The Alpha by Jenika Snow

13

Evelyn

Ithought I was dreaming at first, this warmth settling over me, the feeling of being perfectly… perfect seeping into every single inch of my body.

I’d slowly woken up, as if I were at the very bottom of the ocean and floated to the top, a relaxing and gentle sensation until I broke the surface and inhaled that first lungful of oxygen.

The smell was rich and deep, dark yet spicy, and it surrounded me. It covered my tongue so I tasted it, filled my nose so it was all I smelled. I felt my body sink farther into the bed, my legs becoming weightless, the very female parts of me softening. I was wet, my nipples beading, my core hot. I felt so good.

A soft moan spilled from me, and I kept my eyes shut, reveling in the feeling of it all.

And then I heard a deep inhale by my head, a low growl rumbling out afterward. Consciousness settled in, and I blinked my eyes open, awareness slamming back into me like icy water in my face.

I stared at the massive man hovering over me, his eyes closed, his dark lashes half-moons along his cheeks. His short hair was a shade lighter than his lashes, his nose straight and strong, his jaw square and wholly masculine. His lips were full, appearing darker in the shadowy room, and all I could do was lie there as he inhaled against a lock of my hair.

My heart was thundering and fear should have been the only thing I felt, but I knew this man even if I’d only seen him once, an ocean separating us.

Cian.

He’d come for me. He’d found me.

I’d like to think I had put up a big chase, that I tried my hardest to run and hide. But as I lay there helpless and felt my traitorous body become even wetter, more aroused, I knew a part of me had held me back. I’d let myself believe this was all a stupid fairy tale, a fictitious story that had been conjured up and thrust into my life. I told myself no one was coming after me, and even if he was, he’d never find me.

How wrong I’d been.

He slowly opened his eyes, glowing blue orbs that I swore lit up the entire room. I felt my eyes widen more as our gazes stayed locked. And for a long second, neither of us moved. He stared at me and I at him, and then I forced myself to pull out of the trance I was in.

I moved away so quickly I fell off the side of the bed, my shirt riding up, my lower panty-covered half coming into full view. Here I was, sprawled out, my legs spread from the fall, Cian’s gaze latched at the most intimate part of me covered only by a thin layer of cotton.

His nostrils flared, that very inhuman sound leaving him. And God help me… I got wetter.

I snapped my legs closed and crab walked backward until the wall stopped my retreat, then forced myself to stand, my palms flat on the wall, my breathing erratic. I couldn’t move as I watched him stalk around the bed and come closer to me. I felt the electricity in the air, causing the hairs on my arms to stand on end.

He stopped when he was a few feet from me, the heat from his body slamming into mine, my chest rising and falling faster and harder. I felt beads of sweat lining my temples before sliding down, his gaze riveted to the descent. I held my breath and tensed when he reached out—his hand, I swore, was as big as my face. And then I felt his finger trail along the side of my head, collecting that droplet before he pulled his hand back and brought it to his mouth. I bit my tongue to hold off the small whimper that would’ve come through.

And when he slipped the digit between his lips, and sucked that salty droplet off, my mouth parted in shock. The rumble that came from him was sharp and speared right to the most intimate part of me. I clenched my thighs together, my panties sticking to my folds.

He took another step closer, and one more until we were toe-to-toe. My head was tipped back and resting against the wall, my gaze locked on his. He was handsome, astoundingly so. His hair was short and dark, the strands looking so soft, even though he seemed gritty and masculine in all other ways. My fingers twitched to rise up and touch those locks, to tangle my fingers in them and jerk him toward me.

I’d never seen a man so masculine, never seen one so large, so strong. His shoulders were broad, his chest wide and strong and blocking out everything behind him. Even with the shadows and darkness ascending around us, I could see him clearly, being as close as we were, and I grew drunk off the sight of Cian.

I’d never been more sure than in that moment that this man was not wholly human. His size, the way he looked, the sounds that came from him all attested to the fact that there was something very deep within him, something very dangerous, dark, and… arousing.

