His face hardened. His gaze darkened to a burnished copper, his lion so impressive, she had to stifle a gasp.
“He’s nowhere to be found. I ordered the family to be locked into their house. I thought we could go interrogate them as soon as you got here.”
“My… My mother?”
He turned toward her, her gaze instantly finding her feet once more. “Your mother is with them, yes. If she knows anything about that implant, we need to know.”
She nodded. “I want to come with you.” Jay’s fingers dug into her hip, but she ignored him. Alexa looked up long enough to see the Alpha’s eyebrows cocked in wonder. “Please,” she added.
Silence, then, “I suddenly understand better why you chose her, son.”
Was she supposed to say thanks? “They did this to me. I want to be there.”
Her mate growled. “We understood you the first time, Alexa. I’ll make sure she obeys, Dad.”
“See that you do.” Alistair whirled around and stalked to a parked Jeep. They all followed.
Jay’s grip was still tight, but even though she wanted nothing more than to tell him off for his words, she knew she couldn’t. If she wanted to go with them while they interrogated her family, she had to play nice.
She could do that. Right?
* * * *
Her resolve lasted until she saw her mother.
Jay’s hands on her shoulders were the only thing that stopped her from going to her. She wanted to ask her if she knew what they’d done to her, her only daughter. If she knew the man she’d married had done this to her. He’d violated her, and for what? Tears appeared in her eyes, but she blinked them back, not wanting to appear weak in front of them all.
“Behave yourself,” her mate whispered in her ear. “Or I’ll have to lock you in one of the cars.”
She growled back. He caught her gaze in his and waited for her to… What? Calm down? Apologize? She didn’t know. But he finally let her go, stepping in front of her so he was standing right behind his father.
Alistair had stepped to the middle of the room, the lounge she’d only been in days before. It’d been her mother’s fiftieth birthday, and her stepdad had agreed, after numerous phone conversations, that she could visit. Only for a day, but she’d still jumped on the occasion. It’d been an awkward and stilted affair, all of them showing her in little or big ways how much she was an outsider. Not anymore, she thought with a surprised jerk. She was as pure as they were. She was also mated to their Alpha’s first-born.
Shaking her hair down her back, she stepped to Jay’s side and looked at her family. Or rather, what was left of it: her mother and her two stepbrothers, Jimmy and Tommy. The three of them were seated in a line on hard-back chairs, the ones she knew had come from the kitchen.
For the first time, she met their gazes straight on, the lioness pacing inside her lending her courage. Her stepbrothers glared at her. Nothing new there. Her mother, however, appeared on the brink of tears.
“Where is he?” Alistair asked then, his voice low.
They all stared down as one. No one answered. The silence grew, an almost palpable tension spreading through the room. It shattered when their Alpha roared his displeasure. “I asked, where. Is. He?”
Her mother’s mouth opened, but before she could say anything, Tommy fell sideways, bumping his chair into hers, making them both sprawl to the floor.
Alexa reacted instantly.
Chapter Ten
“No one touches my mother!”
She grabbed her stepbrother and lifted him, her muscles aching as she held up his full weight. Her lioness was so angry, she could feel her skin start to itch. She was going to shift soon, but she didn’t care. She wanted to shake him. Hurt him. Make him pay. For this, sure, but also for all those years where she’d cried herself to sleep every damn night.
“Alexa!”
Hands pulled her back. She growled and snapped, never letting go of Tommy. He saw an opportunity and slashed at her with his shifted paw. She bit back a cry. Blood was already welling up from the cuts that were appearing on her shoulder.