The Alpha's Mate: (2 page)

Rosalee
turned round and cocked her head to one side trying to keep her breathing slow and steady when all she wanted to pant and rub her hard nipples against him.
Oh god!
 
He was an Adonis!
  Tall, broad and well defined muscles barely concealed by a tight black t-shirt and jeans.  She was trying to ignore the bulge at the front of his trousers.  He had thick black hair and she could just imagine the smattering or black hair on his torso that would lead down to his...
oops back to the bulge again!
  When they had shaken hands she had felt her body immediately warm.  Heat had pooled between her legs and she had turned away from him before he could see her blush.

“Where I come from
it is customary not to give out your name, where you live... that kind of thing.  Unless of course you get a perverse joy out of being robbed.”  Her body seemed to want to throw itself at him but her mind, thank heavens, was protesting as loudly as it could.

He growled at her again and g
od that just made her wetter.  He sniffed and wrinkled his nose in disgust but then his eyes started to turn from grey to amber. 
He wasn’t human!

“Let me try this again, I’m Adam Grey the Alpha of the Grey wolf pack.  We live in the woods surrounding this town.”  He smiled at her superiorly.  He could smell the strong waves of arousal coming from her. 
Ha, she was already hot for him! 

“Oh, good for you.”  Sarcasm – complete man repellent... usually.

He leaned one of his arms on the shelf behind her and angled his body towards her.  She gulped.  It would be so easy to just tilt her head upwards and kiss those delectable lips.

She brushed a stray wisp of hair out of her eyes.  Her breasts jiggled delectably with each movement she made.  Blood rushed to his groin at an alarming rate.

“Name?”  He demanded gruffly. 

“Not even a please?”

“Name? Now.”  His wolf snarled.  He’d never been so aggressive to a woman.  He’d always been honey and charm to all women, but then he’d never met this kind of resistance. 
They’d all just simpered and rolled over for him.

“Bite me furball.”  A disturbingly cute smile played on her pink lips.  She licked them slightly and he growled at her again.

Adam leaned a little closer.  “You know if you don’t want me to know your name I could just guess, Winifred perhaps? Constance?  Mildred?  Hilda?  Betty?”

Rosalee
raised her eyebrows but said nothing.  “What too high brow?  Okay, Tawney?  Bunny?  Buffy?  Taffy?”

She snorted.  “That’s it isn’t it?  Nice to meet you Taffy.  So now that we’re old friends what say you let me show you round town Taffy?”

God this man was full of himself, had he never been rejected by a woman? 
Couldn’t hurt for him to be taken him down a peg or two..
.

“Gee thanks for the offer Albert –“

“Adam!”  He snapped.

“But I’m pretty sure I can find my own way round town.”  She looked away from him dismissively and noticed the cashier was staring daggers at her.  Before she could help herself she said, “why don’t you ask the cashier?  Something tells me she’d love for you to show her anything you wanted.” 

The bitter sound of her voice made him chuckle.  “Jealous?  I can’t help it that women are drawn to me.”

“Yeah must be your winning personality.”

“Well I do have a
huge
personality...”

Rosalee
coughed and decided to change the subject.  She glanced down at his shopping cart.  “Having a party?”  She asked gesturing to the stack of beer bottles.

“Hmmm?  N
o, just for me and my Chief Enforcer.”

She balked.  “Just the two of you?  You planning on bathing in it?”

“It takes a lot for shifters to get drunk.  Shifters tend to eat more, drink more... we have very big appetites.”  He winked at her.

Must he make everything about sex?  Unconsciously she pressed her thighs together even tighter. 
They’d probably be black and blue tomorrow! 
Part of her wanted to just give in to him and climb him like a tree.  But she just wasn’t the type to jump onto bed after... wow only ten minutes.  She should stay firm, she wasn’t
that
easy.

“Well, as much as I’m enjoying our little...chat, I really should be going.”  She marched over to Rena to pay for her groceries.  Rena slammed them through the till in annoyance.

