The Alpha's to Share: A BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (4 page)

His hair was dark and cropped fairly close to his head. His eyes were dark and brooding, carrying some sort of burden that Callie could clearly see manifested within them. His jaw was well defined, curving along his jawline and drawing attention to his perfect lips, which were dusted around the edges by the slightest shadow of scruff.

It made her heart flutter just being near him. No man had ever had such an effect on her. In fact, after her last relationship, she’d sworn off men for good, and had, until recently, had every intention of sticking to that for the rest of her life. She hadn’t even missed men until this moment. Now she was sorely longing for his touch, his kiss, the feel of his skin against hers.

Not that she’d had many relationships. She had always been inept when it came to dating. She found it difficult to relate to men, and she was always afraid they found her unattractive even when they were telling her she was sexy.

It had come from her childhood. She’d always been a chubby child, and she’d been teased and bullied in school about her weight. Not only that, but her own parents had constantly reminded her that she should be eating less and exercising more, and while they may have done it with the best of intentions, their comments had only made her feel worse about herself.

Over the years she’d managed to find some confidence. She told herself she didn’t need to have the approval of anyone, least of all some guy who was more likely to break her heart than fill its emptiness. She’d discovered somewhere along the way that if there were decent men out there, she wasn’t likely to find one.

Now, with this stunning man staring at her as though she were the most beautiful creature on earth, she started to doubt herself. Could it be that she was destined for more? Was Madge right?

Seth kept trying to capture her gaze with his eyes, but she’d been shifting away. It wasn’t that she wanted to seem disinterested. She just couldn’t bear the thought of opening herself up fully to this man who had no idea what she was being accused of and potentially finding out that he believed the lies, too. If her own family had lost faith in her, why would a stranger trust her?

His gaze was intense – burning. She found it hard to look away, though a large part of her didn’t want to. His eyes, like dark chocolate, captivated her. It was as if he could see into her soul, and he even liked what he saw. But even more than that, he seemed to like what he saw on the outside, which was more than Callie had ever thought she could hope for from a guy this gorgeous.

“Will you take a walk with me?” Seth asked suddenly.

She glanced at Madge, who didn’t even look up from her baking and simply shooed her away with a few quick brushes of her hand.

“Sure, I’d love to,” Callie said.

“You’ll excuse me if I leave the blanket behind,” Seth said. “I don’t want to get it dirty outside.”

“Oh… of course,” Callie said, feeling the color rising warm in her cheeks.

Seth uncloaked his muscular body, and though Callie tried her best to shy away, her eyes couldn’t help but drift immediately back toward him as he tossed the blanket onto the bed against the wall.

His chest was broad and covered with a sparse sprinkling of hair that dipped slightly toward his navel. His stomach was flat and ridged with muscles that bobbed like waves over his torso. Callie tried to avert her eyes, to stop them from traveling further downward, but it was impossible. Her eyes widened at the sight of his full glory, and she nearly remarked aloud, but stopped herself just in time.

Seth cleared his throat, and she jumped, startled. Her eyes quickly darted toward his, and she could have sworn she saw a flicker of a satisfied smile play upon his lips briefly.

“Shall we go?” he asked.

“Oh, yes!” she gasped, relieved that he’d not mentioned her wandering eyes.

He opened the door for her and she stepped out onto the muddy ground. The morning sun was filtering through the hazy mist that had rolled down out of the mountains and coated the clearing around the cabin. Seth extended his elbow, and she wrapped her hand through it, thrilling at the way his skin felt against hers.

She followed him as he walked through the clearing and toward the path that led up the mountain – the very path she’d taken to find the blackberry brambles from which she’d retrieved the basket of fruit for Madge.

“Seth, do you have a last name?” she suddenly thought to ask.

“We do not use them,” Seth answered simply. “But if pressed, I would use the name of my pack, which is Primrose. Seth of Primrose, or just Seth Primrose would be fine.”

“I’m sorry that I don’t know more about your kind,” Callie apologized. “I really never believed you existed until I met Madge.”

“I know surprisingly little about your kind, as well,” Seth admitted. “What little I do know has been largely unpleasant.”

“How so?” Callie asked.

“I’ve seen human hunters killing indiscriminately for no reason other than sport,” he answered. “I’ve seen them wipe out hundreds of acres of forestland overnight for the sole purpose of building entertainment venues – taking away the homes of thousands of creatures without a second thought. I’ve… I’ve experienced their brutality first hand, though it’s something I’ve no wish to speak of ever again.”

Her grip on his arm instinctively strengthened as she felt a pang of sorrow for whatever he’d been through.

“Yes, humans can be quite barbaric,” she acknowledged. “I’ve seen my share of human behavior that I wish I could forget.”

“Nothing too personal, I hope,” he said.

“My own family disowned me for something I didn’t do,” Callie told him, gathering a bit of bravery. “They didn’t even ask me what happened. They just told me to never contact them again. My so-called friends, every last one of them, did the same. They all abandoned me and left me to fend for myself during the worst time of my life.”

“Would it be asking too much for you to tell me what they think you did?” Seth pressed.

