Crossed Fates by Lexi C. Foss

Alaric

My thighs burned with restraint.

Don’t move.

Don’t touch.

Don’t fuck.

I didn’t have time for this madness. But I couldn’t concentrate on anything beyond Makayla’s medical ministrations.

She’d stabbed me. And now she was playing nurse in my apartment. Just without the appropriate outfit. She still wore her T-shirt and jeans, her long, dark red hair pulled high into a messy bun, as she bent over my shoulder and focused on stitching me up like some sort of damn quilt.

It infuriated me.

And it made me want to bend her over my bed and drive into her from behind. My shoulder would protest, but I’d welcome the pain as I unleashed an equal amount of agony into her pretty little body.

She deserved it and worse.

I wanted to make her crawl, beg, and mewl, all in that order. And then I’d consider letting her come. Maybe.

Her sweet scent slithered around me in a taunt, her fingers brushing my overheated skin as she finalized the last of her handiwork. “Almost done,” she whispered, her throat bobbing as she swallowed.

She stood between my sprawled legs, my upper body shirtless as a result of her destroying my jacket and shirt. Blood was a bitch to clean, so I’d just tossed both items into the bin, then I’d kicked off my jeans and boxers and had washed up in a quick shower.

Which left me clad in only a towel.

A tented towel.

Because my intended mate was scant inches from my groin and drowning me in her sensual perfume. It’d be so easy to grab her by the hips and pull her into my lap. She’d protest, but only for a minute. One kiss was all I needed to subdue the stubborn female inside and call upon her wolf.

Shifters were always easy to seduce.

We were sexual by nature, our animals very much in charge of our instincts.

Which was why I had to ignore the inclination, because if I started playing with her now, I’d never make it up to Silver Lake by dawn.

Besides, she didn’t deserve my cock. Because she fucking stabbed me.

Why was that such a damn turn-on? I should be furious—and I was—but I also wanted to drag her onto my bed and dare her to use that knife again.

A growl lodged in my throat, my wolf riding me hard.

I’d heard rumors about fated mates and what it did to the male. Those rumors weren’t wrong. My drive to take her and mark her as mine nearly surpassed all reason.

I don’t know her.

I don’t want to keep her.

Therefore, I will not have her.

My wolf snarled in protest. I ignored him. He could rant and rave later. Maybe I’d even take him for a long run through the woods up at Silver Lake.

He calmed a little at the thought, freedom a gift we rarely indulged in as a result of living in New York City. It was hard to find a place to shift and run without being seen. I managed it every now and then, especially when I couldn’t take the itching sensation beneath my skin anymore.

Bitten wolves could shift at will, but that didn’t mean we could go without our wolves for long periods of time. I pushed it on occasion, which always ended in a bad bout of aggression.

Which explained my mounting annoyance now.

It’d been at least three weeks since my last run. And after last night’s date with silver chains, I felt a little cagey at the moment. That, coupled with the beauty standing between my legs, nurturing a wound she’d inflicted, and it was no wonder I craved a hard fuck.

Mate,I thought, tasting the word. Damn it.

I still didn’t know what kind of wolf she was or what she’d even been doing locked up in the basement of that bar. Although, locked up seemed like a bit of a stretch, as she’d pretty easily freed herself.

“What were you doing there?” I wondered out loud. “At Bob’s Bar, I mean.”

Yeah, Bob’s Bar—a classy name for a classy establishment.

Fucking Mets fans.

“What were you doing there?” she countered, her voice huskier than before.

It had my gaze trailing over her to land on the apex between her thighs. She’s totally wet for me. Just as I was hard for her.

Any other day, any other time, and I’d silence the conversation with a kiss and work through our mutual attraction in an entirely different way.

Our animals didn’t overthink a damn thing; they just wanted to fuck and coexist.

No emotions.

No strings.

Just pleasure.

At least for me.

Only that wasn’t our situation at all. She was meant to be mine, whether I wanted her or not.

“Well?” she prompted when I didn’t reply.

“I asked first.” A childish response, but true. “Besides, you already know I work for E.V.I.E. So what do you think I was doing there?”

“I thought you slayers focused on vamps, not wolves.”

“He was part vamp,” I pointed out. “And I had a favor to return after what he did to me and Violet last night.” I flinched as the needle slipped, puncturing my wound.

And my dick pulsed in response.

Damn.

Makayla cleared her throat. “What did he do to you and, uh, Violet?”

“Ambushed us and a bunch of humans at a nightclub,” I muttered. “He had an army of vamps lying in wait, and they shut the doors and turned the place into a damn bloodbath. Then they knocked us out, and I woke up chained to a chair.” If Violet’s royal vamp boyfriend—or whatever the hell she considered him to be—hadn’t shown up, the night might have gotten worse.

But the vamp had helped remove the silver holding me down, leaving me just enough slack to free myself after he’d disappeared with Violet.

“Needless to say, I wasn’t pleased, and I’ve been hunting his ass all day to ensure that didn’t happen again.” I met her blue gaze. “Your turn, sweetheart. How’d you find yourself locked in a cage?” Because the bar had been mostly quiet, from what I’d seen of it. No signs of vamps hunting for prey, just a few lackeys who made poor guard dogs.

“First of all, I’m not your sweetheart.” She punctuated that with a particularly painful swipe of the needle. “And I didn’t find myself locked up. I purposely let them catch me.”

“Yeah? Why?”

She shrugged. “A new challenge.”

Shifters might not be able to scent lies, but I caught hers from a mile away. “Liar.”

Makayla merely smiled. “I didn’t promise you the truth.”

“No, you didn’t,” I agreed as she finished her last stitch. “But now you’ve just made me curious.”

