Alpha Me Not (21 page)

Color rioted over every inch of her flesh.

“Back on the pillow. Close your eyes.”

Emotions chased her features. A shy embarrassment had her worrying her lower lip. Her gaze skipped away from his, and all the while her juices flowed. He salivated.

“Counting to three and if you’re not exactly how I want you, then it’s blindfolds and handcuffs.”

Those expressive eyes of hers went impossibly wide.

“One, two—” He smiled when her head hit the pillow with a thump.

“Raise your arms above your head and hold on to the slats.”

No hesitation this time.

He nuzzled her pussy through the silk and licked the soft curls. “How does that feel?”

She stiffened.

He squeezed one leg. “Here’re the rules. I expect a running commentary. An explicit, running commentary. No euphemisms. No politeness. I want it raw and from the gut. Or in this case, from the pussy.”

She made a choking sound.

He licked her again, a long up and down and a slow side to side.

“Not going to warn you again, gypsy. And the penalty will be a good spanking.” Damn but she liked that; the folds of her sex had slickened with each word. “Up, babe. Let’s get you nekkid.”

She lifted her hips, and he eased the thong off.

He set his mouth to her clit and suckled hard.

She arched and blurted, “It feels great.”

Closing his teeth around her bud, he gave her a sharp nip.

“Oh my God.”

The high-pitched yelp pleased him inordinately. He dragged his tongue along an outer fold, and she drummed her legs. “And this?”

“Go back.”

“Where?” He did a flutter twirl along the thinner, shorter lips closer to her core and tickled the rim. “Explicit.”

“My clit.”

“Purr-fect. What do you want me to do to your clit?”

“Lick it. Bite it.”

The commands ran into each other.

He complied. Cleaned the shiny, reddened nub and nibbled lightly.

Changing his hold because her hips were thrashing about, he settled his hands heavily on her belly.

“More.”

“Not good enough.” He blew on her clit.

“Fine. Put your mouth on my clit.”

He obeyed at once.

“Lick it again. Yes. Again. Faster. Oh God, Joe. Your tongue’s so rough and so heavenly. Harder. Drag it. Like that. Now bite me.”

Keeping up a steady rhythm, he continued the tongue action but didn’t use his teeth.

“Bite. My. Clit.”

The second he did, she climaxed.

He slid one finger and then another inside and fucked her and suckled her and nipped.

“Joe,” she shrieked and came again, slicking his fingers and coating his palm. Her walls contracted fast and furious, short, sharp bursts. He drank her juices, wallowed in her honey, and slurped her clean.

He could wait no longer. Gave her one last, heavy lick and slid up her body, looping her legs over his shoulders. He thrust to her womb.

She spasmed around him.

Wanting to relish the exquisite ecstasy of that first moment of entrance, he clenched his jaw and froze. Perspiration rolled off his brow.

Her vaginal muscles clamped his dick.

“Move.” She reached up to score his shoulder.

His toes flexed into the mattress. He pounded into her fisting pussy. His stones reared up to ram his scrotum. The climax roared through him. Scorching heat blazed his entire groin, and he jetted into her.

Rapid-fire bursts emptied blood from brain to cock. An excruciating shudder racked him from scalp to heels.

It could’ve been moments or hours before his gray matter began recognizing the most basic of realities. His erratic, gulped inhales roared in the quiet of the room. Gradually oxygen made it to his burning lungs, and his glazed eyes ceased blurring.

Joe blinked.

Panic hit him.

He had never lost it like this.

Praying he hadn’t hurt her, Joe glanced down and let out a long breath. Her eyes were closed, but she wore the sultriest grin he’d ever seen. “Susie. Look at me, babe.”

She shook her head but peeked with one eye. “No energy.”

Wearing a smile so wide his skin ached, he rolled over and took her with him. “Straddle me. Don’t want out yet.”

Movements clumsy and fitful, she heaved a sigh and complied.

He kissed her forehead, cupped an ass cheek in each hand, and kneaded gently.

“Joe?”

“Hmmm.” He liked the feel of her firm bottom.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Be specific, gypsy. Lose it? Pound you like a caveman?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” She rose up on her forearms and glared at him.

He raised a brow and waited.

“Make me be explicit.”

“Didn’t you like it?”

“You know I did.” She punched his shoulder.