He stared after her baffled.  He could scent her attraction to him,
she was practically in heat for him!
  Her body was so ready for him that he could have ripped all her clothes off and slid right into her then and there.  Her body called to him.  Her scent however still bothered him, though he figured he could get past it once he had her naked. 
His wolf was practically panting after her
.

He followed and stood behind her waiting to be served,
Rosalee purposefully ignored his presence.  He winked at Rena who brightened immediately and giggled.  “Hi Adam.”

Rosalee
rolled her eyes. 
Oh brother
.

“So Taffy, last chance on that name of yours.”  She handed over cash to Rena who had turned sullen again before looking back at him.  He raked his eyes over her body appreciatively.

“Thank you no.  But don’t worry Arnold, I’m sure there any amount of girls just dying to give you their, umm,
name
.”

Chapter Two

Rosalee fanned herself with a menu at Pizza Moon.  She was trying to cool down after her encounter with Adam the Alpha.  She felt like her body was on fire.  She’d never been so hot for a man before.  Maybe she was just getting a fever and delirium had set in. 
That had to be it. 
Ordinarily she’d never be so attracted to such an arrogant dick, no matter how chiselled or sexy or edible...
crap
.

She tried to distract herself by looking round at the other occupants of the
restaurant.  She had ordered a meat lovers pizza to go.  She was almost frantic to get back to the house and have a cold shower.

Looking around she guessed most of the customers were human
.  Except perhaps for the two hunks of men sat in the corner booth.  They were both wearing police uniforms and were built like Greek gods.  If the Alpha was anything to go by they were both wolves. 
Was this normal for shifters?

The older wol
f was wearing a Sheriffs uniform, which looked spray painted on.  He had rippling muscles that could even give Adam’s a run for their money.  He had handsome features but his face had a hard, closed look. 
Unlike Adam whose face was open and full of laughter
.  The younger was clearly his Deputy.  He was a little smaller both in height and muscles.  He had thick black hair, and caramel skin and a gorgeous smooth chiselled face.  Where the Sheriff and Adam were rugged, he was beautiful.

They were both attractive and garnered quite a few looks from a number of women, and quite a few men too.  They didn’t do anything for her though.  Even these two paled in comparison to the Alpha.

Despite this Rosalee automatically checked them for wedding rings.  Something she had started to do when she turned 25.  Only the Sheriff had a ring.

A plump
pretty young blonde woman came in and walked over to them.  The Sheriff jumped up and moved toward her, his face lit up at the sight of her.  The sudden transformation almost made him look as handsome than Adam. 
Almost
.

He swept the young woman into a breathtaking kiss that seemed to last for ages.  It was almost pornographic
the way they groped each other.  No one else seemed to be bothered by it.  Perhaps they were used to it.

When they finally parted the Sheriff manoeuvred them both into the booth, his arm wrap
ped tightly round her shoulders, while she simpered into his shoulder. 
Ugh
.

She felt the hair on the back of her neck tingle.  Whipping round she found that Adam had just walked in.  She stuck her head into the menu praying he didn’t see her, praying he walked right past her.

She peeked out to find that he had done just that. 
Oh!
  She was thoroughly annoyed at how disappointed she was by that.  Had her personality split and she just not noticed? 
Damn sexy wolf.
 

She’d wanted to tell him her name, her address, what she was doing here, her shoe size –
anything he wanted to know really!
  Thank god self preservation had kicked in.  She was too used to being on her own, taking care of herself.  You have to be careful living alone in a city full of strangers, you give away too much and people take advantage.

He went over to the wolves in uniform.  The younger wolf who she guessed was about
24, a couple of years younger than her, stood up as he approached, clearly nervous around his Alpha.  The older brown haired wolf stayed sitting, the blonde haired girl curled around him.  Adam slapped him on the back familiarly and sat down.  Without glancing in her direction Adam nodded to someone in the kitchen. 

She realised that a number of women were openly staring at him, including her. 
Time to study the menu again. 
Where the hell was her pizza anyway?!