“Sounds like a you problem, not a me problem.” She took a step back.

Or she tried to, anyway.

Because I caught her hips before she could complete the movement, and I yanked her forward instead. Her hands went to my shoulders, which stirred a hiss from me in response.

Okay, grabbing the woman was a bad idea.

But my instincts had fired, and I’d not been ready for her to leave my space yet. Mine, my beast demanded.

I ignored him again and focused on the female standing before me. “What kind of wolf are you?”

“One who doesn’t appreciate manhandling.”

My lips curled. “I blame my animal. He’s rather keen on the idea of mounting you.” I felt her responding shiver through my fingertips, her wolf reacting to my statement.

Yeah, you definitely want me, I thought at her animal. Not that she could hear me. That wasn’t a mating trait for my kind. But perhaps it was for hers because I swore her animal peeked at me through those pretty blue eyes, approval radiating from within.

Fascinating.

“That’s not going to happen,” Makayla gritted out, her hands falling to my wrists to give them a threatening squeeze.

I tightened my grip in response. “You’re the one who offered me a ride,” I reminded her.

“Yeah. Home. Because you can’t drive in this state, but I’m seriously considering making you try now.” Her nails dug into my skin, yet she didn’t tell me to release her. No, it was almost as though she was holding on instead. I wondered if she was even aware of it or if her wolf had taken charge of her physical reaction.

“Can you drive a stick?” I asked, purposely adding the double entendre to my tone but also meaning it. “My Mercedes is a manual.” No point in owning a car of that caliber and making it an automatic. Of course, I rarely had an opportunity to drive it. New York City wasn’t exactly automobile friendly.

Her nostrils flared. “I’m excellent with my hands and very comfortable around a manual transmission.”

“Tease,” I replied, using my grip on her to move her backward a step as I stood up. Our torsos met in a heated kiss, my groin touching her lower belly and allowing her to feel my interest. We were wolves, which meant hiding a mutual attraction was impossible. I could smell her arousal just as she could scent mine.

It didn’t embarrass me.

Nor did it seem to embarrass her.

She merely stared up at me in direct challenge, her alpha personality shining through.

Part of me wanted to reply by capturing her mouth and nibbling that full lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Domination came naturally to me, and an alpha female would absolutely fight back. I’d have to earn her submission. Any other day, and I’d give up my plans for a chance to bring her to her knees.

Alas, pack responsibilities trumped everything else in my life. It didn’t matter that I’d left shortly after my eighteenth birthday. Silver Lake would always be my real home. Twelve years in New York City hadn’t changed that.

“I’m going to get dressed now,” I said in a low voice. “You’re welcome to watch.” I dropped my hold from her hips and tugged on my towel, letting it fall to the ground at our feet.

Her eyes danced downward, appreciation clear in her features as her grasp around my wrists tightened even more.

“I’m going to need my hands,” I told her after a beat of intense silence.

She swallowed and slowly released me but didn’t shy away from me or try to flee from the room. An omega wolf probably would. Maybe even a beta. But not her.

Perhaps fate had chosen the right pairing after all. I’d always preferred obedient women in the bedroom, mostly because I wanted to fuck and then leave. However, Makayla would certainly be a different sort of experience, one I might actually indulge in more than once.

Of course, she would be the only female I could take from this point forward anyway. A realization that made me growl as I stepped around her toward my closet. What the hell was the point in castrating a man after finding his destined mate? I supposed it happened to the female as well, but maybe not to Makayla. Because she wasn’t a Bitten wolf.

Not any of the others I knew, either.

So what are you?I wondered. I could feel her eyes on my ass as I bent over to pull on a pair of jeans. I turned around to finish the job and grinned while she watched me carefully tuck myself in first. Yeah, I was still hard. And probably would be all day until I convinced her to let me bend her over and take her from behind.

The fated-mate pull was notorious for inducing a healthy amount of lust between wolves when they first met. I just hoped it tapered off after the needs were met. If not, I might seriously have to consider caging her. Because I wasn’t a fan of the idea of having to track her down whenever I needed a release.

That would surely piss her off.

Which would lead to even hotter sex. Angry fucking. Yes.

An idea for later.

From the glint in her gaze, she’d picked up on my vibes. Perhaps because she sensed the anticipation from my wolf. And I was willing to bet her wolf had similar ideas for me.

It didn’t matter if her kind refused to believe in fated mates. That didn’t make it any less real.

I slid on a pair of socks and my boots, then grabbed a black sweater—the color matched my mood—and disappeared into my bathroom for a quick minute. Makayla stood by the door of my bedroom when I returned, her arms folded across her chest. That T-shirt of hers was a bit baggy but did little to hide the curves beneath.

Curves I’d felt pressed up against me only moments ago.

Curves I intended to explore with my hands again at some point.

Curves that were mine to keep.

An intriguing concept. I’d explore it more later.

“Ready?” I asked her.

“Waiting for you, Prince Charming,” she drawled.

“Prince Charming?” I repeated, arching a brow.

“You just wasted ten minutes of my life getting dressed, brushing your teeth, applying deodorant, and doing whatever else just happened in there.”

“Combing my hair,” I said, completing her list and removing the innuendo from the latter part of her statement. “Had I wanted to jerk off, you would have been waiting for a bit longer than a handful of minutes. I also would have ensured that you could watch.” I winked at her and moved around her in the doorway. “Stop staring at my ass, sweetheart. And let’s go.”

She muttered something unflattering at my back.

Definitely going to be a challenge.

I grabbed my keys and wallet and met her at the front door. “After you, princess.”

She snorted.

I smiled.

Let the chase begin.