“If ye’d just…” he said but trailed off, as if he either couldn’t bring the words out or couldn’t form them to make me understand. I saw this war waging on his face, and something in me cracked.

He lifted his hand again, and I flinched. It was an involuntary reaction, and it wasn’t even because I was afraid or thought he’d hurt me, but he clearly thought so by the way his square jaw clenched and he curled his fingers into his palm.

“I’ll never hurt ye,” he said with so much conviction I felt the words. “I’d kill myself, let my body be tortured and torn apart, burned and broken irrevocably, just tae make sure ye’re whole and safe.”

A small sound of shock left me.

“It’s the truth, my wee lass.”

My eyelids fluttered on their own at the way he said my wee lass, as if the words were just as much an endearment as they were a branded stamp that I was his.

“I know,” I found myself saying before I even realized it, before I even knew if it was my actual truth. But as I stared at him and saw that just being here in front of him was some kind of awe-inspiring moment for him, I knew this man—Lycan male—would lay his life down for me without a second thought.

He had his hands on the wall on either side of my head, his big body leaned forward, caging me in, making me feel small. “If ye’d just let me touch ye, hold ye”—he looked down at my lips—“kiss ye, Evie, ye’ll see how good and right it is tae be together.”

His spicy, dark scent made me liquid, causing tingles to move through my body before settling between my thighs. My clit throbbed in time with my pulse, my pussy getting wetter, opening, readying itself for what only he could give me.

He closed his eyes and groaned, his head dropping low so his forehead was pressed to mine. We breathed the same air for long moments, neither speaking, but it was a profound moment.

“I’m afraid,” I admitted out loud for the first time since all of this started. But I didn’t know what I was afraid of.

The situation? This intense attraction I felt for him, the first and only attraction I’d ever felt in my entire life? The fact that he wasn’t even human and that I didn’t fully understand what a fated mate entailed with his species?

I had so many questions slamming into my head they made me dizzy, yet as I stood in front of Cian, one thing was abundantly clear.

His presence grounded me, leveled everything out. My thoughts cleared, the hazy, dizzy sensation dissipating.

He had both hands covering my face in the next second, his palms calloused, so warm and big that it was hard to focus on anything else but the feel of him. I’d never felt anything so peaceful—or arousing—than having Cian touch me. And it was easy enough to get swept up in the sensations he conjured inside me.

My eyes snapped open when I felt the soft brush of his lips against mine. I was startled, my heart pounding, my body shaking. He groaned roughly from that tiny connection, and then he was stepping closer, fusing our bodies together.

“Ah, gods. Yes, Evie. Fook… yes.” His words were low, husky. His fingers tightened ever so slightly against my temples, and then he was tilting my head to the side and trying to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue slide along the seam of my lips, a silent request for entrance.

God help me… but I opened my mouth and moaned when he dipped his tongue inside.

I felt the way his muscles tightened, all that power waiting to be unleashed. The sounds he made from this simple kiss were unlike anything I’d ever heard, unlike anything I could have ever fantasized.

“Touching ye is better than I could have ever dreamed,” he murmured against my lips a second before probing my mouth once more, fucking me in the way I wanted him to in a bed, both of us naked.

My first kiss was powerful, electrifying, and had this singeing heat inflaming every inch of me. The sounds coming from Cian were so hot, a man untamed, barely hanging on to his control.

“I waited so long for ye, lass. So fooking long for this. Ye’ll be my first everything. Forever.”

I felt my eyes open and flare at his words. His first everything? Oh God, why was that so hot?

I let myself enjoy this as my eyes slid shut once more, as I curled my fingers against the wall, no purchase to hold onto, my nails scraping against the cheap wallpaper. But it was better than reaching for him, pulling him harder against me, needing to feel every square inch of his body plastered against mine.

As if he read my thoughts, he groaned again, pressing his lower body against my belly, the very thick, very prominent outline of his desire for me digging into my stomach. He was huge, his erection big enough this fear filled me at the very thought of trying to take all of him into my body.

