The Alpha Claims A Mate (11 page)

“The professor is far from suicidal,” Ginger agreed.  “And he knew how the panthers felt about him, and about any attempts to remove their ancestral icons from the territory. But…it sounds as if you thought he had an inside man.”

“We do.  But how would an inside man get him past all of the other panthers?  It still doesn’t make sense.”

He
ran his hands wearily over his face. “Okay. The day’s over.  Let’s go for a run. I need to clear my head and then we can talk.”

They drove outside of town,
and the sheriff pulled into a small wooded cove by the side of the road. Loch got out of the car and Ginger followed suit, shutting the patrol car door.  

He walked over to stand next to her, and she felt that familiar tingling sensation rolling over her, the pulse of desire that throbbed inside her with each heartbeat. 
“Talk to me,” Ginger said.

“Ever since the first time I laid eyes on you, I wanted to claim you as mine,” Loch told her. “That’s why I went all caveman on you at the Hoot Owl. I’ve been trying to fight the urge to grab you and rip your clothes off every second that I’m alone with you.”

Ginger stared at him in amazement. Several long seconds ticked by as she tried to process what he was saying. 

“Why me?” she asked finally.

“Why? Because you’re beautiful, and smart, and kind, and sexy, and because you give me a hard time when nobody else dares too, and because you’re my fated mate.”

“I…what? You believe in that? In the city, we think that’s kind of a myth.”

“Of course we believe in that,” Loch said. “It’s true. My grandmother was with her fated mate for seventy years until he passed away, God rest his soul.  My mother and my father, too.  They live north of here; you’ll meet them.”

“But…I just met you.”

“Don’t you feel it too?” He took her hand in his, his eyes pleading. The feeling of his skin brushing against hers set her senses on fire, and she bit her lip, stifling a whimper.

“I don’t know what I feel. Every time I’m near you, I tingle all over and I can barely concentrate and everything I say sounds stupid and…” she was blushing and staring at the ground.

“Have you ever felt that way about anyone else?”

“Never.”

“Listen, this isn’t the olden days where the Alpha drags his fated mate off to his homestead the second he scents her, and there’s a shotgun marriage on the spot,” Loch assured her. “Although, let me tell you, those marriages always lasted. That’s how my grandfather claimed my grandmother, in fact.”

“What?” Ginger’s eyes widened in surprise.

“This is the 21
^st
century.  I get that. We can take all the time you need. And there’ll be courting. Plenty of courting.” His voice dropped to a low growl. “But no other men.”

“And no other women!” she protested, and then wanted to smack herself. Was she agreeing to this? Had she gone completely crazy?

“Of course, no other women.” At her skeptical look he added, “I know my reputation. But I’ve literally never been serious with any other woman before I met you. And I’ve never lied to a woman .  All those women that I was with…it was like I was trying to fill a void while I was looking for the one.”

“Oh.” Her eyes were round with wonder.

“Let’s run,” he said.

Quickly, they both shed their clothing and shifted. 

Ginger’s senses blazed to life, the glorious scents and sounds of the forest swirling around her as they dashed through the woods. She could smell rich loamy earth and the scents of every kind of tree and the berries on bushes, and the sun warmed her fur as she followed Loch.

He weaved through the trees, leaping over bushes and logs, and they ran and ran until they finally came to stop by a stream bed.
Loch bent over the bank and dipped his head to drink, and Ginger did too, their long pink tongues curling the ice cold water into their mouths.  There they both shifted again, and stood naked on a bed of moss by the running water.

With a growl, Loch swept Ginger into his arms as if she were light as a feather, and then set her down gently on the moss bed.  He grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms above her head, sliding on top of her. His muscular body was covered with a sheen of sweat, and he was breathing hard.

“Just so we’re clear…in bed, I’m always the dominant.” His voice rumbled out, deep and sexy.

“I gathered that,” she said, between panting breaths. “I like it.”

He moved down, his lips pressing against hers, nibbling at her lower lip, and she let out a whimper of pleasure.  Then his mouth moved on hers, and her lips parted, accepting him. His kiss was hungry and demanding, his tongue probing, exploring.

