Mate of the Alpha (3 page)

Mate.

Danger.

Protect.

The elevator door opened at the basement level and Ethan was thrown straight into his worst nightmare. Wolves surrounded his mate. He could tell by their dirty and unkempt appearance they were rouges. Wolves that cared nothing for society’s rules, intent on taking what they wanted, when they wanted. No doubt, they had been drawn to Lily. She was the predestined mate of an alpha. What better prize for a rouge shifter?

Sh
e’d pressed herself against the side of her car, her keys in one hand and her purse abandoned on the concrete floor, ready to defend herself. Her beautiful eyes turned his way and he heard his name leave her lips in a whisper. “Ethan.”

Protect. Defend.

When the largest of the wolves growled and advanced, he knew there would be no reasoning with the animals. At his appearance, other wolves would have either dropped in submission or turned and ran away. Not that a civilized discussion was what he wanted. He wanted to tear the shifter limb from limb, permanently ending any threat to his mate. One of the wolves tensed his haunches, preparing to attack.

Ethan and his wolf
flowed together and a howl echoed eerily throughout the concrete structure of the underground parking garage. It was loud and filled with the power of an enraged alpha. He launched himself at the wolves, putting himself between them and his mate.

Ethan caught the
attacking wolf mid-flight and twisted the creature’s neck. As the sound of crunching bone melded with the grunts and growls of the other wolves, he snarled. He grabbed Lily, sitting her on top of her car, all the while keeping the wolves in full view. They had chosen not to obey the rules of the pack and live under the authority of an alpha. They were about to die at the hands of an alpha.

He shifted quickly. As an alpha he
didn’t have to worry about being attacked while he shifted, it was too swift. One minute he was a man, the next a great, hulking, black wolf, ready to take on the shifters foolish enough to mess with his mate.

They would die tonight.

Even in animal form, he was aware of Lily. Her rapid heartbeat told him she was still upset, but the scent of fear had vanished. It gave him an infusion of power and strength to know she trusted him to protect her. As the leader of the rouge paced back and forth before him, he thanked the powers-that-be he had found his mate before he had suffered this wolf’s fate. A mate kept a wolf grounded.

The grey wolf launc
hed himself at Ethan but was no match for his alpha strength. Even with the help of the others, the wolf never stood a chance. Ethan used swift, killing blows. He refused to let any animal suffer.

He quickly sh
ifted back turning his attention once again to his mate. “Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head, still kneeling on the
hood of her car, positioned as if rooting for her favorite sports team. Or poised to join in if she’d felt the need. Any other woman would have been curled up, huddled as far away as possible from the fight. Or would have run away screaming. But not Lily, not his mate. She had been determined to take on a pack of rouge wolves on her own.

He wondered if she was prepared to take on her alpha mate.

“Come h
ere.”

Warm hands reached for Lily
, pulling her from the hood of her car, to hold her against a hard, muscled  body. She could feel the heavy beat of Ethan’s heart as he lifted her into his arms. She wanted to say something, but she knew better than to poke at the angry wolf. Instead, she concentrated on the feeling of being in his arms. The sensation of being carried in a strong man’s arms was an unfamiliar one. She couldn’t recall a single instance when a man had carried her.

She wanted to bury her face against the starched linen of his shirt. He always sme
lled of freshly ironed cotton, the forest, and a masculine scent she couldn’t even begin to describe. All she knew was it made her weak in the knees and achy in places she only touched in the dark of the night.

Ethan
had almost reached the elevators when three burly security guards burst through the stairwell doors.

“Sir,” they shouted
.

Ethan stopped in front of the elevator doors. The guards joined him and one reached around
to hit the call button.

“Is she hurt
, Alpha?” the oldest of the three asked.

“No.”

His arms tightened around her painfully and she could hear the emotion in his voice. It gave her hope that he felt more for her than just lust. When the elevator arrived, the guards didn’t follow them inside. Ethan turned around and Lily buried her face in his shoulder, hiding her eyes from the carnage that reminded on the garage floor.

Seeing her reaction, the guard spoke again. “We’ll take care of it, sir.”

Ethan gave his men one short nod before the doors closed. He savored the feeling of Lily in his arms, her face buried against his shoulder. But he could still feel the tremors of fear coursing throughout his body. What would he have done if she had been injured, or God forbid, killed?

Die
d with her.

He knew his wolf was right. There would have been no living without her. She was his. Always. And forever.

It was well past quitting time, and only a few employees lingered on the top floor of the building. He ignored their curious glances as he carried Lily through the halls. No doubt come tomorrow morning everyone at Wolfe Enterprises would know that the alpha had finally claimed his mate. He kicked her office door open and strode inside. Once he reached his, he kicked the wooden door shut, drowning out all other sounds. The early evening sun was shining through the tempered glass windows, giving the room a warm, golden glow. When he deposited her on the wide leather sofa, her arms clung to him, tugging him down. His muscles strained. His body yearned.

Take her. Take her now
, his wolf commanded. He wanted to, how he wanted to. And he would. Before the moon rose in the sky, Lily Reynolds would be his. First, he needed to take care of her more than he needed to fuck her.

Right
. Well, taking care of her was a close second.

He braced his arms when she would have pulled him down on top of her. He sat down beside her on the edge of the sofa, the soft flesh of her thigh burning his hip. “Y
ou’re safe now, baby. Always safe with me.”