“Because you secretly wanted to but needed to be pushed into it. Part of my alpha duties. To anticipate your wants and uncover your secret fantasies.” He caressed her cheek, traced a finger around a delicate ear whorl, and tickled the lobe. “One day I’m going to make you climax when I nibble here.”

“What if you guess wrong about a fantasy?”

He smoothed away her frown and met her worried gaze. “Then we won’t do it. For the record though, I won’t ever be wrong.”

She crossed her eyes. “And to think I thought ballroom dancing would somehow make you less of an arrogant alpha.”

The faint rumbling of Tate’s pickup obscured the playful chirping of the birds in the backyard. He glanced at the clock and tweaked her nose. “Tate and Gray are almost here. Barb asked me to do a reading, and I want to go through it a couple of times before we leave. We have to be at Barb and Kieran’s in three hours.”

Her lids fell. “How could I’ve forgotten? It doesn’t seem right. Us doing what we did, not when the funeral’s today.”

Catching her chin, he forced her to meet his stare, and stifled a curse when a tear leaked from one eye. “Life goes on, Susie. Making love to you reaffirmed that for me. Trust me, Barb and Kieran would understand we needed the comfort of each other.”

Another tear fell. “I’m not sure how much of a help I’ll be today. The only two other funerals I attended, I bawled the whole time.”

He squeezed her tight. “Bawl as much as you want. Just promise to stick close to me.”

She blinked furiously and swiped at the moistness on her cheeks. “Deal. Oh wait. I don’t have anything suitable to wear. The suit’s too colorful, and my shoes aren’t appropriate. You practice your reading while I shower, and then I’ll get Gray to run me to Walmart.”

“No—”

She slapped a hand over his mouth and squinted. “Hold the alpha. We’ll be late otherwise. Gray’s my brother and an alpha. You think he’d let anything happen to me?”

He studied her. Captured her wrist. “I don’t like it one iota, but there’s no other choice. I can’t let Kieran and Barb down.”

She scrambled off him. “Go.”

Joe traced her muscled flanks as she walked to the bathroom. He counted off all the reasons he shouldn’t be worried. One—her aroma had lost all trace of the flint, which preceded her visions. Two—it wasn’t even seven thirty. Walmart was a five-minute drive away, and the supercenter would be virtually empty. Three—the entire trip to Walmart and back shouldn’t take more than forty-five minutes at most. Four—he’d send both Tate and Gray with her. Five—what better protection than two alpha wolves, one of them trained as a deadly assassin?

He used a wet wipe to clean his sticky groin and listened. Heard the slight air bump before the shower pull snapped into place, and tugged on a pair of sweats when she started humming. He hurried out of the bedroom, but not before he recognized the tune. “Dance With Me.” Mellow choice. He would’ve figured Susie for a rock-and-roll woman.

Joe stepped onto the porch as Tate cleared the steps and closed the door behind him. Tate’s expression warned him. A true shifter, his startling slate eyes always took on a yellow tint when he resisted his wolf form.

“You picked up the boy’s scent.”

“Yeah. We traced the bus route. He got off a good ten stops before yours. A block away from Dreaming Ground. Ran out of time what with the funeral, but your future brother-in-law’s a damned good tracker. I left Gray chasing the kid down, but you know it’s gonna be hard in that part of town.”

Hallie, being a four-college town, harbored the devil in the form of a ten-block swath even the cops avoided. You could purchase any drug in Dreaming Ground, which was situated in the old part of Hallie. With its narrow alleys and run-down, high-rise buildings reminiscent of the project-style slums of Harlem and Chicago, tracking the kid meant scouring every floor of over twenty such structures. Add to that the density of the apartments within each building and he figured it would take a minimum of a solid twenty-four hours. Unless they got lucky.

“Nothing we can do to speed things up until after the funeral. Let’s keep this to ourselves. Kieran can’t know until we have something solid. He’d go panther otherwise.” Joe dragged a hand through his hair. “I need you to take Susie to Walmart to get clothes for the funeral. If you sense even a hint of change in her scent, call me immediately and get her back here forcibly if you must. I’ll start out the second you contact me.”

“Why can’t you go?”

“Barb asked me to do a reading today, and I haven’t had the time to go through it.” Since Tate knew Joe suffered from a reading disorder, he didn’t have to add anything else.

