Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2 (Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) (14 page)

“Please,” she whispered. Uninhibited need roughened her
voice.

“Yes,” he said, and guided the thick tip of his cock into
her.

Sara's slicked walls pulled him into her, surrounding him
with a gorgeous pressure that almost had his eyes rolling back in his head.
Rafe slowly pushed his full length into her hot, tight center, gauging the
strength of his thrusts by the sounds she made. Slowly she encased him until he
was in all the way. He stayed still there for a moment, enjoying the tremors
spreading from his swollen cock through the rest of his body as her heat and
wetness held him fast.

Sara wiggled her rump just a bit on the crate, flexing her
inner muscles around him and causing a new, stronger wave of sensations to
travel up his cock and out the top of his head. Biting back a sharp gasp, he
pulled back an inch. She protested, and he chuckled.

“I'm still here,” he said in that deep growl he couldn't
seem to help right now. “You want me back?”

“Yes!” She shifted under him and put her hands on his hips,
trying to push him back down on her. Her fingers played across his skin, then
sank in as she sought to bring him to her. “Please, Rafe. I need to feel you
all the way in me.”

Bracing his hands on either side of her shoulders, he pulled
out more, then thrust in hard and fast. Relentless yet with a smooth tempo he
picked up naturally just seconds after being back inside her body again after
so long, Rafe pumped into her. He plunged in to the furiously throbbing root,
then pulled out to the very tip, almost fearing he would lose her completely.
He managed to keep contact with her, settling into an ancient, almost
unbearably pleasurable rhythm that had them both gasping.

Sara tucked her head into the hollow between his chin and
shoulder and fastened small teeth onto the skin there, nipping and sucking at
it. For a brief moment he wondered if the little vixen planned to mark him with
a hickey, then he didn't care. She could bruise his entire body with bite
marks, claim very inch of him. He welcomed it.

She laced her legs around his back and held on tight to his
shoulders as he drove into her again and again, led by his consuming need and
the frustrated longings of a year. He felt himself thickening more as his
orgasm mounted closer.

“Ah,
yes.”
He groaned into her bright hair. “That's
it, yes, babe, there.” His voice was cracking, losing control. He was beyond caring.
He and the wildest part of his wolf merged, driven together by the mating
frenzy. Rock hard, he claimed his mate with savage thrusts she eagerly
welcomed. He felt her sweet, tight, wet walls contracting around him, heard the
rising pitch in the noises tumbling out of her throat, and knew she was about
to crest again right along with him.

It roared through him with the force of a freight train,
beginning where he connected to her, racing out to his fingertips, curling down
through his toes. Lights exploded in his head as he spurted hot and hard into
her, her legs gripped down tight on his back and hips, each squeeze riding him
and wringing out another slamming wave of rapture.

Lost in it, Rafe cried out her name. He could feel Sara's
own orgasm rippling over him, spasming its way along his length. Her fingers
dug so hard into his shoulders he thought she might dent them. Holding on as
long as he could, he bucked with the sensations until they ebbed away.

Arms shaking a little from where they still braced on the
crate, he grazed her lips with his, silently marveling at their petal soft
feel. Carefully, he lowered himself onto his forearms, his breath still
juddering in and out of him. He felt her legs relax around him as her little
spasms eased away. Her grip on his shoulders loosened, then fell away as she
wrapped her arms around his back instead and pulled him down to her. Her sweet
breath filled his ear and he could feel her heart hammering under his chest.

They lay like that for long moments. Rafe kissed her her
collarbone and neck, tasting the light sheen of perspiration there. “Mm,” he
said, his voice rumbling into her. “You taste good everywhere.”

She breathed out a laugh and ran her her fingers down his
spine and onto his ass. As she curved her hand down over him, she said, “You've
got to be uncomfortable in this position.”

Rafe let out a full-bodied chuckle. “I didn't notice until
now. You were distracting me.”

With a final, lingering kiss on her plush lips, he pushed
himself back and out of his awkward half-kneeling, half-sprawled position. He
might feel a little stiff in the morning—but it sure as hell had been worth it.