The weight of his body felt delicious. Everywhere his skin touched hers, she could feel her nerves sizzling. The thickness of his erection pressed between her legs and she moaned and parted her thighs.

He began kissing her neck, nipping at it hard enough to make her gasp with delight, then running his tongue over the tingling skin in long, slow laps.

He moved down to her breasts, kissing them and cupping them in his hands, and then suck
ed her swollen, sensitive nipple into his mouth and teased it with his teeth.

“
Ohhhhh,” she wailed. “Yesss….like that…” He scraped his teeth across it and she gasped her pleasure. He moved to her other breast, tongue swirling in circles around the pink circle of her aureole, and then closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked hard.

Hot waves of pleasure
snaked through her, and she tangled her fingers in his silky curls, caressing him. She could feel the warm rays of the sun beating down on them, and the trilling of birds was like a symphony.

When he moved down lower to kiss her rounded belly, she flinched and tried to move away. He grabbed her hands and pinned them by her side.

“Stop,” he growled. “I love your curves. They’re what make you a woman. Let me show you.” His tongue swirled in circles on her stomach and dipped into her navel, and her breathing quickened, coming in short, sharp pants.

He slid down further, spreading her fleshy thighs apart with his hands, and kissing and nipping at the curves of her flesh.

Then he was between her legs, caressing the dewy wet petals of her pussy, spreading them open. “Ohhhh,” she wailed. “My God. Like that. Just like that.”

She would have done anything for him. The hot waves of pleasure felt like rivers of lava now, burning her with unbearable ecstasy. When he sucked the swollen rosebud of her clitoris into his mouth and scraped his teeth over it, she screamed aloud, in pleasure so intense she thought she’d die.

Loch was merciless, his hands spreading her lips wide apart and his mouth sucking hard, teasing, nipping, until she could bear it no longer.

She felt as if the earth fell away from her and she writhed beneath him, shuddering violently with the force of her orgasm.  She lost all sense of time and place, vaguely feeling him sliding up on top of her and kissing her neck as he positioned himself on top of her.

“Inside me,” she moaned. “I want you inside me.”

“Like this, baby?”

Loch moved his hips, and the head of his cock nudged between the wet pink petals of her pussy.  

She wailed, moving to accept him, and he forced his way into her tight tunnel, sliding in several inches.

“Harder,” she gasped.

“Shameless hussy.” He thrust again, deep inside her, and she grabbed his butt cheeks with both hands, fingers sinking into those perfect, muscular globes.

“Oh my God, you’re so tight. Yes,” he groaned, and began moving his hips, pistoning into her rhythmically.  He’d pull back, almost sliding out of her, and she’d moan with anticipated loss, and pull him back in.

His hips moved faster and faster, and his breath was harsh and quick,  searing her ear as he groaned in pleasure.

She felt that heat inside her again, curling inside her pelvis, bunching up so tightly that it was as painful as it was pleasurable, and then she could hold back no longer, and she wrapped her legs around him and pinned him in place, plunged deep inside her.

The ball of heat shattered and sent shards of ecstasy shooting through her body.  She let out a long, low moan and
felt the sheath of her muscles clenching convulsively, clamping hard on his cock, and with a groan of pleasure he exploded deep inside her, his body shuddering as he joined her in climax.

Afterwards, when his breathing had slowed and his body had stilled, he cupped her face in his hand and turned her head so she was staring up into his eyes. His beautiful brown eyes, which were glowing amber with passion.

“Say you’re mine,” he commanded.

“I’m yours,” she whispered, heart beating a thousand miles a minute.

He nipped at her lower lip.

“Say I’m the only one for you.” He growled it into her mouth, and she let out a little moan of pleasure.

“You’re the only one for me.”

“And you for me.”  He gathered her into his arms, crushing her up against him.

“I feel…That burning inside me, that madness that took over me, it’s…better. It’s lessening.  As long as I have you with me, I’m all right,” he rasped.

“I’m with you,” she promised.

She felt him relaxing, and gradually his breathing slowed until it matched hers, and they were breathing in rhythm.

“We should get back,” she s
ighed, glancing at the sun sinking below the horizon. “The professor…everyone will be waiting and wondering. I wish we could stay out here forever.”

“We have forever,” he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her. “We’ll have all the time in the world.”