A fresh gush of wetness spilled from me, my body preparing itself, the obscene images of him over me, thrusting against me, pushing—making me take—all that dick into my pussy. My face heated, no doubt a flush racing up my neck to encompass my face at the arousal and embarrassment of my thoughts.

He kissed me deeper, delving his tongue all the way in, tasting every inch of my mouth. My teeth and tongue, my inner cheeks, sliding that muscle along my upper and bottom lip before dipping back inside my mouth, claiming me from the inside out.

And that’s exactly what it felt like he was doing.

A claiming.

My hands found their way to his waist, feeling all that hard muscle underneath the thin cotton material. There was so much power underneath his golden skin and strong bones, muscles thick, power immense.

“Ah hell, lass,” he grunted against my lips.

I let my hand slide away, thinking maybe I’d overstepped by touching him, even if that thought seemed ridiculous seeing as he was grinding up on me. And the growl he made couldn’t be called anything but disapproval.

“More. Touch me more, Evie… as much as ye like. All the fooking time.”

There was more kissing, heads cocked to the sides, tongues dueling with one another. I felt insatiable, ignited.

“Gods, I’ve been waiting for ye, for this moment, my entire life.”

I knew he wasn’t talking to me but murmuring the words to himself, as if he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. I could relate, never once seeing myself in this situation. It was both exhilarating and terrifying all in the same breath.

The way he ground himself against me, rolling his hips, digging that massive erection against my belly, had my clit throbbing, my inner pussy walls clamping tight for something thick and big… something only Cian could give me.

Cian pulled back, the moment broken so quickly I sucked in air. He was breathing so hard, the warm gusts of it moving along my face. I blinked my eyes open, dragging my tongue along the bottom swell, tasting everything he was, an addicting flavor I knew I’d never get enough of.

Dangerous.

“This isn’t about me just wanting ye, Evie.” His expression was… fierce. “This is about doing everything in my fooking power tae keep ye.”

It would have been so easy to give in, to let whatever was happening transpire. A part of me wanted that… so badly. But fear of the unknown had me shaking my head and my heart racing for another reason. I placed my hands on the firm, defined pectoral muscles of his chest and pushed him back.

He retreated up instantly, his head lowered but his eyes locked on me. I started inching toward the door, my pulse racing for another reason, so loud it was all I heard.

His chuckle was low and pleased. God, he sounded so damn happy that I was making this hard for him.

“I’m a wolf, Evie. A Lycan male.”

My body shivered at the way his words caressed every single part of me, at the way he was the only one to ever give me a nickname. He made it sound so heated and sexual, so much so that my thighs clamped together hard, my pussy softening and becoming impossibly wet. My panties stuck to my folds, the material so drenched it turned me on as much as embarrassed me.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled, and I felt my eyes widen when he let out a low growl. Oh God… he can smell me. He can smell how aroused I am.

“Ye running from me does nothing but make me harder, driving the instinct tae hunt ye and take ye tae the ground once I’ve caught ye until it’s almost unbearable.” He moved a step closer, and I moved one to the side, closer toward the door. “It makes me want tae spread those pretty thighs of yers and rut between them until I fill ye up with my seed and ye come all over my cock… giving yerself tae me in all fooking ways.”

My bare foot hit my bag, which I already had packed and ready to go by the door. Without breaking eye contact, I bent down to grab it and slung it over my shoulder. I rifled through the front pocket to get my keys, my gaze always on Cian, the survival part of me saying to run.

But another part of me, one that was becoming stronger, told me to stay, to go to him… to give myself over like he wanted, because it would be so good.

I reached behind me and turned the doorknob, the handle spinning funny in my hand, and when I wrenched it open, I realized why. The lock was broken. How he’d gotten in.

“Ye can feel how right it is tae be in my presence.” He took a step forward. “Canna ye imagine how perfect it’ll be once ye give yerself over tae me?” There was a serrated quality to his voice, one that had pleasure moving through me. I should’ve hated it… but I didn’t. I heard this almost underlying desperation, as if he waited on bated breath for me to give him the answer he desired.

