The Alpha's Mate

The Alpha's Mate

Copyright 2014 Eve Adrian

Published by Eve Adrian

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The Alpha's Mate

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The Alpha's Mate

Kelly Shaw should have spent more time researching the bar and less time making sure her notes were perfectly assembled for ease of readability. The exterior of Cafe Merge did little to suggest the loud interior that didn't look like any cafe that Kelly had ever seen. The room felt clustered and loud. Dark red curtains hung from the walls, interspersed only by metal light fixtures which barely cast illumination worthy of the room. A few tables dotted the corners of the room, but a massive bar overtook one of the walls and the mainstay of the room was the dance floor full of writhing bodies of men and women. None of the brochures had made Boise seem like a place with much nightlife, especially of the hedonistic variety, so surely this must have been one of the few bars of it's kind in the city. How on Earth had Kelly managed to choose this one?

The outside was perfectly unassuming. Nestled in an old brick building, Cafe Merge looked like any other restaurant. No bouncer stood outside the door, no line waited to enter. Of course, seven o'clock at night was probably a little early for the main crowd, but no one had even tried to make it seem like the cafe was anything other than a restaurant. Kelly had ordered her dinner from the limited menu, already noting the club-like atmosphere, but it wasn't until the bass started thumping and the lights dimmed to barely perceivable levels that she understood she was not where she wanted to be.

But the food was okay, so she stayed long enough to eat, besides, being the new girl in town, she couldn't afford to pay for two meals in a single night. Kelly didn't plan to end up in Boise, Idaho, but she had always knows she would live out west. It was not only the call of the beautiful mountains and lakes, the wilderness that spread on for days and days until civilization was just the faintest of memories. The west was on of the few places left with wild wolves. Their reintroduction over the past several years had spurred on her hope of being able to study them in the field, and already her dreams were coming true.

At twenty-nine she had just finished her PhD at the University of Oregon and had been selected to do post-doctoral work with an animal research project right out of Boise. They studied migration patterns and were performing studies to ascertain whether projects to expand the reintroduction of the wolf into the wild would be beneficial to modern life. And she would start tomorrow at Silver Sky Research.

As she prepared to leave, something gave her pause. Kelly looked around, trying to identify the sight, or the sound, or the smell that froze her in place. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the dim and she could make out several people around the room. For a moment she paused at the site of an attractive, tanned man with dark hair, but dragged her gaze away after a moment. It wasn't him. Though she could not for the life of her say what it was.

And there he was.

He was everything.

The thoughts crashed into her at the same time and Kelly rocked in her seat from the shock of the contact. Attraction, heat, lust, the urge to rut and rut until there was nothing left but the two of them flooded through her and she felt her nipples harden under the practical fabric of her beige bra.

Who was he?

The man held court beside the bar, perched atop a stool. Each of the men and women around him kept anyone else a safe distance away. From this distance Kelly couldn't make out everything about him, but she stalked across the floor, closer and closer, before she could even contemplate her actions. The man wore a black leather jacket left open over a gray top and tight, oh so tight, jeans which trailed down to serviceable shoes. His brown hair hung around his shoulders and his brown eyes tilted up. He exuded the tightly coiled power of a born leader.

Boldness flowed through her as she surged forward through the throng, not edging along the dance floor, but cutting directly through it. Before she could reach the man, he stood from his seat and met Kelly halfway. That handsome, powerful, dangerous man grabbed hold of Kelly's hand and pulled her close, his breath whispering in her ear. Breathing her in as he spoke. "I'm Max."

Yes, yes he was. Part of Kelly wanted to bow before him in worship, but another, stronger part stood straighter as it sought this man. Heat sizzled through her, settling between her legs, igniting her whole self as she breathed in the scent of him. She took her free hand and wrapped it around Max's body. "I'm Kelly."

Did they need anything else? As far as Kelly was concerned even the names were unnecessary. They swayed closely together, their rhythm out of sync with the fast song blasting through the speakers. But Kelly knew that the music could not penetrate the world they were creating. She fit her head into the crook of Max's neck, her hands running down his back.

Without warning, without preamble Max closed his lips on the pulse of Kelly's throat, his tongue working over the pulse that beat double time. The fire within Kelly burned hotter and she could feel that wetness between her legs. One of Max's hands drifted lower, grasping her ass and grinding their hips together.

Kelly lost all awareness of where they stood. She was vaguely aware of a dozen stumbling steps. And before she knew it she felt her back slammed against the brick wall in the alley behind the bar. Max pulled back, a smile on his swollen lips and a strange lightness in his brown eyes.

Max hadn't expected it to hit him like this. He sat at The Merge as he did most nights, surrounded by pack and listening to the minutiae of their lives. Andy kept the major problem children away, the pack insulated him from the normal humans, and he enjoyed free dinner and drinks, the only price being his advice. And none of them could feel that gnawing sensation that had been eating away at him for the last year.

Mate, mate, find a mate!
It begged, leaving him waking in the night, sweating, dick hard and on the edge of orgasm. But whatever base urges spurred him on, he resisted. No mate presented herself and no one in the pack was interesting enough for him to try to force the mating.

