The Alpha's Choice: A Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Roadside Angels Motorcycle Club Book 3) (3 page)

She caught him watching her and smiled, a shy, knowing kind of smile that stole his own smile from his lips.  He fed her a grape, reaching across the small space between them, then another, and then he got up on his knees and crawled over to her side, pulling her onto his lap when he sat down again.

“How are you feeling today?” he asked, smoothing her hair back from her face.  “Still want to be with me?”

Tammie looked up into his blue eyes and smiled.  “Right now, it’s all I want, Lex.”  She turned her mouth up to his, and he could not refuse the kiss she sought.  It was hungry but restrained.  He wanted to kiss her senseless, to share even some small part of the passion rising inside him.  He wanted her to know the depth of his feelings for her.  He turned her round till she was straddling his lap, her knees beside his thighs on the blanket.  When she rocked against his straining cock, he groaned and kissed her again, keeping his eyes open so he could watch her face as he gave her pleasure. 

“The things I want to do with you I can’t do out in the open now, Tamara.  There is too much danger still,” he said in her ear, which he proceeded to nip on his way across her face.  “But I can tell you.”  He licked her cheek and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers, all the while pushing his erection up against her moistening folds through the layers of their clothing.  He growled when she circled her hips, pressing into him as she did so, heightening the arousing contact, raising their core temperature, winding them up.

“Tell me,” she whispered into his mouth, as he hovered over her lips, their breaths mingling.

“I want to kiss you till you come, Tamara,” he said.  “Slow, long licks, then deep sucks...like this.”  He suckled her bottom lip deeply into his mouth, nipping it as he withdrew.  When she moaned, he smiled and licked it.  “Want more, baby?”  She rolled her hips over him, and he hissed and took her plump top lip in between his teeth, nipping her almost painfully, then licking the ache, and sucking her into his mouth.  His tongue coaxed more groans from her, as he drank from her.  “Open for me, baby,” he demanded, and when her mouth went slack, he plunged in, taking her tongue and treating it to the same exquisite torture her lips had just undergone.

“I want to make you beg me for more,” he continued, trailing his mouth to her other ear and licking her behind it.  She gasped, and he licked her there again before sliding his tongue over the shell of her ear, breathing into the channel, as he nipped her on his way down to her mouth again. 

“All roads lead to this,” he told her, kissing her deeply before slowly unbuttoning her shirt and reaching in to cup her aching breasts.  “And this,” he continued, pushing the bra cups down so that her nipples peeped over the tops.  He licked them, and when she moaned louder, he crowded them together and licked them some more, sucking on them like ripe fruit.  And all the while his hips rode up into her, and she rode down into him. 

“Lex, please,” she began, then stopped when he nipped her left nipple and sucked it to soothe the ache. 

“More, baby?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer.  Instead, he treated her right nipple to the same teasing strokes.  Then, he trailed his tongue up her cleavage and back to her mouth.  There, he took her tongue and stroked and sucked it till she could feel herself weeping in her panties.

“Lex, please!”  She writhed against his jeans-clad cock mindlessly, needing just that one extra nudge to push her over the edge.

“Tell me what you want,” he said.  “Give me the words.”

They were both breathing hard by now, and Lex could feel her trembling in his lap, her juices dampening the fabric over his cock.  He held her hips and rolled her over him relentlessly, waiting for her to give him the words.

“I want you in me,” she whispered, color suffusing her cheeks.

“I want to be in you, too,
ma petite
!” 

He let himself relax enough to let her feel his own passion rising.  He pulled her to her knees and dragged her jeans and soaking panties down her hips, pulling one side completely off.  Then he did the same to himself.  When they were settled once again, her knees outside his thighs, he pulled her down to rub her soaking pussy over his hard steel.  They both groaned.

