The Heir (8 page)

“I don’t know…”

"Come on, go out with me. If for no other
reason than to annoy your parents"

"You’re right, I do love to irritate them"
She murmured as she slid her hands between them.

She ran them up his stomach, over his chest
and down his shoulders, gave her backpack strap a nudge so that it
would slide down to his elbows, then switched directions and
brought her hands back up to cup his face.

Standing on her tip toes, she pulled his face
down slowly and brushed her lips against his. Such a light touch
had her feeling like she’d been struck by lightning. Startled she
dropped her hands and tried to step back but he would have none of
it and held on tight to her waist.

"That’s not a kiss." he murmured low enough
that only she could hear. “This is a kiss.”

Nick gently cupped her face and ran his thumb
over her bottom lip. Looking into her eyes he slowly lowered his
lips to hers. She stood frozen, and watched him like a deer caught
in headlights.

He licked her bottom lip with the tip of his
tongue and Jessica parted her lips on a soft gasp. Nick buried his
hand in her hair and deepened the kiss. Jessica was lost in a
powerful maelstrom of passion when she suddenly felt her backpack
bump against her leg.

Concentrating on the feel of her backpack,
she ignored the sparks of electricity his kiss was generating and
focused on the main objective. Determined to get her revenge, she
slid her hands to the back of his head and tangled them in his
hair.

She kissed him like there was no tomorrow.
But she couldn't completely ignore the waves of pleasure his touch
sent crashing over her body.

Her only consolation was that he was
obviously just as affected.

Jessica flicked his tongue with hers; he
released a low growl and pulled her closer. The vibrations of the
sound traveled through her body and filled her with a sense of
power.

Power that helped her realize that she was
almost to the point of no return. It was time for her to end her
little charade and not a moment too soon. She felt like she was
standing at the edge of some fathomless precipice, ready to jump
and expecting to survive.

Things had gone too far and she feared she
was close to losing herself, close to forgetting about everything
but his touch.

It was time for her Coup de grâce.

She lowered her hand, slid it down his arm in
a gentle caress and when she reached the strap of her backpack she
pulled it away, transferring it from his hand to hers.

Jessica broke the kiss and tried to step
away. He tried to pull her back to him when he finally realized
what she'd done. Distracted by the loss of her touch, it took him a
second for his mind to register what she’d done.

"Lucky for me I can bug my parents ALL on my
own" She told him as she stepped back, regaining her
equilibrium.

Nick dropped his hands to his sides and
balled them into fists.

As she took another step back, she adjusted
the straps of her backpack on her shoulders with one hand and wiped
her lips with the other. She couldn't help but smirk when she saw
the stunned look on his face.

"Two can play your game" She told him,
referring to the trick he'd pulled earlier, and turned to go.

That turned out to be a mistake.

She'd taken two steps when he snagged her
backpack and pulled her back to him. He turned her around to face
him; ignored her struggles and crashed his lips to her in a
bruising kiss. He wrapped one arm around her waist to stop her
thrashing and with his other hand he cupped the back of her head to
hold her in place.

Where the previous kiss had been gentle, this
one was violent. If the other one had been a battle, this kiss was
a war. He forced his tongue into her mouth and she pushed it back
out with hers but he wasn't asking he was taking. He bit her
lip-not too hard but hard enough to hurt- and she returned the
favor making sure she drew blood.

Suddenly he stiffened and released her.

"Didn't I tell you not to mess with armed
people?" She emphasized the word 'armed' and pressed her knife a
little harder against his nether regions.

He'd been so preoccupied with punishing her.
He'd obviously forgotten about her little toy stashed in the side
pocket of her backpack. It gave her immense pleasure, seeing him
wince, when she poked his precious jewels with the sharp edge of
her weapon, reminding him of it.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand
and made sure to let her face to show her disgust. A feeling she
wished was a little stronger.