On and on the night went, only feeling longer for that sense that there should be someone beside him. It had never felt this insistent before and he hoped that this was not a precursor of the things to come.

Something pricked at the senses of his wolf, sending shivers through him and raising the hairs on the back of his neck. His people noted his response as each one of them bristled in sympathy.

And there she was.
Mate, mate, find a mate!
It sang through him and Max stood before he could fight the urge. The woman strode towards him, her feet so sure that even the most involved of dancers fled her path. Her blond hair flowed behind her, framing her pale skin. Blue eyes pierced him, but instead of holding him in place those frozen eyes only compelled him to move forward. Though this woman was clearly human, she moved with the grace of those more in touch with nature.

Max moved forward to meet her, moving through his pack as if they weren't there. He grasped the woman's hand and told her his name. The woman, Kelly, returned the favor, pulling him close. They exchanged breath, grinding closer and closer together, lust and something like fate surging through them.

Max had never felt like this for anyone before. He wanted to strip this woman bare, devour her and be devoured, own her and be owned. This woman could be everything, mate, lover, friend, and all he knew was her name.

It was enough.

Max maneuvered them outside to the semi-private alley behind the bar. He didn't want to share these first moments with Kelly with anyone else.

He pushed Kelly against the wall, shoving the woman harder than he should have when playing with a human, but the passion raging through him compelled. This thing between them made it feel like the night of the full moon, though that was a week off. But that playful thing, his human wolf, danced underneath his skin. He pulled back and grinned, knowing his eyes shown with that hint of inhumanity present in every werewolf. Kelly didn't shrink, she returned his smile, still saying nothing, only raising a hand the caress Max's cheek.

Max turned his face towards it, savoring the texture of the calloused fingers. Heat engulfed him, he couldn't wait to feel those fingers on him, around him. He clutched the nape of Kelly's neck and pulled her forward, capturing her lips in a harsh kiss.

She tasted sweet, right, and Max could never remember being more turned on in his life. He licked against Kelly's lips, groaning when she parted and their tongues tangled. Max felt himself hardening, and with each delicious scrape of pressure as he and Kelly moved he felt himself catapulted up and up to higher planes of pleasure.

Max nudged Kelly's legs apart with his knee, letting Kelly ride him as they continued to kiss. His hand grasped the bottom of Kelly's shirt, hiking it up so that he could feel her bare skin. Kelly moaned as Max trailed his fingers in light caresses over her ribs, slowly moving higher and higher until his hand brushed against her bra.

Kelly pulled back gasping. Her hands worked at Max's shoulders, removing the jacket and revealing the gray tank top underneath. She ran her hands down Max's arms, feeling the well defined muscle, kneading at it with each slow movement. Max shivered.

Max reached behind Kelly's back and unhooked her bra then eased his hands under the now loose cups. He took one breast in hand, balancing the perfectly shaped orb in his hand. His thump flicked over Kelly's hard nipple and Kelly moaned and kissed at his neck. Max did it again, twice in quick succession and Kelly jumped a little, grinding down hard onto Max's leg.

Max's mouth felt too full, he kissed Kelly's neck, licking at the pulse as it jumped at his attention. He couldn't get enough of the salty sweet taste of Kelly's skin and sucked harder and harder. He felt Kelly's hand drift down and undo the button on his jeans, a hand sneaking lower until one of Kelly's fingers skimmed over the straining flesh of his erect cock.

With the shock of the contact, Max bit down harder than he wanted and heard Kelly gasp, though this time from some mix of pleasure-pain. He tasted the smallest hint of metallic blood and reared back in shock. Already the mark was an awful reddish/purple, evidence of play gone too far. Kelly collapsed limply and Max eased her to the ground and backed away.

This was too much, he needed to get out of here.

Everything had been going so well until that arc of blinding pain shot through Kelly. Blinding pain mixed with explosive pleasure. She whimpered and felt all of the tension and strength leave her body and her eyes drifted closed in the last moments as Max lowered her to the ground. If she had been conscious she would have tried to ask what the hell was going on, but those thoughts vanished several minutes later when she felt someone's hand jostle her awake.

The attractive man from earlier crouched in front of her, a little to close to her neck for her liking. Had Max really freaking bitten her? Was he a vampire or something. If she wasn't so tired Kelly would have smiled. Instead she looked blankly at the man in front of her, too tired to even worry about his intentions.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Kelly raised a hand to her head, changing at the last moment to feel the wound at the base of her neck and winced when she touched the tender flesh. "Yes, I think." She braced a hand on the wall behind her and tried to summon the energy to stand. But nothing came. "Help me up?"

He stood and offered her a hand, hauling her up and helping to stabilize her. "Maybe a little to much to drink?" He suggested, "You have a friend who can drive you home?"

"They're all busy," she lied, realizing it would not be a good idea to tell a stranger in the alley behind a bar that she had no friends in town. "And I didn't drink anything. I'm fine." And now that she was standing, she was. Other than a little bit of a headache Kelly felt no worse for wear.