“You going to memorize it?” Tate folded his arms. “Kieran doesn’t know about this, does he? You know Barb wouldn’t think less of you if you explain—”

“Not going there. This is what Barb wants. This is what she gets. Just watch my mate like a hawk. I haven’t told anyone about what you and Gray found, and I want to keep it that way until after the funeral. What’s the word from the cops?”

“Taunton is the lead on the case. We lucked out.”

Finally.

Detective Taunton, Tate’s cousin, had never believed Joe guilty of kidnapping Ritchie Henderson and had, at severe risk to his career, secretly aided Kieran and Tate in their efforts to free him.

“Taunton ordered a complete silence until the forensics are in. That should buy us two days. Did you call O’Reilly?”

“Sent him a text and got a positive response. He’ll speak with Chief Vinters. Bob Weber will be out of the loop for now.”

“You know Weber and Vinters have a regular weekly poker game. Both of them will be gunning for you if the crapola hits the fan. And Weber’s up for reelection this year; he’ll jump on any sensational crime.”

The minute the attorney general heard of the gruesome find, he’d be throwing a wide suspicion net, which would include Joe. The man hated Joe with a passion. Because Joe, and not Weber’s son Grant, had been Coach Tommy’s first pick as the Ruffians’ quarterback.

“Susie’s out of the shower.” Joe pulled open the door, and the two men entered the house. “Don’t let her dawdle. And no, I haven’t told her about my reading issue.”

He dreaded that revelation.

* * * *

“With all that’s happened, I forgot to mention I resigned on Monday.” Joe shot Tate an over the shoulder glance.

Tate didn’t even blink.

The bastard somehow knew. “How’d you find out?”

“I was there when the commander got your text. Saw it and stumbled right into that blasted trap.”

“No, you don’t. I’m not taking any blame for your clumsiness. When are you due to deploy again?” Joe risked a quick peek at Susie. Crap. The grip she had on that black purse could shred the leather. He reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

She turned to him with a sad excuse for a smile, shook her head, and returned to staring out of the window.

“Handed in my papers too. Figured hunting down mass murderers wouldn’t be half the fun without your sorry ass.”

Damn good thing they had arrived. Joe braked and whipped around to find Tate wearing a sardonic grin, white canines longer and pointier than any regular human’s.

“It’s time it got back to being us three,” Tate said.

They held each other’s gaze.

Joe nodded. “We’ll talk after.”

After the funeral. After they helped Kieran with his vengeance.

Both their emotions ran high, Joe realized.

Tate never lost control of his form under regular circumstances, regular meaning combat and stalking. That his canines had lengthened meant he was struggling for control.

But Tate and Joe both owed Kieran their lives, and the three men considered themselves blooded brothers. While neither Joe nor Tate could communicate mentally with Kieran, both sensed the intense energy radiated by Kieran’s fury.

Already some of Kieran’s angry despair seeped into Joe’s pores. The kind of rage Kieran suppressed could only be resolved by him killing in panther form. Kieran would be on a hair trigger until he shifted and began hunting his son’s killer.

Susie unbuckled her seat belt. “I didn’t realize you’re a mercenary too.”

“Was. Yeah. Joe needed to get out of Hallie and so did I. It was either the military or private soldiering. Long story. Tell you the whole entire thing, including all the details Joe’d prefer I left out, if you sit on my lap during the telling.” Tate winked at Susie.

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t fool me any, Tate Gunn. And I don’t for a minute believe that’s your real name, by the way. You’re a puppy dog. You just need regular scratching and a sound flea and tick bath every so often.”

Tate’s jaw sagged.

A stealth bomber thunder shook the car.

Susie just about jumped into Joe’s lap.

He wrapped his arm around her back. “It’s okay. It’s Kieran. He’s in panther form in the woods somewhere.”

“It’s killing him, the waiting.” Tate bit out the words.

“That means Barb’s alone. Because Kieran wouldn’t risk that with her parents around. Tate, go get him. Susie and I’ll get inside pronto. Barb shouldn’t be left alone.”

Joe hustled them out of the car and to the front door.

Susie touched his shoulder. “Who knows about you and Tate and Kieran? Just so I don’t mess up.”

“Barb. Kieran’s parents. You. Gray. Small loop.” He flicked her nose. “Ready?”

She nodded.