I shook my head as I retreated another step, this one taking me outside. A crack of lightning sliced through the sky, illuminating it and casting this glow over Cian, giving him a sinister look. A moment later a boom of thunder followed.

And then the rain came, the sky opening up, pouring down in a rush of water, the wind whipping it sideways, soaking the oversize white shirt I wore. I started shivering, but it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the man standing before me, sliding his gaze down to my chest. I felt my nipples pucker, the cotton sticking to my breasts, the peaks no doubt very evident.

I knew my car was right behind me, but I was frozen in place, as if cement filled my feet, as if my body refused to move away from my mate. My mate. This whole thing was illogical, insane. Then why am I not running as fast as I can to my car, leaving all of this behind?

A growl erupted, and at first I thought it was from Cian, but then I realized it came from behind me. I turned to face the parking lot. The noise came through again and it was so deep and loud, mimicking the thunder that was intermittently spiking throughout the sky. My heart was in my throat, but I saw nothing but pellets of rain, a blanket of water as it rushed down on the graveled parking lot.

And then I could see them, two large forms colliding with each other, another roar erupting, but this time it came from Cian behind me. I didn’t stop and think, my body just reacting as I ran toward my car, small pebbles from the lot digging into the bare soles of my feet. But I didn’t feel any pain. I was running high on adrenaline; this whole situation was wrong.

A little voice in my head said it wasn’t because of Cian, that wrongness that filled me, but because something else was pushing its way through… something truly dangerous.

I reached my car, but my keys slipped from my fingers in my haste to open the door, in the slickness of the rain. My entire body was soaked, my hair plastered to my face and forehead. I pushed away the strands, frantic, frightened. And then I felt intense heat cover my back, my entire body freezing as I slowly turned around and tipped my head up, up, and up until I looked into Cian’s eyes.

A gasp left me as I saw the glowing irises, a vivid blue that cast its eerie glow along me, as if he was lit from the inside out. Our chests were almost touching, Cian so much bigger than me that my head barely reached his pectoral muscles.

The rush of the rain, the boom of thunder, and the sounds of an aggressive fight happening far too close for me filled my head. But as the seconds ticked by and I stared into Cian’s eyes, everything else faded away.

He groaned deeply, his gaze lowering to my lips, water sluicing off both of us.His short hair appeared darker from the rain, the strands cast in spiky sections around his head, some pieces sticking to his forehead. And then he was lifting his hand and covering the side of my face, his palm as big as my cheek, engulfing it.

His mouth was on mine before I could react, the second kiss of my life, this one and the first happening within the past five minutes and rocking me to my core.

He broke the kiss, and I stumbled back against my car, dazed, confused. Nothing else mattered but feeling him pressed against me again.

But the flash of movement coming right toward us, of a body being tossed onto the ground, drew both of our attention and had Cian bracing himself visibly.

The man pulled himself off the ground, shaking his head as if to clear it, blood marring his neck from deep clawlike gouges on the white skin.

Cian had his back to my chest, pushing me more firmly against the car—a shield of bone and muscle and flesh.

The wind howled, the water obscuring my vision and making it hard to see anything, but as I stared at the man now standing just feet from us, his face clear and hard with anger, I felt confusion fill me.

It was the minivan guy from the Amish store.

I noticed the gun he sported, one that glinted briefly under the flash of lightning. As if he heard my thoughts, he snapped his head toward me. Cian growled low and dangerously, a warning even I recognized. Before the other man could raise his weapon, which by the tensing of his arm I knew was about to happen, Cian launched himself at him.

The two bodies collided, one so much bigger than the other. I made a horrified sound. I found myself stepping forward, knowing how foolish it was to get in the middle of a fight that vicious, but everything inside me urged me to help Cian.

I was in a haze as I took the next step, but a steely hand clamped on my wrist, stopping me and causing me to snap my head over my shoulder.

The woman from the minivan stared at me with wide, terrified eyes. “We have to get out of here,” she urged in a harsh whisper, her gaze flickering to Cian fighting the other man. “That… that thing isn’t human.” Her voice was pitched low with thickly laced fear. “They’ll kill us.”