“Now I’m going home and you are going to
stand there until I’m inside.” She instructed, “move at your own
risk, got it?”

In answer he glared at her but didn't
move.

When she was sure he wasn't going to try
anything else, she stepped back slowly. Facing him at all times,
not letting down her guard or her knife.

"It's Nick, by the way"

She was half way to her front door when his
words surprised her. He didn't sound like someone who'd just
escaped the monastery.

"And I care why?" She didn't quite manage to
keep the irritation from her voice. Even when she beat him, he made
her feel as if she'd lost.

He shrugged, "Just thought you'd like to know
my name. Don't you think we should be on a first name basis after
your marvelous" The sarcasm she heard when he said 'marvelous'
earned him a glare "introduction to our future children"

His smirk had her seeing red and she walked
quickly to her door without another word.

"I'll see you soon, Jessica."

That was a promise if she’d ever heard
one.

The last thing she heard before she shut the
door was his laughter.

Chapter 5

His laughter died down as soon as the door
closed behind her. He took a deep breath and her superficial scent
filled his lungs, it clung to every part of his body that she had
touched. It wasn't enough, he wanted to take in her real scent, but
it would have to be for now.

Lavender shampoo, that was the main scent and
apparently he had a thing for it. If the tightness in his jeans
were any indication, he seemed to have a thing for a quick
witted-motorcycle riding, armed to the teeth female.

Jessica

Her name flowed through his senses like fine
wine. It silently tortured his mind, his taste buds and other parts
of his body. It was as if she was still touching him. And as if he
didn't have enough problems, it seemed that fate had decided to add
its two cents into the pile.

He'd been prepared to grit his teeth and
endure life with his mate. After today, it was obvious that
wouldn't be the case. Her touch burned him, like flames raging
throughout his body waking him from a cold winter, a fire that only
she could put out.

He didn’t want to burn for her.

Cold and unfeeling, that’s how he wanted to
stay.

He exhaled a breath and her name almost
escaped his lips along with it. He snapped his lips shut just in
time and balled his hands into fists. If he said her name out loud
he would be giving himself away, losing control. He could never
allow that to happen.

An Alpha was not allowed to lose control.

If he'd learned one thing from his father, it
was that those without weaknesses prevailed. And he needed to
succeed; there was no room for failure, too many lives rested on
his shoulders. He would do anything to ensure his packs safety.

Even trick her into falling for him.

He knew he was going about it all the wrong
way but he was short on time. He could only hide her reappearance
for so long. If only she knew what or who she was, then he wouldn't
have to waste his time wooing her like a human.

He'd chosen his mate the day he'd learned
about the existence of the Lykaon heir and with his future planned,
he’d had no reason to play the dating game. Being an Alpha of his
own pack and the apparent heir to the Pacific pack-he never lacked
for company. Wanted or not, and he'd never had to pursue
anyone.

They'd been coming to him for years hoping to
land an Alpha without knowing that he'd already had a mate in mind.
Now that he'd finally met her, he was proud of his choice. She was
going to be a great Alpha.

He just had to make her fall for him. Nick
knew it was going to be a challenge but failure was not an option.
She would be his and until then, his number one priority was to
keep her safe. Safe until she could reclaim what was rightfully
hers.

Once that was done, all other pieces of his
plan would fall into place. Nick shook his head .Somehow he doubted
that it would be as easy as it sounded.

If their only two meetings were any
indication of what he could expect, he had his work cut out for
him. Trouble seemed to follow her where ever she went-not counting
those that wanted her dead- and instead of running or asking for
help, she confronted it head on.

It was a great quality in a warrior but a
heart attack inducing quality in her. If it was up to him, he'd
claim her here and now then lock her up somewhere far from the rest
of the world. And she would stay there until the pureblood movement
was disbanded.

“Are you ready to go?" Axel suddenly asked
out of the car window.