Slowly, Rafe allowed outside noises and smells filter in
again. People walking and laughing on the streets, appetizing scents drifting
over from some of the many nearby restaurants. And the unmistakable mingling of
two people who'd just had heart-stopping sex.

His wolf made satisfied circles in his mind before settling
down, content.

Rafe reached down to help Sara sit up. Even in the dark of
the alley he could tell her hair was mussed up, and her skirt was still bunched
around her waist. He liked her in this state. Disheveled, all because of him.

“Let's get you out of here,” he said, reaching over to find
her crumpled top he'd used as a pillow for her head. He handed it to her,
letting his fingers stroke lightly along her arms as he did. Her little shiver
in response gratified him, despite the slight awkwardness he thought he sensed
in her silence.

After they were both clothed again, he tucked her under his
arm and guided them out of the alley. A growing quiet blanketed them as they
walked, but her hip bumped against his and she stayed right beside him. She
pointed him in the direction of her car, since he'd come with Caleb and had no
idea where his brother was, although he suspected probably still enjoying
walloping on someone at this point.

“Will you drive?” she asked when they got to her small girly
car, handing him the keys. He dropped another kiss on the top of her head, then
lifted her chin up so he could savor her lips again. She murmured against his
mouth, sliding her hand behind his neck and gently pulling him closer to her.

Yet when she pulled back, she wouldn't meet his eyes. Uneasy,
he sensed a deeper withdrawing. Feeling a small frown settle on his forehead,
he opened the door for her and saw her in. Getting into the driver's seat, he
drove them away. The space between them froze with each minute, and damned if
Rafe had no idea what the hell to do about it now.

By the time they reached her small house, he knew he'd lost
her, for now at least. Huddled into the passenger seat, face turned toward the
window the entire, increasingly tense time, her body language gave him a clear
message. One, she'd enjoyed herself immensely with him. Two, she'd let loose
something she hadn't meant to, and it was now scaring her half to death. Three,
she was his. That wasn't even a question any longer. But four, she also wasn't
ready to take the final step toward him.

His wolf growled in a combination of exasperation and
distress, echoing the dark shadows in Rafe's thoughts.

He parked in her driveway and came to her side to open the
door. Guiding her up the few steps to her front door, he waited until she
fumbled for her key. Then, leaving his voice as raw as he felt, he spoke.

“Well, Sara?”Nothing else. He wasn't about to throw her a
lifeline.

She jolted a little as his tone hit her. The night smelled
like rich, loamy earth and the spicy, sexy wolf before him.

“Rafe.” Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and tried
again. “I think I—I mean, I love you.”

The night sounds stretched out, barely covering his pounding
heart. He heard the truth in her words. Even so, something was still missing.

“But.” He said the word in a voice still scraped wide open.

“There is no
but,
Rafe. I really love you. I can
admit that.” She laughed, a little shakily.

A dry snort left him.

“There's a
but
in there. I can hear it.”

“I'm yours, Rafe.”

She reached out and took his hands, but he didn't respond to
her gentle squeeze.

“I don't want anyone else.” Her voice was a whisper.

“Then what is it?”

“I don't even know,” she admitted.

“Yes, you do,” he said, sudden insistence making his voice
louder than he'd intended. Immediately shaking his head, he placed his palms on
the sides of her face and kissed her until her breath quickened.

Reluctant, he slowly pulled back. “Yes, you know exactly
what's wrong,” he ground out, somewhat more softly. “You need to figure out who
the hell you are. I know you're my mate, Sara. But I need
you
to
understand and believe that yourself.”

Her eyes wet, she tried to pull him closer. Shaking his head
again, he released her and stepped away. If he didn't leave right this second,
he'd fucking blow it again and ruin for good everything he thought he'd just
won. She insisted on fighting this internal battle on her own, so he had to let
her do it.

Even if it killed him.

Drawing on every ounce of his willpower, he simply said,
“Good night, Sara.”