He lowered his head needing a taste of her sweet lips as much as he needed his next breath. Her mouth was soft and inviting. She participated in the kiss, from the first tender touch to the hot, moist
tongue mating. His cock hardened. He wanted more. He wanted everything she had to give. He’d been afraid her near brush with death at the hands of a shifter would have soured her on shifters. On him.

I
t made his heart sing to know she wasn’t afraid of him.

When her fingers brushed aga
inst his side, he grimaced. The other wolves had gotten in one or two good swipes before he’d taken them down. He hadn’t killed all of them, but he’d come pretty damn close. He’d cared more about getting Lily away from the threat. His security team would dispatch those unfortunate enough to have lived. No threat to his mate would be allowed to remain.

“You’re hurt,” she said.

“It’s nothing.” He kept his voice low, barely speaking above a strained whisper. Her touch was more painful than the injury because he wanted it elsewhere on his body.

She let her hand drop
to her side. “Were they–”

“Yeah, baby. The
y were shifters.” He waited to see how she would respond.

“Like you?”

“No, baby. Nothing like me. I don’t attack women. There is good and bad in the shifter community, the same as with humans.”

“I guess I was jus
t in the wrong place at the wrong time, uh?”

“It should never have happened.” He still cursed himself for not putting a protection detail on her as soon as he’d known she was his. Arrogant bastard that he was, he’d never given thought that some other male would try to claim what was his. “T
he only place you’re going to be from now on is by my side or in my arms. Forever.”

When she looked away as if doubting his words, he leaned closer until they were face to face. He wanted no doubts between them as they took their first steps toward a new life together. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.”

Lily shook her head. “No, you haven’t.”

“Someti
mes I have to jerk off in the middle of the day because I want you so much. Do you know how difficult it is to conduct business with a hard-on?”

“Umm, no.” Her mouth curled, a smile lightening up her beautiful face.

“Well, it’s damn difficult, let me tell you that.”

Lily giggled even though her
last sane brain cell was jumping up and down and waving its hands to get her attention. She fought the urge to run and went with the stronger urge to stay.

He
took her hands in his, stroking the backs with his thumbs. “You are my mate, Lily. I want you with every fiber of my being. My wolf wants you so much he’s ready to break through my control and take you. But you can change your mind. If you want to take it slower, we can.”

“But I can’t tell you no? I can’t say yes to now and no to forever?
” She hoped she understood all that was happening and thought she already knew what his answer would be, but she needed to hear him say the words. Words were important to a woman and she was no exception.

“
This is forever.” He pulled her to him, taking her mouth with his. The mouth she wanted on her, doing crazy, erotic things. The mouth spreading wildfire through her veins even now.

“Then I take forever,” she whispered agai
nst his lips. “Forever with you, Ethan.”

The sound of his name on her lips, whisper soft,
and so close to the attack, brought Ethan’s wolf to the forefront. His vision changed, his body grew. The animal side of him wanted to force her to her hands and knee and sink his teeth into the delectable flesh of her neck as he drove his cock inside her. Hard. Deep. And fast. The animal was panting with the need to come. Ethan knew he should have marked her the day he found her. His wolf growled at him, angry with the man for waiting then and waiting now.

“Come, you need to take a shower.”

Lily protested as he led her from his office into his private bath. It wasn’t nearly as large as the one on his estate. There he had a built-in sauna, hot tub, and one or two surprises in his shower stall. All the decadent pleasure a man, or wolf, could ask for. He couldn’t wait to share each and every one with Lily.

He quickly turned on the shower, waiting until he was satisfied with the temperature before turning back to her. “Strip.”

“I don’t need a shower, Ethan.”

He gr
owled and took her face in his hands. He knew his expression was fierce, but tried to keep his touch light. “I need to wash the freaking stench off, baby.”

“Oh,” she said, understanding
dawning in her eyes. “I’ll take a shower.”

“You have ten
minutes.”

As Lily washed away the scent of her attac
kers, he called the restaurant down the street. It was closer than the one he’d planned on taking her to after work. He ordered all her favorites – Caesar salad, sirloin steak tips, and banana cream pie. Then he ordered his favorites – a medium rare New York strip, steak fries, and coconut cream pie. They’d argued the merits of each dessert on several occasions. He personally thought either flavor would taste delicious spread across Lily’s mound as he licked her to satisfaction.

When he heard the shower turn off, he hurried to the bathroom. Grabbing a
large towel, he opened the glass door.

“Out.” He noticed he was still talking
in almost one-word sentences, but he couldn’t help himself. He and his animal were wound so tightly one false move would have them crushing Lily to the floor and mounting her round ass.

Above
her protests, he dried her quickly and stuffed her inside a large terry cloth robe. He swung her up in his arms, taking her back to the soft leather couch in his office. This was not how he’d planned the claiming of his mate. Champagne and roses had already been delivered to his penthouse suite. The large solitaire diamond was in the suit jacket he’d left in the boardroom. The events of the night had forced his hand. Forced his wolf to demand the claiming, the mating. If anything had happened to her…both man and animal shuddered at the thought.

He was always saddened at the loss of any shifter, but t
hose that had dared to touch his mate had signed their own death warrants.

“Stay
here, Lily. I’ll be right back.” He gave her another hard kiss before striding back into the bathroom.

Lily heard the water running in the shower
and knew he was washing away the blood and smell of the wolves that had attacked her. She tugged the lapels of the robe up to her nose, breathing in his deep, rich scent. She was trembling inside and it wasn’t from her near attack but the step she was about to take. A step that would change her life forever.