Callie sighed and stopped walking. Seth paused beside her and turned to face her, leaning in slightly as if eagerly anticipating her revelation.

“I guess I might as well just tell you,” she said. “I’ve been accused of embezzling millions of dollars from my employer.”

“Em-bez-el-ing,” he enunciated slowly. “Is that like stealing?”

“Basically,” she answered. “Only I didn’t do it. I don’t even know why I’m being accused of it.”

“How is it that you are free?” he asked. “I thought that kind of thing generally got humans put into jail.”

“It does,” she said. “But I overheard my boss talking to his assistant, and I heard they were about to have me arrested. So I ran. I packed most of my important stuff into storage and just ran. When I called my parents for help, it was already on the news and they told me to never contact them again. My closest friends all said the same thing.”

“So you truly are alone in the world,” he commented.

“I’m afraid so,” Callie said, her head hanging in shame.

Seth lifted her chin with a finger, pulling her gaze to his. He leaned in so closely she thought he might kiss her.

“From this moment on, you will never be alone again,” Seth said. “You are a part of my pack now, and that will never change.”

Her lips parted, unsure what to say. Did he mean he was taking her as his mate, or did he only feel sorry for her and he was inviting her to live with his pack so she wouldn’t have to be alone?

She could feel his warm breath on her face, and she longed to feel his lips against hers. She stood on her toes, aching to be as close to him as possible, but he released her chin and backed away.

“Did I do something wrong?” she couldn’t resist asking.

“No, Callie,” he answered. “I just… let’s walk.”

He began to walk away from her, and she quickly caught up and matched his stride as closely as she could.

“So what’s your pack like?” she asked, sensing he wanted a change of subject.

“It is fairly small by shifter standards,” he said. “Twelve in total. We used to number in the hundreds, but human encroachment into our territory as required some… downsizing.”

“Some left?” she asked.

“Some left, yes,” he said. “Others were slaughtered by the humans.”

She shivered and asked, “But aren’t shifters stronger and faster than humans?”

“In every way,” he said. “But even we are no match for human weapons when they come in packs.”

“You mean they’ve come to kill you in groups?” Callie asked.

“When they want our territory for building, they will stop at nothing.”

For the first time, Callie truly realized she didn’t want to be a part of human society anymore. She’d ignored such atrocities for so long, but when faced with this… seeing first hand the way humans could ruthlessly slaughter just for profit or fun… she realized why she’d never fit in before and likely never would.

“I don’t want to go back,” Callie blurted out, freezing in her path again.

“To Madge’s?” Seth asked, pausing and turning to face her once more.

“No… to… to the humans,” she answered. “I don’t fit in there. I don’t think like they do. I don’t act like they do. I don’t feel like they do. I don’t want to go back.”

“Then don’t,” he shrugged. “You can live with my pack.”

“You think they’ll accept me as one of you?” Callie asked.

“In time,” he answered. “It’s never easy when a human comes to live amongst a shifter pack, but in time you will be one of us and they will all accept you as family.”

“Family,” she muttered. “Hopefully the kind of family I’ve always wanted, and not the kind I was stuck with when I was born.”

Seth bridged the distance with them in a heartbeat, taking her shoulders firmly in his hands and probing deep within her eyes.

“Forget that family,” Seth said. “Right here, right now. They no longer exist. We are your family now, and we will
never
abandon you. Do you understand?”

He shook her slightly, and she nodded. Then he eased his grip, but did not release her. She stared up at him, addled.

“Callie, I must be honest about something,” Seth said. “When I came to Madge, I did so because my brother demanded it. He was right about me needing to find a mate. Every Alpha needs a mate. But I never expected… I mean, I didn’t think…”

“What?” Callie asked softly.

“I didn’t expect
you
,” he said.

“What
did
you expect, then?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t disappointed with her.

“The few human females I have met have been… well, they’ve been full of themselves,” he answered. “They’ve cared about money. They’ve cared about appearances. They’ve cared about power. But they were terrible on the inside. Empty. I’d come to think all human females were the same, but I see I was wrong.”

Callie’s breath hitched. Was he really saying he liked her? That he found something in her worth exploring further? She swallowed hard and struggled to find the right words to express how she was feeling.

“Do you think… I mean, could you ever…” she stammered, unable to speak aloud the words she so wanted to say.

“I’ve heard that Madge can work miracles,” Seth said gently, cupping her face in his large hands and pulling her toward him. “But I never believed it until now.”

Callie’s eyes closed as his lips closed over hers. Her hands instinctively found his forearms and curled around them as his tongue slid across the crease between her lips. She parted them, and he slipped his tongue inside.

Her heart was thundering in her chest so furiously that she thought the storms were returning. Her knees went weak, and she found it difficult to stand. Seth instinctively released her face and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him and steadying her. Her arms slid up to his biceps and rested there.

A low rumble erupted in Seth’s chest, and it caused her to shiver. She could feel his hardness growing and pressing against her thigh. She ached to feel him inside her. Despite having only just met him, she felt more relaxed with Seth than she ever had with any human.