Quickly, he forced himself to turn around and walk home
alone before the feeling of being punched in the chest could make him stagger.

Chapter
10

Rafe kept his head to the ground as he trotted. He could
smell a very faint wolf trail, but it was too old to pick up much more than it
was a shifter. One of the strange wolves who'd been around here last week,
maybe. No others beside Black Mesa Pack members had crossed through recently.

He raised his head for a moment, checking the horizon. Empty
landscape stretched out for miles ahead, cluttered only with dusty red
sandstone buttes and spires and canyons and the gradual spill of mountains. The
den wasn't that far behind them, but he and Sara had driven down a dirt road
for a ways before parking and shifting into wolf form. Now they were about two
miles from the car, just nosing around to make sure there'd been no more
interlopers on Black Mesa territory.

Rafe flicked an ear back. Sara's paws hit the ground in
steady cadence as she trotted behind him. He flicked his ear forward again,
then back. His human paced as well, split between focusing on the landscape and
focusing on the sleek wolf just out of reach.

The past week had been beyond tense. Rafe knew he would
leave sooner than later to start scouting for the new northern pack. Alpha
wanted him in place with a full base pack—nine strong members to begin—before
the end of the next month. Something disturbing loomed in the future that had
the Alpha quietly agitated, which Rafe had never before witnessed. He suspected
it had something to do with either rogues in general or Luke Rawlins' old pack
in particular, but his father hadn't yet said.

Sara still avoided any meaningful contact with him in human
form as she wrestled with whatever demons she thought she needed to face down.
Even so, there was no hiding from the connection they'd forged during the
mating frenzy. In wolf form, she was much closer and playful with him, but her
human fears kept her restrained.

Rafe would only push so far, though. She knew his mind and
what he wanted. He could go start the pack without her. But sooner than later,
he needed his strong, reliable, clever mate with him. There was no forcing that
issue to happen.

His human grumbled. Rafe thoroughly agreed.

“Rafe,” Sara said in a small warning bark.

He swung his head back at her. She'd paused, nose in the
air, sniffing. He turned his head up toward the sky to pull in scents as well.
Nothing unusual. He looked at her, ears alert in curiosity.

She shook her head. “Thought there was something. Never
mind.”

He slowed his steps so could trot alongside him. Reaching
over with a quick movement, he nipped gently at the scruff of her neck. She
nosed back at him, baring her teeth in mock play. Just as quickly, though, she
backed off and kept her distance.

Rafe trotted on, his tail waving a little lower. Sara being
afraid of the reality, of the commitment, of him, was still difficult. She
didn't need to prove anything to him. He knew how strong and brave and fierce
she was.

She needs to know that herself,
his human whispered
in a somewhat bleak tone.

Rafe trotted on, feeling grim. His every instinct said to
mate with her again, to take her, to show her he was strong enough for them
both. But his rational human side insisted on letting her prove to herself how
strong she was. Only then would she accept that some sort of freedom without
him wasn't nearly as fun as a full, long life with him.

Right?

The thoughts and emotions bouncing around inside him made
him sloppy. He stopped paying strict attention to his surroundings. A violent
rustle just ahead was the only warning he got.

Three furry, deadly shapes dropped down from a cluster of
large juniper trees about two feet away. Howling and baying like devil hounds,
they headed straight for him.

“Rafe!” Sara's scream echoed through his ears as one of the
wolves barreled into him, knocking him over and plowing him into the ground. He
got a strong whiff of sagebrush and a nose-wrinkling chemical scent cover.
Rogues.

Rearing up, jaw opened in a growling slash, Rafe lunged for
his attackers. Mid leap, an enormous paw slammed into his head, sending him
sprawled back on the ground. He caught only a glimpse of a wolf's back legs
kicking out at his face with brutal strength, connecting with enough force to
rock his head back and send up a shower of pain blazing through his skull.

His last thought before darkness crashed down was of Sara.

Sara screamed again, a ripping howl of unearthly panic and
fear, as the rogue wolves battered Rafe to the ground and then kicked him into
an unconscious slump.