Alpha Doms Box Set: 9 Delicious Stories + 10 Sexy Heroes = 19 Reasons to Indulge (14 page)

“
Always,” she
said.

“
Are you attracted to
me?”

Her eyes widened marginally. She pushed on
my chest, willing me to give her more space. I didn’t budge an
inch. I saw a bit of the confident, sexy woman I was used to reach
the surface. “Listen, Bren. You’re a good looking guy, but I know
we’re best as friends.”

“
Why?” I
pressed.

When she finally met my
gaze, I saw a fire was burning in the depths of her eyes. I was
waiting to scent her arousal at any second, but it never came. I
pursed my lips. Perhaps I had read her wrong. Maybe she did think
we were better off as friends.
Fuck.
If that was the case, then me and my wolf were
screwed. There was no way I could be with another woman for any
extended amount of time. I was destined to be with Drea or no one,
with only the occasional one-night-stand to get me by.

She shifted beneath me. “Why are you
bringing this up now?”

I inhaled deep, savoring the aroma of her
inside me. My wolf clawed at my chest, challenging my control every
second, fighting to take control of the situation.

My pulse kicked up as a
tiny whimper escaped her.
Shit.
Her tiny mewl punched my core, increasing my drive
to claim her. Damn it. I was over the games. I was over watching
her with other men. I was over not having her in every
way.

“
Because I’ve wanted you
since the day I met you. I’ve always wanted you, Drea. I dream of
touching every curve, tasting every fold and watching you
come.”

She stopped breathing, a startled expression
on her face. Several seconds went by before I finally scented what
I’d longed to smell all these years: her arousal. I breathed her
in. No longer was her desire a puff in the wind; it was a
full-blown scent that claimed the air.

Knowing she wanted me just as badly as I
wanted her sent me to the brink of my control. I barely contained
my wild wolf, barely contained my desire to pummel her pussy and
bite her shoulder.

My gaze traveled over her, noting every tiny
detail. Her rotund thighs were squeezed together tight, creating a
line that led straight to her jewel. Her chest rose and fell
erratically now, drawing my attention to her hard nipples, visible
through her bra and shirt.

She swallowed hard as I devoured her with my
eyes. My muscles clenched as I fought to keep from shredding her
clothes and taking her right there and then.

—

Chapter Six

DREA

I couldn’t have heard him right. There was
no way Bren found me attractive. But damn my body for reacting to
his words like a love drunk teen. Warmth had settled low in my
womb; my nipples were tight peaks begging to be laved. My entire
body thrummed with awareness. I was hyperaware of his eyes sliding
over me, aware of his cock, hard and straining against my thigh. As
much as I wanted to deny it, the evidence was there. Bren was
telling me the truth.

“
I, uh, don’t know what to
say.” It wasn’t like I could flip a switch, move Bren from the best
friend position to the boyfriend position overnight without
hesitancy. We had twenty years between us. He was the best of me in
a person; he brought out the best in me, and I didn’t know if I
could risk losing that for a chance at more.

If I was honest with
myself, I’d always longed for more. I’d always felt this
unexplainable pull towards him. Bren was my safe haven. He was my
refuge, my strength and my savior. He kept me sane. He kept me
smiling when I otherwise would have holed myself up in my room with
a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. He… I…
Shit.
There was much more between us
than met the eye, and I guess there always had been.

He growled an otherworldly growl that sent
shivers down my spine. His eyes seemed to glow as he met my gaze
again. “I know you want me. I can smell your yearning for me.”

Abruptly he pushed away from the sofa and
stood. He began to pace the living room, running his fingers
through his hair. I didn’t get it. One minute he was damn near
seducing me, the next he was trying to get away.

“
Bren?”

When he faced me, there was a look of pure
torture on his face. Anger and sadness swirled in his tight
features, slicing me deep. My heart reached out to him. How long
had he suffered in silence? I’d opened up to him about each date,
each boyfriend, and each break up; I’d unintentionally rubbed it
all in.