“Put me where you need me, honey.”  He struggled to retain enough presence of mind to sense intruders, but he wanted her with such force that he was shaking, just as she was.  The mating scent was rolling off him, soaking into her skin, through her airways into the center of her being.  When she took him in her hand and guided his cock inside her, he gasped at the pleasure she gave him when she squeezed him as she sank down on his hard length.  He helped her ride him, pulling her hips up and down his cock, loving the way she circled them to maximize the pleasure, and the way she mewled when he thrust up to meet her halfway.  They fucked each other hungrily, kissing and nipping each other, Lex’s wolf roaring to be let out, to mark her again.

“Come for me, baby,” he urged her as he rammed up into her, his body glowing.  He watched her watch him shimmer, as he fought to keep his wolf in check.  He wished he could kiss her, but his fangs had descended, and he hid his face in the hollow of her throat as he growled and came inside her convulsing core.  When she bit his shoulder as she came, he raised his head and howled, emptying himself inside her.

He heard Snickers long before he saw him and knew they had to leave.  The horse would never have returned without his call unless he sensed trouble.  His fangs retracted, and he kissed her deeply. Dragging his mouth away, he said, “We have to dress and go, honey.  Snickers is coming back, which means something’s up.”

He pulled her up and helped her dress, and by the time the horse stopped, he was also dressed.  They packed up the saddlebags, and he hurriedly saddled the horse, helped her mount, and threw himself over its back.  He didn’t smell any shifters, but he also sensed a disturbance in the air.  Maybe there was going to be a storm.  They sometimes came out of nowhere, it seemed, and could be devastating.  He hoped it was just a weather issue and nothing more.

Snickers was not a race horse, but he could move at a fairly decent clip when he needed to.  However, he was carrying two people today, and Lex wouldn’t push him.  He kept the horse at a reasonable pace, soothing its anxiety telepathically.  The ranch house loomed in the distance, and Lex heaved a sigh of relief when they were finally back at the barn.  He removed the saddle and blanket from the horse and brushed him vigorously, while he got Tammie to bring him feed and water.  Another half an hour, and they were ready to go indoors. 

Picking up the picnic things, he escorted her back inside, and Bear met him at the door to the kitchen. “Storm’s coming,” he said.  “I’m glad you made it back in time.  Tammie here isn’t ready to weather one of our storms out in the open.”

“Actually, Patrick, I love storms,” Tammie informed him, making Lex chuckle.  She was never going to take anything from anyone, especially not if it smacked of condescension to her. 

“I do, too, but I’d rather not be caught out in one of these myself,” Patrick answered patiently.  “They’re dangerous storms at the best of times and downright deadly at the worst.”  He turned to look at her and added, “I’m sure Lex wouldn’t’t have wanted you out in this, and he would have my hide if I let you endanger yourself in one.”

Lex grinned at his friend, knowing what he was doing, and certain Tammie knew it, as well.  “It’s certainly easier to keep you safe if you’re indoors, Tamara,” he said, hoping to mollify her.

A crash of thunder startled her, and Lex watched her eyes go wide.  Forked lightning crackled across the sky, and she stepped over to the kitchen window to watch.  He knew she was frightened by the violence of the storm, but he could also see the fascination in her eyes as she stared up at the darkening sky.  Rain pelted the windows, and Tammie turned to ask, “Do you guys get tornadoes out here?”

“Not too often, but they have happened.  Why?  Think you see a funnel cloud out there?”  Lex went to stand next to her, looking up at the sky.

“No, but I’ve always wanted to see one.”  She looked at him.  “Imagine the story I could write about that experience!”

“Come on.  We can watch more comfortably in the den.”

He pulled her away from the kitchen window, giving in to his beast’s urgings to have her again, properly this time, in the comfort of his home.  His wolf had been going ape shit around her since he had marked her the first time, and Lex had been exercising great restraint in her presence.  But the way he felt right now, feeling her excitement at the power of the storm, was driving his wolf crazy.  He wanted to claim her completely, to complete the mating ritual between them, but he also knew he needed her to be sure of her feelings before he tied her to him irrevocably.

Shutting the door behind him, he began immediately to take control, pulling her roughly into his arms and kissing her hard and deep.  He was stalling, giving himself time to calm down, giving her time to catch up.

