Seducing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Five

C
hoaca
, Mexico

A
lejandro Sureda hated dance clubs
. Damn stupid suit he had to wear, on top of annoying ass music, and it was too dark to see anything, except for the pulsing lights working on his headache. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists, every time he even thought he saw her.

He was there for only one reason.

“What can I get you?” one of the skinny, white-clad bartenders asked him in Spanish, fluttering big eyelashes up and down his body. A slow smile painted its way across her face. “You’re a tall drink of water, aren’t you?”

Was it possible to roll his eyes any farther back into his head? Would the bartender notice and back off?

“Get me a…” Alex glanced around the intermittently-lit rows of alcohol bottles. He’d never been in a bar in Mexico. Did they have the same stuff as they did in Miami? “Shit. I don’t know. What’s good?”

“What’re you in the mood for?” She purred at him.

Like, an
actual
cat sound. What the fuck?

“The harder the better.”

“That’s my poison, too.” Cat sound again. Deep in her throat.

“If you have something hard enough to clean rust off a blade, it’s probably right up my alley.” He reached in his pocket for some cash and froze. A pulse that wasn’t part of the thrumming music made its way through his body. It hit highs where the music hit lows, and had a slow, languid wave.

Magick.
Unmistakable. Only, this was a kind of magick he hadn’t felt before. He knew what his parents felt like, and his siblings, his alpha. This was something different.

Alex put up a hand and stopped the bartender’s pouring. “Hold on.”

“
Querido
, for you, I’ll wait all night.” She leaned forward and flashed the tops of her breasts.

“No need to wait. I won’t be back.” He moved in the direction of the pulse, like something drew him, leaving her with her jaw down almost to her cleavage.

Hell no, he wouldn’t be back. Not
ever
if he could help it. The monkey suit and the alcohol and the loud music. It was too much.

But he’d been the one who wanted to do something. Tomás had taken Lani to the alpha council for protection, but Alex hadn’t wanted to wait for another summit. He
needed
to do something.

As he walked through the crowd, he flexed his hands. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d told Maggie he wanted to help.

He should have seen Adrian shift.

Should have shifted.

Should have stopped him
.

One of his knuckles cracked under the pressure of his own grip and he stopped his progress, waiting for a group of screaming blonde girls in cowboy hats and bikini tops to pass him, shot glasses raised, whooping like football fans.

There
.

When the group cleared away, the magick wave felt more substantial, like it finally had a source.

Julianna.

Only, it wasn’t the Julianna he’d seen in pictures. He’d expected staid and stoic, with a tight bun and a long-sleeved business suit. This woman was…a sex bomb.

His first instinct was to reach for his phone and text Maggie, but the downside of wolf magick was that it went two ways. Julianna absolutely felt his presence, and the way her pupils dilated told him she hadn’t been expecting to feel it, either.

Alex reached with his wolf to calm hers—a way his father had taught him of submitting to other wolves on their own territory… Only he didn’t receive any touch in response. In fact, she straightened and her eyebrows knit together.
Was she resisting the magick?

Just in case, he reached out again.
I’m feeling magick. She has to be, too
.

A thick lump caught in his throat. No. If she’d been a wolf, he would’ve sensed it.

Her eyes locked onto his and her mouth dropped open and he could tell she was panting, though she may not have realized it. Beneath the silky, purple material of her dress, two points of her nipples stood out.

She was aroused.

Hell,
he
was aroused.

Alex stalked around the perimeter of the low, round table and grabbed the back of the empty chair.

She leaned forward just enough that the low dip of her dress revealed ample and lickable cleavage. All of it, nearly to her rib cage. “I’m sorry,” she said in a low voice. “That seat is taken.”

“I know.” He pulled the chair out. “I’m taking it.”

“No, I mean, I’m meeting someone.” Julianna’s eyes traveled down his thick tie and stopped at his crotch. She bit the side of her tongue inside her mouth, in the sweetest, most unconscious way she possibly could have.

“You’re meeting me.” He dipped his chin and waited for her gaze to return to his. Blood rushed through his chest at a thundering speed when she kept chewing and staring. “I’m Alex.”

When she finally brought her eyes up, a deep flush swathed her cheeks and went down her neck.

She was all conundrum, this woman. For hours, he’d studied everything about her, and he thought he knew her—thought Maggie knew her.

They’d even found her secret digital hookup profile, but even that’d been the stoic businesswoman on the outside. All aggression, all alpha.

But this.

This woman wasn’t wearing a bra, and her luscious breasts strained against the thin fabric of her dress. She blushed and shuttered her eyes like a neophyte, even though her profile had been aggressive. Curves that wouldn’t stop and cleavage that made him forget about everyone in the club, all the music and the noise, all the gyrating idiots…but Alex couldn’t let her distract him from his mission.

“I’m Julianna.” She offered her hand and he took it.

When their skin touched, he felt the pulse of that magick again. He’d never felt anything like it—drawing him forward, over the table if he could have, and right into her arms.