I closed the distanced between us and hugged
him, exactly as he’d hugged me all those times over the years when
I needed comfort. He clung tightly to me, his hard wall of muscles
crushing my rolls of cushion.

Slowly he pulled back, cupping my face.
Without warning, he captured my lips. My body lit up like the
Fourth of July, electricity zapping every nerve ending with an
intense heat. Liquid longing flooded my pussy as his lips molded to
mine, drawing all of my suppressed emotions to the surface, drawing
all my secret cravings for him to the forefront.

His lips were soft, but the urgency behind
them was rough. He plunged his tongue between my lips, tasting me
in a carnal way. He swirled the tip of his tongue along the roof of
my mouth, sending a shockwave of pleasure through my body even as
my need drove higher.

Every breath I took was filled with his
essence. I tasted him, breathed him and felt him, and like a dam
bursting, I threw myself into his caress. I slid my hands up his
shirt, scraping my nails along his back. He shivered, a tight growl
escaping him.

Suddenly, he jerked back. “Fuck. I could get
lost in you forever.” His chest rose and fell rapidly, his nostrils
flaring with every inhalation of air. A smile curled his lips. “You
are going to get it.”

“
Me? What did I do?” I
feigned contempt, officially over my initial shock at his abrupt
disengagement.

“
You know exactly what you
did. You kept me waiting for over twenty years.”

I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my
eyes at him. “It works both ways, babe.”

He chuckled. “Alright. You’ve got me there.”
He took another step back. “Before we go any further, I need to
tell you something.” His entire demeanor changed. Gone was the
playfulness of moments ago; it was replaced with fear.

My attraction for him wavered in the
shadows; my desire to be wrapped in him slipped as discomfort
plagued me. He gazed at me with concern, with worry. I couldn’t
tell if it was for me or for him though.

“
What’s wrong, Bren?” My
chest tightened, my gut twisted as all the hunger of moments ago
officially disappeared into the background.

Unease ate away at me, sending my
imagination on a wild goose chase. What could possibly be wrong? We
were best friends. We didn’t keep secrets… or did we?

He closed the distance between us, reached
out and caressed my cheek. “I’m fine. There’s just something that
I’ve never told you. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but never
found the right time.”

I furrowed my brows, wracking my mind,
trying to figure it out before he said it. “Don’t tell me you’re
gay.”

He chuckled, removing his hand from my face.
My skin tingled where his palm had been. “Definitely not.”

“
Okay?” Niggling unease was
pushing on my core, making patience nearly impossible. “Please just
tell me, Bren.”

—

Chapter Seven

BRENDON

It wasn’t easy to tell your best friend,
your mate, that she never truly knew you, the real you, all those
years. She only knew a part of you, what you wanted her to know;
what I wanted her to know.

I could tell her patience was growing
thinner by the second; fear washing away her tolerance.

“
You know those paranormal
romance books you love so much?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me, suspicion in
their depths. “Yeah?”

“
In particular, the shape
shifter romance books?”

“
What about them?” Her eyes
slit as she continued to watch me, to study me closely.

“
Have you ever wondered if
they were true?”

Her brows drew together, confusion sweeping
through her expression. “No. I always assumed they held a small
fraction of truth, but the image they portrayed was more fluff than
anything.”

My confident, bold woman was back. “What if
they were true in every way?”

She pursed her lips, still slightly swollen
from my touch. “Bren, please just get to the point.”

I stepped back, tugging on my hair at the
roots. I met her gaze head on, building the last bit of courage I
needed to blurt out the truth. “I’m one of them, Drea.”

Her features fell. “Come again?”

“
I’m a werewolf,
Drea.”

Her face blanked. She didn’t say anything,
nor did she reveal anything. Everything was hidden behind her mask,
the mask she wore in public with everyone else; the mask she never
wore around me.

My wolf howled, my heart cracking around the
edges. She was shutting me out.

“
Are you the odd man out or
is your brother, dad and everyone else in on this?” Her voice was
devoid of emotion.