“Once wasn’t enough for you, Wolfman?” she asked teasingly when he let her catch a breath.

“That was just a taste,
chérie
,” he answered, reclaiming her lips and stopping her from speaking.  He didn’t want words.  He didn’t want distractions.  He wanted her.  And this time he could have her, all of her, without fear of interruption.

CHAPTER THREE

“I have no trouble with my enemies.  I can take care of my enemies in a fight.”
~ Warren G. Harding

Tammie woke up to the sound of a ticking clock and a deep silence.  She was in bed, and as she lay there, remembering the time she had just spent, her face broke into an infectious grin.  Lex had been ravenous before he wore them both out.  But now he was not in bed.  She stretched and sat up, wondering where he had gone.  No sound penetrated the dark silence, but she was not afraid.  She went to relieve herself in the ensuite bathroom, and then she grabbed Lex’s robe and threw it over her naked shoulders.  After their heated romp in the den, during which the storm had played counterpoint to their rising passion, Lex had carried her to his bedroom and took her over and over again, his body shimmering but never disappearing, his limbs hardening, his cock filling her and holding her.  She had yet to see him transform, and he refused to let her see his fangs.  But she was patient, and she would have him completely before the night was out.  If she could find him, of course.

She glanced at the LED lights on the clock radio and saw that it was only a bit after ten at night.  They had missed dinner, because Lex had seemed to need to feast only on her, and she was so drawn to him that she could not refuse.  She wanted him with the same wild eagerness that he wanted her, and though she knew he was holding back because he didn’t want to scare her, she knew she was ready for the full reveal.  She wanted to see her Alpha wolf in all his shifter glory.  Maybe when she found him she could ask nicely.  In the meantime, her stomach grumbled, and she knew she would have to eat something, no matter how small, or she would have trouble getting back to sleep.

While Tammie went in search of food, Lex was on the prowl.  He had woken up a half hour earlier hard and aching, his wolf pushing him to take his mate again.  But Lex knew she was exhausted from the three times he had already made love to her, and he also knew that if he didn’t stop, he wouldn’t be able to control the shift the next time.  She wasn’t ready to see him in wolf form, and he wasn’t prepared to frighten her away.  He wanted her with him forever, so he climbed quietly out of his bed, kissed her tenderly without waking her, and stole out to run. 

The storm had cooled the air, and though he was tired, Lex knew he could get in a good run before he needed to head home.  His beast needed to calm down before he wore his mate out completely.  Deciding he’d take in the perimeter of the ranch first and then close in on the house, he set out at a trot, sniffing the air, enjoying the scents and the peace he always felt when he ran.  It had been too long since he had shifted for more than an hour, and even longer since he had shifted for pleasure only.  He wished he could predict when peaceful times would come again, and he could roam free, as he used to do when he was a younger man.  But until the situation in Rojo Arroyo was resolved, he couldn’t afford to relax his guard, and especially not now with his mate to protect. 

He watched the smaller animals skitter away as he approached, knowing he was a deadly predator and being wise enough to avoid him.  Although he knew he would never hurt them, he refrained from using his vampiric powers to subdue them,  better they remain afraid than be lulled into feeling secure around his kind, particularly with Lancaster and his band of rogue shifters roaming the area.  The best thing he could do for these critters was keep them afraid of him.  Coming round a copse of trees, he thought he got a whiff that stirred his senses uncomfortably.  Stopping just inside its shelter, keeping himself hidden, he scented the air again.  Shifters.  At least two of them, maybe three.  Trespassing on his land.  It could only be one group.  Lex went back the way he had come, choosing to stay downwind of them, so they would not find him too easily.