“I know.” He pulled on her hand until she leaned forward more, and Alex pressed his lips to the top, dipping his eyes obviously to her cleavage.

“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice. You look…different than your picture.” She rubbed her skin where he’d kissed her, almost absently. Julianna had to be feeling the magick, but for her to not be a wolf…he wasn’t sure what to do with that.

He should text Maggie. Make sure they had the right woman.

How could Adrian Rossi’s daughter
not
be a wolf?

Unless…

Alex reached for his phone. “Let me just tell my friend that I’m here and you’re not a serial killer.” Through his eyelashes, he fixed her with a hot gaze. “You’re not, are you?”

“Please.” She reached for her purse and pulled out a thick black notebook with a folder shoved inside it. “This is everything I’ve managed to gather on you, Alejandro Sureda. If I am a serial killer, I’m the stupidest one in history.”

Her long, graceful fingers ended in purple polished nails that glistened in the pulsing light as she flipped the folder open. “Mixed martial arts? Runs an MMA program for inner city kids in Miami? Holds a regional champion belt in his weight class for cage fighting?” She turned a few pieces of paper and his gut tightened as he recognized newspaper articles and personal pictures.

“How did you find this?” Alex picked up the picture from the
Miami Star
showing him with his belt over his head, back when he’d had a beard and longer hair. Before he’d been sent to Mexico. Even
he
didn’t have this picture.

Her features lit with a slow smile. “I do my homework.” Julianna leaned across the table, and her breasts rested on the black and white image of his victory face. “I run a multi-national corporation, Mr. Sureda. I can’t take any chances.” Julianna closed the folder and returned it to her purse, leaving the notebook sitting between them. “Now. Do you still want to text your friend?”

He shook his head. What had Maggie put in his profile? It probably hadn’t been the truth. The fact that Julianna knew him, knew his background…his stomach churned.

She knows who I am. Stay close.

He cleared his throat and glanced at her purse. “You don’t want to text a friend to tell them I’m not a serial killer?”

Julianna pointed to her left. Two tables away sat three large, black-suited men, all with eyes scanning the entire club. They studiously avoided looking at her, or at Alex.

Bodyguards
.

“Smart woman.”

With a wry smile, she reached into the notebook and pulled out a neatly typed piece of paper. She slid it across the table and placed it in front of him.

His phone buzzed in his lap and Alex swiped at it. A text from Maggie popped onto the screen.
Should I send in Donovan?

“These are the guidelines for the weekend,” Julianna said, ignoring the fact that he’d just checked his text. “I would’ve preferred to email these to you ahead of time and discuss them over the phone, but as I said, I just learned I had an unexpected free weekend, so I’ve brought them with me.” She folded her hands and rested her chin on them. “I’ll let you read through them and you can tell me if you have any questions.”

This was the Julianna he had expected. Even with the sex kitten dress and the blushing, she’d managed to find her inner CEO.

Rules for the weekend
. The sheet had two columns.
What is permitted
and
What is not permitted
. Alex skimmed both sides and raised his eyebrows.

“It says I am not allowed to leave the penthouse. What penthouse?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I have a penthouse at the
Puerto Villa
.” She slid a gold keycard from the black notebook and placed it on the table near his empty hand. “This is a key to the private entrance. Show this card to the valet in the parking garage and he’ll help you find it. If you’re interested, meet me there in two hours. If not, it’s been nice meeting you, and no hard feelings.”

He turned the keycard over and saw the logo for Adrian Rossi’s hotel in silver swirls against the gold. She had to be the right woman. Not to mention the fact that the magick was pulling at him.

As she gathered her things and rose from the table, Alex grabbed her hand. “Wait.”

Her intake of breath was so loud, it drew the attention of her bodyguards, but she calmed them with a reassuring swipe of her arm.

She met Alex’s eyes. “What?”

“What about the list I have for you?”

The magick slid around them while their skin remained in contact, and Alex could feel his dick hardening.
Damn. I need to fuck this woman—
that was his list.

Julianna pulled her hand out of his and a wrinkle of fear crossed her features, but was quickly gone. She smiled and clutched her purse close to her side. “Bring your list with you.”

She was gone before he could respond, but Alex could watch her walk away. The sway of those hips, the casual stop and the glance over her shoulder. The smile.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the magick that seemed to stay wrapped around him, pulling him toward her.

The bodyguards stood one at a time, taking different routes through the club so that one of them eventually ended up exiting before her, no doubt, checking out all the crazies on the outside.

Alex swiped at the screen on his phone and typed a text to Maggie.
She’s taking me to the PV. Penthouse. Could still work out
.

In only a few seconds, she texted back.
Text when you have it. We’ll wait
.

With his phone in his pocket and the keycard in one hand, Alex followed Julianna’s path out of the club, happy to be leaving the loud, craziness behind.

He hadn’t considered she might actually invite him to her penthouse for the entire weekend, but if it was the only way to get at whatever information she kept in that black notebook of hers, then it was worth it.

Alex would just have to take one for the team.