Axel, his bodyguard, was sitting in the car
and probably enjoying the show; watching his Alpha make an ass of
himself. Nick berated himself for his loss of discipline; he had
completely forgotten about Axel and the world around him, all of
his concentration had been zeroed in on Jessica from the moment
she'd hopped off her motorcycle.

After taking one last look at the house in
front of him, he turned and got into the car. Axel drove in silence
and Nick was thankful, he doubted he could carry a conversation at
the moment. His thoughts were centered on only one person.

"Almost there" Axel told him.

Nick blinked and looked around. Amazed to
find they'd just turned onto the dead end road to his house. It was
a recently paved private road that he owned, along with roughly ten
miles of the land on each side of it. His house, the pack house-for
the un-mated adults-and five other homes were the only buildings on
the property.

Four years ago it had all been nothing but
trees; perfect for his young-and small pack. Since then, the pack
had tripled in size and it had gotten harder to conceal their
presence.

Because the only non-shifter wolves in
California were those in captivity, Nick had to make sure there
were no wolf sightings out in the wild. None. And wolf form was
only allowed at night or on pack property. One sighting and he was
sure that hunters would be swarming the area faster than he could
say 'full moon.'

Now he understood why there were only two
packs in California, the Pacific pack in the south-his fathers- and
the Northstate Pack. When the Robertson's had moved here, to
central Cal, he'd thought it a blessing because there would be no
territory wars. He thought they'd just move in and he'd bide his
time until her return.

He had been very naïve.

"We're here" Axel told him, breaking into his
thoughts.

They'd reached the house and he'd been
spacing out again. What the hell is wrong with me?! He asked
himself. He’d lost count of how many times he'd lost his focus
today and he could only blame one person for his lack control.

Damn her.

He had to thank his lucky stars that Axel was
the only one around to witness his disciplinary lapse.

"Hey Ax, how long did the doc say you were
going to be dealing with the residual effects from that
concussion?" He asked Axel.

"Concussion?" With his hand on the door
handle, Axel paused and looked at him with his eyebrows drawn
together in confusion.

"Yeah, I heard something about you hitting
your head and left you dealing with short term memory loss." Nick
clarified

Axel looked at him for another second and
then comprehension dawned on him.

"Yeah, I can’t seem to remember anything
about today" He shook his head morosely, playing along, as he
opened the door.

Nick released a deep sigh of relief. He
wasn't ready for rumors about his explosive chemistry with Jessica
to be going around. But his relief was very short lived.

"I'm going to have to ask one Christian to
give me a recap." Axels added as he stepped out of the car.

His words, said with barely concealed
amusement, had Nick tensing all over again and he slammed his head
back against the head rest. He'd forgotten about Christian. No way
was he going to be able to gag him. In fact he was pretty sure it
was too late to try.

No doubt that by now, everyone knew about his
heated encounter with Jessica outside of her house. And if his
suspicions were correct about that then he was positive they were
adding another subject to the speculation. The one thing he refused
to believe in.

Soul-mates.

Nick ran a hand through his hair. He released
a deep and weary filled sigh. Feeling older than his twenty-two, he
got out of the car and braced himself for the upcoming meeting with
Matt. As his enforcer, the man in charge of security, it was more
than likely that Matt was the first one to have heard about it
all.

With reluctance in his every step he made his
way up the porch steps and into the house. Using every ounce of his
shifters speed, he made a mad dash for the privacy of his bedroom
and slammed the door behind him. He knew it was the coward’s way,
but he didn't care. He wasn’t ready to talk about his actions, not
when he didn’t understand the reasons for them himself.

Leaning against the door he closed his eyes
and he exhaled the breath he'd been holding.

"That was some firework show you put on."
Matt commented amusingly.

Nicks eyes flew wide open and he almost
jumped in surprise. From inborn instinct, his eyes glowed from
within; his canines extended and his claws extracted. It was a
natural reaction to his surprise and it took a moment for him to
get himself under control.