“
Drea, don’t do this.” My
tone was harder than I meant it to be. My wolf roared; though hurt,
he refused to let her go. I couldn’t blame him. In truth, I didn’t
think I could let her go either.

“
Just tell me, Brendon.”
She used my whole name. She never called me Brendon unless she was
mad.

She finally let loose, unveiling the fire in
her eyes, revealing the anger she felt. “Tell me, Brendon. At what
point were you going to tell me this? I thought as your best friend
that I would have qualified as a confidante. I didn’t keep secrets
from you. I’ve shared every embarrassing, gut-wrenching part of my
life, while you kept me in the dark on… on something as simple as
who you are. Tell me, did you ever even consider me your best
friend or was I just convenient?”

I snarled, my wolf erupting from my chest. I
blinked and my vision was black and white. I fought down my wolf,
regaining a smidgen of control.

“
Convenient? You’re my mate
for Christ’s sake and I never got to kiss you until tonight. How
the fuck does that make you convenient?”

She winced as if I’d slapped her. It took
her a second to regain her focus. Her face pinched, her features
swarming with rage again; her hands flew to her hips. “Don’t turn
this around on me.”

“
Then don’t turn on me!” I
huffed. I wanted her so bad, yet everything was spiraling out of
control. It felt like I was losing more and more of her as each
second ticked by.

My wolf’s snarling desperation was seeping
into my sanity. I felt choked, fear stunting my breathing as I
watched her, frozen with a stark expression in front of me.

She stood motionless for a
while before her face crumbled, before all of the fight left her.
Her arms fell to her sides as tears welled in her eyes.
Damn it.

“
I think you need to leave,
Bren.” She picked up the cups of coffee off the table and headed
for the kitchen.

My wolf sneered, shredding my inner flesh;
its harassment amplified my struggle. Every breath took effort. It
took all of my strength not to let him loose, where I knew he’d
damn near rape her at this point. I didn’t want that. She didn’t
deserve that. I hadn’t pursued her all this time because I wanted
to give her a choice. I wanted to be her choice, not her
obligation.

She walked through the living room to the
front door. She opened the door and stood there, averting her gaze
to the floor. “Please go, Bren.” Her voice was so soft; there was
so much pain present in her voice.

I felt like an ass for snapping at her. It
wasn’t her fault I couldn’t keep my wolf in line. It wasn’t her
fault I’d been a pussy for twenty years, letting her pansy around.
But, at the same time, I’d recognized my mistake. I recognized that
I should have acted on this a long before today. I’d suffered for
too long. I’d battled every fiber of my being to stay at arm’s
length from her. I couldn’t do it anymore though, and I didn’t want
to regret leaving it for tomorrow again.

Nope. I wasn’t leaving her like this. She
wasn’t allowed to slip back into a depression, and I wasn’t allowed
to sulk anymore over a conceived loss. There was no point in us
suffering alone when nature had matched us so long ago. It was
about damn time I owned my alpha character; it was time I ruled
every part of myself, every part of my life with an alpha
attitude.

I stalked to the door and closed it.
“No.”

She seemed shocked, standing with her hand
hovering where the doorknob she’d been holding was seconds before.
She shook her head, lifting her gaze. “What?”

“
I said no. I’m not
leaving.”

She sighed. “Bren-“

“
No. It’s my turn to talk.”
She shut her mouth, her tears threatening to spill over the rims of
her eyes. “You kissed me back. Take away my enhanced senses and the
fact that I scented your arousal, and you kissed me back. Whether
you want to admit it or not, you want me too. What I don’t
understand is why you won’t act on it, especially when I’m engaging
you.”

She closed her eyes, sighing softly. “I
don’t want to ruin what we have. Every relationship I’ve had has
fallen apart for some reason or another. You mean too much to me to
take that risk knowing my record. If I lost you, I’d lose so much
more than I’m willing to gamble.” She opened her eyes, the tears
finally streaming down her cheeks. She warily gazed at me. “I’d
like to add that I’m slightly pissed that you hid the real you from
me. Werewolf or not, I would have loved you anyways, Bren. I love
you anyways.”