The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (44 page)

Slowly,
she turned and caught herself in the mirror. She stole her own breath. Not out
of vanity but because her work managed to do exactly what she’d wanted it to
do—make her feel incredible.

The
feathers cupped her breasts and hips and ass and thighs. With the heels on, all
she’d need was some smoky makeup and sexy hair and she’d be able to seduce the most
chaste of men.

She
spun around in a circle, laughing like a little girl, when she heard it.
Snick.
The sound of the front door opening.

Cold
sweat hit her in an instant as terrible memories rushed back to the surface.
She ran for the door to her work room and slammed it closed, throwing the lock.
She backed away from it with her eyes trained on the door knob. Her heart tried
to break out of her ribcage. He was back. Will had come for her. He was going
to kill her and neither Jo nor Gavin were here to help her.

Her
back hit her workbench and sent her work scattering to the ground. The door
handle jiggled and she cried out, hands locking around the table for support.

“Alicia?”
an alert voice asked. A familiar voice. A voice so achingly dear to her, she
sobbed. “Fuck,” she heard him curse and then her door flew open with the force
of his kick. Gavin MacKellen charged in, his face so familiar, the sight of him
stirring an ache in her heart that panged.

His
eyes ran over her from head to toe, then again, and again before looking around
the room. “What’s wrong? I heard you scream and you shut the door.”

“You,”
she said, a whisper.

He
stiffened. “Of course, you don’t want me here. Listen, I’m sorry. I arranged it
with Jo to give us a few minutes. I wanted to surprise you. Hell, all I did was
scare you shitless. I’m so fuckin’ stupid. Dammit, I’m sorry.” He looked like
he’d say more but then he just shook his head and turned to leave.

That’s
when she finally found her voice. “Gavin!” she called out. Tears, not of pain,
but of happiness swam in her eyes. “Baby, you came for me.”

He
looked back at her, his scarred face more handsome than ever. “Damn right I
did. I love you, I miss you and you haven’t been taking my phone calls.” This
he sounded pissed about.

Those
were all words to her. They didn’t really matter to her fuzzy mind, but they
must have on some subconscious level because she ran to him and he caught.
Those warm, strong arms came around her, wrapping her up in that familiar scent
and heat. She was home. This was home.

“I
love you. I love you,” she kept saying. And he kept saying it back until their
mouths fused together and didn’t separate.

“Holy
hell, I have to get inside you,” he said against her lips.

Arousal
throbbed between her legs in agreement. “Yes,” she moaned and kissed him
harder.

He
pushed her away and pulled his shirt over his head like it was a race. Her
blood cooled in an instant at bruises that covered his ribs and stomach. She
touched them gently. “Oh, baby, what happened to you?”

He
cupped her face, looking at her like he hadn’t seen her in forever. She felt
much the same way. She kept looking over the shape of his mouth, at his
beautiful eyes and the shaggy hair that looked slightly smashed like he’d been
wearing his hat.

“A
lot has happened since you’ve been gone, but I don’t wanna talk about that
right now. I just want my mate, naked, in my arms.”

He
leaned down to kiss her and she pressed a finger against his lips. He arched a
brow at her and sucked her finger into the wet cavern of her mouth, licking the
tip.

“Ooh,”
she said, breathless. “Wait.” She shook her head to clear. “What do you think
of my lingerie?”

His
hungry gaze swept over her, blasting her with its heat. “I wanna fuck you in
it. How ‘bout that?”

Her
stomach dipped. “O-kay, but you can’t rip it in any way. I’ve worked really,
really hard on this.”

He
cupped her breasts with both hands as if sizing them up. And then he trailed
his hands down her stomach to her hips and cupped them, rocking her on her
feet. Reaching back, he squeezed her ass. “Aside from you, it’s the hottest
thing I’ve ever seen.”

She
kissed his neck, hungry for the taste of him. “Good answer.”

They
went at each other. He took care to pull her bra off but the second her tits
were free, his hand squeezed one and his mouth found the other. That’s when she
lost all coherent thought.

He
picked her up and spoke around her taut nipple. “Bedroom?”

“Huh?”
She was delirious and soaking wet and if he didn’t get inside of her this
minute she might explode. Reaching between them, she fought to open his jeans.

“Where’s
your bedroom?” He tugged on her nipple then switched to suck the other one.

“Oh!
It’s…ah, hell, I can’t remember. We don’t need a bed. Floor,” she panted. “Floor
is good.”

Finally
she got his zipper down and freed his cock. He was blazing hot and so stiff in
her hand. She worked him fast, too eager to do anything else. On a scratchy
groan that sent a spark of pleasure down her spine, he caught her mouth.

He
took her down to the ground, removed her underwear and that’s as much as she’d
let him do. Thank god that’s as much as he wanted to do because, without taking
his jeans off he pushed his hips between her thighs, pointed his cock at her
entrance, kissed her, and slammed inside.

It
was hot, fast, and hard. Their lips met and only when his thrusts wouldn’t let
them continue to kiss did they give up trying. He buried his face in her neck,
kissing and biting her.

She
ran her nails down his back and arched into his thrusts. His cock filled her so
full and hard, stretched her tight muscles and made her throb for release.

“My
mate, my woman. Missed you,” he growled.

She
gasped as he grabbed her ass and dragged her into his pounding thrusts. “Missed
you too. L-love you,” she panted.