He kicked himself mentally for having left without telling anyone where he was going—and without a weapon.  Lying low next to a high bush, he let his ears locate them, while he sent a telepathic call out to Bear.  No one but he knew Bear’s talent, and he thanked his lucky stars for it now, as he watched the rogues circle round, sniffing the air and the ground, searching for him.  He was safe for the moment, as they were searching away from his current position, but it wouldn’t take them long to find they were going in the wrong direction.  They were excellent trackers.  Eventually, they would track him back to his ranch house where his mate was hidden.  There was no way he would ever let them get close to her.

Waiting till they were out of range, he slowly circled round them, edging away from the ranch, setting his sights on a low rise that, if he could reach it, would give him an advantage over them.  He hated playing hide and seek, preferring to meet his enemies head on, but where his mate was concerned, he would do anything to keep her safe, even if it made him look like a coward.  Her life and safety were more important than his reputation.  He watched them as he went and knew the instant they picked up his scent.  He fell into a trot, needing to make it to the higher ground, and hoped they would give it up when they kept losing his scent.

His luck, however, seemed to have run out.  They were dogged in their pursuit of him, and no matter how he threw his scent to confuse them, they kept gaining ground.  No matter what, he would keep Tammie safe, and if it meant standing and fighting, then that was what he would do.  The thought of returning home beaten and bloody made him cringe.  Tammie had never even seen him shift once, and to be confronted with a battered and cut up mate would freak her out.  He would heal quickly, as all shifters did, but he wanted to keep her as far from that side of his life as he could for now.  Still, if he had to fight, he would.  And he would win.  He couldn’t allow them to scent him on his mate or to know who she was to him.  Lancaster would use her as bait, and once he had Lex where he wanted him, he would kill her.

Inside the wolf, the man made his decision.  Turning back, he stalked them, drawing them to him, away from his home and deeper into the copse of trees.  He knew his land like the back of his hand, and he knew where he was leading them would be an ideal place for a fight.  There was no possibility of any human hearing or seeing them, and he could let the full range of his hybridity free.  He would need it to defeat three strong shifters.  He didn’t know where Bear was; but, he knew if he had received his call for help, he was on his way and would find them. 

He waited till they were almost in sight, and then he growled.  It was a low sound, but the challenge and the threat were clear.  Lancaster would know today, once and for all, exactly who and what he was dealing with when he chose to fight.  The wolves looked up, and the big gray wolf led the way to where he stood his ground.  Lex let his wolf take charge, and when the big gray wolf charged, he was ready.  The fight was savage from the beginning.  They gave no quarter, all attacking him at once.  The barks and snarls echoed round them in the wooded area, and the white wolf shook off his attackers, leaving deep gouging marks on their hides.  They backed away from him and came in again, their jaws wide as they attacked.  The big gray wolf came in and reared up on his hind legs, reaching for the white wolf’s muzzle, then his neck, then his flank.  They ripped and tore at each other, and Lex felt his wolf tiring.  Backing off, his sides heaving, blood seeping from gashes in his side and on his back, he knew he needed to finish it soon or risk being killed.

A roar startled them, and all four wolves turned in time to see the bear that lumbered towards them.  Lex stood his ground, knowing Bear had come to save his bacon in the nick of time.  The wolves seemed to forget him for a moment, each turning to face the new threat.  The bear rose up on its hind legs, and bellowed, swinging with furious precision at the wolves who dared to attack.  His first shot hit its mark, his claws swiping down the animal’s side, the weight of it sending him smashing into the tree directly behind him.  Lex’s wolf heard the sound of bones cracking and of an animal severely wounded.  One down.  The white wolf turned his attention to the big gray wolf that had turned his attention back to his target.  They rushed each other, jaws snapping, and snarls of rage tearing from the white wolf’s throat.  The gray bit him deeply on his left shoulder, and the white wolf reciprocated, leaving a deep wound on the gray’s haunch.  The gray wolf whimpered when the white swiped at him with a powerful paw and slapped him to the ground, straddling him and biting again.  A sudden silence told Lex the second wolf had been dispatched by Bear, and before he could register it, the gray had thrown him off and was squaring up to attack again. 