He reluctantly let go, sliding off her.

The two of them shifted again and dashed back through the woods,  the cooling night air delicious in their fur.  When they reached Loch’s parked patrol car, they quickly shifted back and changed into their clothing.

As they pulled to a stop in front of the boarding house, Loch suddenly turned to Ginger. “Come spend the night with me,” he pleaded.

She hesitated, biting her lower lip. “I want to, more than anything. But this thing with the shifter council…that’s no joke.
I think we should keep this on the down low for a little while.  Let people get used to me.”

He let out a low growl of frustration.

“All right…for now,” he said reluctantly. “But I don’t know how much longer I can wait to publicly claim you. I’m on fire when you’re not with me. My wolf claws at me from the inside.”

“I know,” she groaned, and reached for his hand. He pulled it away, clenching it into a fist. “If you touch me and I know I can’t have you…” His voice were harsh and his eyes dark and gleaming.

She nodded, and swallowed hard. “Soon. A few more days. Let’s give it a few more days. Maybe Portia will calm down and get over it.” Somehow, she doubted it, but she didn’t think it was a good idea for her and the sheriff to rub their relationship in Portia’s face right after Portia had basically been booted out of the sheriff’s office.

She climbed out of the car and headed back to the house.

Marigold and the students were all in the sitting room, and they looked up anxiously when Ginger walked in. Ginger shook her head. “I’m sorry, guys. There’s no news.”

The students faces fell, and they went back to muttering among themselves.

“You missed dinner, but we can reheat something for you in the kitchen,” Marigold said. “And by the way, you’re going to tell me absolutely everything.”

“You first. What about you and
loverboy?” Ginger said, following.

Marigold shrugged, looking unhappy. “We went out. He was very nice to me. He’s funny. He kissed me good night and he’s a great kisser.”

“So?” Ginger grabbed a plate from the refrigerator and carried it over to the microwave.

“So, I already told you what I saw as our future.”

“But-“

“No buts,” Marigold grumbled. “My mother’s been divorced six times.  She’s getting ready to marry number seven. I’
m an expert in how relationships end.  That’s why I try to avoid them.”

“So you’re not going to see him again?”

“Well, after he kissed me I found myself agreeing to let him cook me dinner at his place tomorrow night. I guess after dinner, I’ll tell him it’s over.”

Ginger shook her head, sighing. “
You’re being ridiculous, but I can’t live your life for you.”

Under much prodding from Marigold, she gave her a g-rated description of her afternoon with the sheriff, including the fact that the niece of the local Council member had it in for her.

“What a bitch,” Marigold shook her head.

“You don’t know the half of it.  I don’t know, I’m still…I’m so confused about everything.  He says I’m his fated mate.  He’s so completely different from me, this town is so different than everything I’ve grown up with, but it feels so right.”

“If it came right down to it, you could teach here just as well as you could teach in New York. I’d come visit you here.”

“Do you think that the whole fated mate concept is really a thing?”

“It’s a thing,” Marigold nodded solemnly. “A thing that I’ll probably never have.  If he says that he’s your fated mate, then you are. The sheriff may be many things, but he’s not a liar. I can tell. Why fight it?”

Ginger
fell asleep that night with a deliciously satisfied ache between her thighs, and was woken up early the next morning by a pounding on her door.

With a groan, she made her way across the room and yanked the door open.

The archeology students were standing in the hall.

“Is it true that you can communicate with the dead?” Brenda demanded.

“The professor.”  Ginger smacked her forehead with her hand. Of course.  She should have tried to communicate with him as soon as it was established that he was missing. She’d been so distracted by Loch that it hadn’t even occurred to her.

“Have you heard from him? From the other side?” Tallulah’s voice came out in a high pitched wail.

“No, it doesn’t work like that. I have to be at the scene of their death, or in their home, or somewhere that they spent a lot of time.
  Sometimes it works if I just touch something of theirs, a physical object that they’ve touched.  Somewhere their psychic energy would be lingering, so it opens up a pathway for me to communicate with them. And over the years, I’ve built up my mental defenses to the point where I actually screen out the other side most of the time;  I need to be concentrating, and focused, to communicate with the dead.”