She started pulling me away, but I dug my heels in the now muddy ground, shaking my head because this felt wrong. This wasn’t right.

“No,” I said softly, maybe too softly for her to hear. She wasn’t listening; she kept murmuring about how dangerous it was, how we had to get out of here, how they’d tear us apart. I looked over my shoulder again but couldn’t see the fight, the wind and rain making visibility almost impossible. I could hear them though, deep grunts and rough growls. I swore I even smelled the coppery tang of blood in the air.

“No,” I said even firmer, yanking my arm from her grasp hard enough that something popped in my shoulder. But I didn’t worry about the pain. I turned and faced her, realizing she’d dragged me to that same minivan that had screamed families and road trips.

But right now it looked like the very thing trying to take me from Cian, and every part of me revolted at that idea.

“We have to get out of here,” she pleaded. “Don’t you want to survive?”

I was shaking my head. He wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I was as sure of Cian’s protection as I was of the air moving into my lungs with each involuntary inhale I made.

It was only seconds that we stared at each other, but she was now the one shaking her head and moving a step closer, her expression changing from shock to cold, hard apathy.

“Do you want to be the human whore of one of those creatures, Evelyn Williams?” The loathing in her voice, the way she sneered the words out… the fact that she knew who I was, had me stumbling back. But she still had her hand wrapped around my wrist, dragging me closer, her face right in front of mine. “We don’t really want you, but you’re tied to that animal now, and so the Assembly will use you as we see fit to control these monsters.”

“W-What?” That one word was nothing but a whisper from me, and I tugged on my hand again, but her hold was unrelenting. “How do you know who I am? How do you know my name?” What in the hell is going on?

Her laugh was low and more menacing than anything I’d ever heard. “We’ve been following you, found out you Linked to that animal.” The way she said that last word was like he was the most disgusting filth she’d ever encountered. “Knew the moment he touched down, knew it was only a matter of time before he’d find you. So we kept close.”

I shook my head so hard and fast I grew dizzy. “What’s going on?” The question was rhetorical, because I honestly didn’t think I wanted to know even more than I did.

I heard a deep male grunt and looked at the fight, as if an invisible thread connected us. I still wasn’t able to see anything clearly but worried it was Cian getting injured. I didn't know how long I watched him, but I felt like I was in a trance, ensnared and unable to move, let alone think clearly. Is this shock?

“We found the Lycans and have his human mate. Incapacitated one of them, and Maxwell is attempting to take down the other mark. It’s clear they didn’t know about us. Caught them off guard.Intercepting now and will report back once we have the beasts in custody.”

I looked at the woman again, seeing she had procured a cell phone and spoke into it as she stared at me. My pulse beat too wildly and loudly in my ears, and coiled with the fierce weather, hearing what was said was almost impossible.

Dark ink on her wrist drew my attention, and I focused on the design.A circular starburst with a crescent shape cradled in the center.

I tore my focus from the tattoo just as I saw movement in my peripheral a second before pain exploded against the side of my head. I cried out and stumbled back, losing my footing and falling backward onto my butt. My hand cupped the side of my head, my vision blurry, the pain in my skull enough to have my eyes squeezed tight and nausea rolling through my belly. I opened my eyes just as I pulled my fingers away and saw a thick amount of blood coating the digits.

Another roar carried through the air, and I looked to where the sound came from, seeing Cian watching me with a rage-filled expression on his face, his body bigger than I’d ever seen it. That… that wasn’t a human, and I’d never been more sure of the supernatural world than I was right then.

I felt the woman grab a chunk of my hair, wrenching me up so hard I cried out. I reached up to grip her hand, trying to alleviate the pressure. Her focus was maniacal as she stared at me, then looked at presumably Cian, who was in the distance.

I used her distraction to my advantage and brought my fist up, clocking her in the side of the nose. She made a low cry, her grip loosening, but she was strong, given her small size, and backhanded me hard enough I was cast to the side before I could catch my balance.

Another feral sound came through just as I lifted my head, my gaze on Cian once more, and saw him charging right toward us with murder on his face.