She looked up when she heard a loud melodic laugh.  There was a woman stood, in her opinion, way too close to Adam. 
Rosalee’s heart lurched.  The woman was tall and slim but obviously toned with silken black hair pulled back into a chignon.  Her oval face and grey eyes were perfect.  She was stunning.  
Probably a wolf too.

She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned towards him laughing away.  Adam scowled at her.  Clearly he wasn’t interested. 
Not that Rosalee cared of course
.

His eyes suddenly locked with hers and he smirked. 
Butthole
.  Rosalee got her phone out and decided to try ringing her mother again, something to do at least. 

She didn’t even notice the young wolf stood before her until he coughed.

“Hi, I’m Deputy Gabriel North.  Everyone calls me Gabe.”  He stuck out his hand and flashed her a dazzling smile.  If it weren’t for Adam she would have melted on the spot.  “And you are?”

She looked over at
Adam and noticed that in between talking to the dark haired female he was flicking glances in their direction.  The butthole had sent this young wolf over here to get information. 
Well if he wants to play...

*

Who was she ringing?  Fuck, what if she had a boyfriend?  It would explain why she had rejected him in spite of her obvious attraction.  Adam didn’t relish having to track the guy down and beat him. 
Where was this aggression coming from?

Normally it didn’t bother him if a woman he took to bed was involved with someone else.  He wasn’t about to get jealous.  But the thought of anyone touching his mystery woman made his blood boil.  No, no, no – she wasn’t
his
.

He’d sent Gabe over to find out who she was, what she was doing in town and how long she was staying.  The young wolf had been eager to please his Alpha.

Although hearing the giggles coming from the mystery woman Adam thought it might not have been that good an idea.  He had a puppy dog expression that women fawned over. 
Damnit, he should have sent his Beta Alec over
.

The woman was practically stroking Gabe’s biceps, and the pup was preening.  Adam emitted a low growl and Gabe straightened and paled.  He said a couple more words before returning to their booth.  The mystery woman looked a little too triumphant for his liking.

“Her name’s Rosalee Bennett, Iris Bennett’s granddaughter,” Gabe imparted in hushed tones.

Mac, the female wolf, Adam’s sister and the bane of his
existence keenly appraised Rosalee.   “Wow!  She’s doesn’t look much like Iris.”

Liv glanced at Rosalee
casually.  “According to my friend Agatha Iris and her daughter Violet had a huge falling out and Violet left saying she hated this place and never wanted to come back, that was like twenty odd years ago now.”

“Wonder why she’d call her daughter
Rose - a - lee
then.”  Alec rumbled.

“She told me she inherited the house out of the blue, hadn’t ever met Iris.  She’s living there for now, didn’t say how long she was staying.”  Gabe looked like he wanted a pat on the head.  Adam wanted to kick him.

Mac chewed her cheek.  “She doesn’t seem overly concerned about her grandmother being murdered does she?  Then again if she never met her it’s just like a stranger dying to her.  I’ll bet she doesn’t even know the full details of what happened, it wasn’t exactly national news.  Do you think we should tell her?  We should tell her, someone from our department should go over and see her when she’s at home and explain.  We can organise that tomorrow.”  His sister was so bubbly she could hold complete conversations by herself.

Alec nodded his approval at Mac’s suggestion.

Adam surreptitiously looked at her. 
Rosalee
.  It suited her.

A loud crash and raised voice
s interrupted his reverie.  Melody James, a witch and newest waitress at Pizza Moon, was shouting at one of the chefs, a wolf called Hans Lucas.  The brother of his Chief Enforcer and the most cantankerous wolf in the whole pack. 
Which was saying something.

Melody’s cheeks reddened. 
“You idiot you almost burned me!”

Veins pulsed in Hans’ neck. 
“The hell I did!  You don’t like the way I work why don’t you hop on your broomstick and get the hell out!”

“
Screw you fleabag!  You’re not getting rid of me so easily!”

“Stupid crone!”

“Oh go hump a tree!”