Both wolves were badly hurt, but the gray wolf refused to back down.  He snarled another challenge and rushed Lex but found himself stopped by a towering wall of bear.  He was thrown up into the air and fell with a resounding thwack.  He tried to raise his head but couldn’t, and the bear went to tower over him, roaring again in triumph.  Lex could sense Bear’s barely restrained urge to finish him off.  From within his wolf, Lex gave his friend a push away from the gray wolf.  They would defeat Lancaster, but not like this.  The rogue was Lex’s responsibility, and he would see it through.

The gray wolf limped off, his companions with him.  Lex knew they would shift as soon as they were out of sight.  Shifters healed best in their human form, unless they were so severely wounded that they couldn’t shift.  Then, they ran the risk of remaining in their animal forms until they died or healed, and if their wounds were that severe that they couldn’t shift back, they would bear the scars of their injuries for life.  As such, a wounded shifter was at his most vulnerable—and therefore his most dangerous.  Most shifters preferred to bear the agony of shifting while wounded.  Lex assessed his own injuries and found nothing broken—though his ribs were badly bruised—and he had several deep gouges and bite wounds which he would need to deal with before he could go back to his mate.  His body hurt, but the man knew he had succeeded in calming the wolf’s mating urges—at least for the time being.

It took much longer to get back to the barn than it would otherwise have, but once inside, Bear and Lex shifted, and Bear went to fetch the supplies Lex would need to tend his wounds.  He himself remained unscathed, and as he helped his friend clean the signs of battle from his body, Bear waited for Lex to speak.

“I’ll have to wait out here for a few hours, Bear,” he said, putting the healing salve on the scratches on his chest.  “The deeper wounds will knit up soon enough, but the bruises won’t fade for a while.  And there’s little I can do about my aching ribs.  Tell Tamara I’ll be late getting in.  Tell her I got held up, which isn’t too far from the truth.”  He smiled, stretching the ugly scar that had missed his right eye by a millimeter.  It hurt like a bitch, but it would be one of the first of his wounds to heal. 

“Let me just wash up, so I don’t go back in smelling like sweat and blood,” Bear said, and he sauntered off to the shower Lex had had installed at the far end of the barn, in the space set aside for the office. 

Lex would shower once Bear left and try to figure out how to share his whole self with his mate.  He knew this side of him, the predator, the fighter, the wild animal, would frighten her, and it might even make her question her decision to be with him.  It was one thing to romanticize the Alpha wolf, but quite another to see him in action.  He wasn’t sure Tammie was ready for that.  He let his body relax while he waited, feeling the knitting and healing begin, and thought about his next move.  The call to Tony Lancaster couldn’t wait any longer—nor could his return to the Prime Council.  Too many innocent people had been killed to draw him out, and he had to take a stand.  He had to end this once and for all. 

Bear emerged, looking fresh and smelling like a spring breeze.  Lex chuckled.  “The way you smell, Tammie won’t know anything’s amiss.  Thanks, my friend.  I’ll make the call after I shower.  See you in the morning.”

He watched his friend walk away before going to shower himself.  He set the water temperature at slightly higher than bearable, knowing the heat would help heal him and soothe his aching muscles.  He hurt everywhere, and the deep wounds and torn-up skin made his eyes water, but he bore the pain, and when he felt better, he shut the shower off and reached for a towel.  That’s when he heard their voices.  He could hear Tammie’s voice raised in anger.

“I just saw you, Patrick, come into this barn with Lex.  Why are you lying to me?  What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on, Tammie.  Lex just needs a little time, because he got held up before he could finish what he set out to do.”

Lex pulled on the pair of loose sweats he kept in the office and wished he had a shirt to cover the still not fully healed wounds on his chest and back.  He could just imagine how he would look to his irate mate.  She was clearly not buying Bear’s story, and he wondered how he would escape this encounter unscathed.  He had a suspicion that he wouldn’t.

They were already inside the barn, headed to where he stood when he came out of the office and walked towards her.  He heard her sharp intake of breath, and the whimper that escaped her as he came closer and she saw the extent of his injuries.