“Mmm,
love you and your tight pussy.”

Oh
god, not the naughty talk again. Just hearing those words come out of his
gravelly voice tightened everything between her legs.

“Oh,
yes!” she cried as he hit a good spot and kept hitting it, working it faster
and pushing her closer to that climax.

“Come
all over my cock, sweetheart. I want it.”

And
so she did. His words were a command to her body. Her pussy squeezed tight in
little convulsions around him and ripped through her body like a wave. The heat
burst from her skin making her flush and sweat and scream.

He
was right there with her, pumping into her through it all, groaning. And after
she came all over his cock like he wanted, he pushed as deep as he could go and
exploded, shooting his hot release inside her.

As
their bodies cooled, they were content to pet each other, kiss each other. They
whispered all the things they’d been aching to say to each other for two long,
long weeks.

“I
love you.”

“I
want to mate with you, make it real,” Gavin said.

“Yes.”

“First
thing when we get back home.”

“Yes,
” she said. Home. She missed it.
This apartment wasn’t home anymore. It hadn’t been since she fell in love with
Gavin MacKellen.

He
made love to her again. This time he carried her into the bedroom and took her
much slower. On their sides, he lifted her leg over his hip and entered her on
a hot glide. She liked it like this. They got to watch each other. She loved
the curl of his steely abs as he thrust, and he watched her tits jostle with
each thrust. He made her come twice before finally joining her.

Finally
she had to tell him about why she couldn’t take his phone calls over the past
two weeks. About how hurt she’d been and angry at him for sending her home. She
hadn’t wanted to talk to him, and then when she really wanted to, she didn’t
know how to begin. So she’d focused on work and on fixing herself and being
strong for him. She had been waiting, she told him, for the
right
phone
call. The one that said she could come back home because she trusted him and
his promise.

He
spanked her ass—hard—for not taking his calls but he said he understood. After
a while, he told her about Will and Marcus. That explained the terrible
bruises. She wished even more that she hadn’t been forced to leave. He had
needed her at his side after such an emotional battle, but at least he’d come
first thing to her.

“You
know what I think?” she asked, staring at their entwined hands.

“What?”

“I
think when we get mated, I know what material I want to use for our mating
tether.”

He
kissed her behind her ear, making her smile. “What’s that?”

“The
feathers from the original lingerie I made. I started that piece the day I was
sent to you, and I finished it today. They might just be pieces of clothes, but
they mean something to me. It was my masterpiece. We had our first kiss in it
and just now, we came back together while I wore the new one. When you hurt me,
I…I tore it apart. Those feathers, as ridiculous as it sounds, belong in that
mating tether as a reminder of the love and the pain.”

He
was quiet for a moment. And then he kissed their joined fingers. “And don’t
forget the sexiness. I don’t think I’m ever gonna be able to look at feathers
and not get hard, sweetheart.”

“Oh
my god, you are so crazy!” Laughing, she kissed him.

By
the end of the week, Alicia Clarkson became Queen Alicia MacKellen, mate to
Gavin MacKellen at a ceremony witnessed by the entire MacKellen pack. Hanna
cried. Kaity cried. Jo smirked, begrudgingly. Hart smiled on.

Alicia
and Gavin’s mating tether was made up of black feathers, red flannel from Gavin’s
shirt, and strands of their hair weaved into a beautiful rope that would
forever mark their love for each other and the beginning of a new life.

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Read
on for a sneak peek at

Book 2 in The MacKellen Alphas Series

Coming this winter 2013

His
hot breath tickled her neck as he panted. Hanna’s wasn’t much better. A warm
smile curled her lips as she stroked his sweat-slicked back. It was amazing how
you never really new just how much you missed something until it was gone.

“Damn,
baby, you are wild.”

Hanna
giggled, near to bursting with joy. Tom rolled off her, his pale chest heaving
in the dim light. “It’s the lingerie Alicia gave me,” she said.

He
smiled up at the ceiling. “Damn right, you’ll have to get some more of that
from her.” He checked the alarm clock and cursed, bounding out of bed. “Gotta
get to work or else I’m gonna be late.”

“Okay,
honey.”

Leaning
over, he pressed a chaste kiss to her temple then headed for the shower.

Hanna
lay in the afterglow, or semi-afterglow as it was, feeling both elated and
confused. On the one hand, she’d never felt better. Tom hadn’t had sex with her
in a long, long time. It was more than a year ago. She’d been nervous that she
might have forgotten ‘how’ to do it when she finally took him to bed last
night. And then again this morning.

She
hadn’t realized how much she missed holding a man, naked in her arms, their
bodies touching, kissing, and feeling, so much until then. It’d almost hurt. Of
course, she understood part of that hurt came from the emotional impact of what
was happening, of how much trust she was putting back into Tom.

Please
don’t hurt me this time.

Above
all the criticisms her sister Kaity had given her, and her friend Alicia, she’d
taken Tom back. This would be the last time. To which Kaity replied,
you’ve
said that so many times already
. Well, this time she meant it. She and Tom
had been mated for almost five years. They were coming up on their anniversary
in just a few months actually. And while the pain of knowing he’d cheated on
her felt like her heart had been ripped open again and again, she wasn’t a
quitter. She wasn’t someone who just threw a marriage away. Marriage was hard
work and she was ready to play her part, and finally, Tom was too.