Hans
threw what he was holding at Melody, which happened to be a pepperoni pizza. She ducked and screamed again before picking up a soda from the nearest table and hurling it in his direction.  He also ducked which meant that the soda instead found a target in Rosalee.

*

Rosalee squealed as she was drenched in soda.  Loud arguments broke out all over the restaurant until a loud roar silenced everyone and she heard orders being barked.

Soda dripped down her nose and her vest clung to her uncomfortably.  She felt her elbow being taken as she was moved through the restaurant to the bathroom.  When she got there she noticed it was the dark haired female who had escorted her.

Trying not to laugh she told Rosalee she would try to find her a change of clothes before ducking out again.

Rosalee
peeled her vest off her and began wetting paper towels to wash herself with.  The door to the bathroom was flung open and Rosalee turned round to hide her nudity. 
A bra, why hadn’t she worn a bra!

“Please, I’m a wolf we spend half out time walking around naked, but if it makes you feel better I’ll look at the ceiling while you wash.
  You know I think they might actually have a shower in the back, hard to believe but it’s not the first time that someone’s tried to throw something at Hans.”

“I just want to get home.” 
Rosalee quickly washed and dried herself as best she could.  “I’m done.”

“Here,” she tossed a black t-shirt adorned with the Pizza
Moon logo in Rosalee’s direction.  “You can keep that.”

Rosalee
pulled it over her head.  “Gee thanks I’ll treasure it.”  The young woman grinned.

“So...
you’re a wolf?  I kind of guessed as much when I saw you sat out there with the Alpha.”  Rosalee tried her best to sound innocent, and definitely not like she was fishing for information.

“Please don’t tell me you’re another lost soul destined to worship at the altar of my brother?”

“Your brother?”

“Adam the almighty Alpha
. “

“Oh.”  Inward sigh of relief.  “I’ll try to resist.”

“Good girl.  I’m Mac by the way, short for Mackenzie.  I’m a Deputy, I work with Alec and Gabe, you’ve met Gabe and the other guy we were sat with is Alec, he’s the Sheriff and my brother’s Beta.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mac I’m...”

“Rosalee, I know.”  Mac beamed at her.  “Adam sent Gabe over to find out.  I heard that he asked you out in the grocery store and you wouldn’t even tell him your name, and that you called him Arnold!”

Ros
alee blushed.  “How... how did you know about that?”

“It’s a small town, news travels fast.  Get used to it.”

“I’m sorry I meant no disrespect to your brother.”

Mac hooted with laughter.  “Are you kidding me? 
Funniest thing I’ve heard all month, his ego is so inflated he can barely get it through the door, he needs a good put down every now and then.”

Ros
alee smiled at the lively young woman.  She picked up her discarded vest and on inspection didn’t think it was worth saving.  She dumped it in the trash. 

“You order a pizza to take away?”
  Rosalee nodded.  “Come on lets go see if it’s ready – on the house of course, and any cleaning bills you have make sure you send them here, I’ll personally make sure they get paid.”

“That’s nice thanks.”

“Nice nothing, I just want you stick around and torture my brother some more.”

*

Alec tried to smooth things over with Melody, whilst Adam dealt with the hot headed wolf Hans.   They pair continued to glare at one another.

Adam sent Mac to make sure
Rosalee was okay and was half watching for their return.  The moment the liquid had hit her the vest she wore had practically become see through.  He was furious that so many other patrons had noticed it too.  He couldn’t get the image out of his head.  Her breasts were round the perfect size for his mouth... 

He
went a little easier on Hans than he normally would have, his mind was elsewhere.  Not that it made much of a difference, Hans would never change.  But hold on...

He smelled something, no someone and she was glorious. 
God it was his mate! 
Instinctively he knew it was her.  His body and his wolf would know that scent anywhere.

He spun on his heels to search for her, the wolf in front of him immediately forgotten.  His heart lurched. 
It was Rosalee Bennett
.  She was wearing a different shirt.  She must have washed away the perfume when she was cleaning up the soda.