The Alpha's to Share: A BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (5 page)

Seth’s muscles twitched and then began to tremble. The rumble sounded within his chest again, and he suddenly broke off their kiss and backed away from her, panting and gritting his teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Callie asked breathlessly.

“Nothing,” he said through the clench of his jaw. “I just need a moment to regain control.”

“Control of what?” she asked, noting his entire body shuddering as he clutched his hands into fists and breathed deeply.

“The wolf,” he growled.

Callie swallowed a lump that had risen into her throat and nodded. She blinked at him in wonder, but wasn’t afraid.

“You do not fear me,” he noted as his breathing began to regulate.

“No, I don’t,” she agreed.

“Why not?” he asked.

“I can’t explain it,” she shrugged. “I just know you’d never hurt me.”

“We should return to the cabin,” he said. “Madge will be expecting us.”

Callie nodded, but she wanted very much to keep walking with him. She wanted to go back to his den and stay there forever.

Seth turned away from Callie and began to walk toward Madge’s cabin, his wolf still fighting him for control. He could sense his behavior was upsetting her in some way, but he was powerless to stop it. He walked quickly, never realizing how far ahead of her he was getting, or how hard she was struggling to keep up.

He struggled inwardly, his wolf still aching to claim her right there on the path. The rumble in his chest sounded again, and he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he pushed the wolf deep down into the pit of his stomach and tried to trap him there. It wasn’t time, yet. He had to take things slow. Human females needed that. He may not know much about them, but he knew they needed time before coupling. He’d heard it over and over.

“Ouch!” Callie cried, and he turned just in time to see her tripping over an errant root that had grown across the pathway.

He tried to rush back to catch her before she tumbled into the mud, but he was too slow. She landed face down with a splat, and he stooped to help her up.

“Are you alright?” he asked her, taking her hand and trying to help her to her feet as mud coated her face and dripped from her hair.

“Ow,” she said as she tried to put weight on her right ankle. “Damn it! I think I sprained it.”

He carefully squeezed her ankle with his fingers and she sucked in a breath. He could feel the swelling already. She teetered on one foot and tried to hobble, but she gasped as soon as pressure fell on her wounded ankle.

Without asking for permission, he scooped her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and bit her lip, and he could detect a hint of apprehension in her, but she did not object. He started down the mountain path toward Madge’s cabin.

Madge was waiting just outside the door. She waved them quickly inside.

“Poor dear,” Madge said, gently removing Callie’s muddy shoes and tossing them into the grass outside. “Let’s get you out of these muddy clothes.”

Seth lowered her feet carefully to the wooden floor, and Callie put all of her weight onto her left foot.

“Well, hurry up!” Madge demanded. “Give me that muddy dress so I can wash it!”

Callie’s eyes swelled large, and she paused, clenching the dress’s fabric protectively at her throat. Madge sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Turn around, would you?” Madge asked Seth.

“What for?” he asked. Then he quickly glanced at Callie and said, “Oh. I get it.”

Seth turned away, and Callie slipped out of the muddy dress and handed it to Madge. Madge then gave her the patchwork quilt from her bed to cover herself with.

“But it’ll get all muddy,” Callie argued.

“It’ll clean right up, as will you,” Madge said.

Callie wrapped herself in the blanket and sank slowly and miserably onto Madge’s bed, and Seth asked, “Can I turn around now?”

“I suppose,” Callie answered.

Seth noticed Callie was clinging to the blanket so tightly her knuckles were blanching pale. She had tucked it in all around her, hiding every possible inch of her flesh.

“I’m going to the washtub outside,” Madge said. “When I’m back I’ll fill a tub for you so you can clean up.”

She left the cabin and Callie stared at the floor. Seth wanted to apologize. He knew it was all his fault she’d fallen, and his stomach was knotted with guilt. He worried she’d never speak to him again, as she seemed to be avoiding eye contact.

Callie sat on the edge of the bed and picked at the lint that covered the blanket in tiny balls, her finger occasionally running absently along the seams between the patches that made up its surface.

Seth could think of nothing to say. Had he ruined his chances with her? Would she ever forgive him for running off so hastily? Damn his wolf! If he hadn’t felt his hormones raging out of control, this never would have happened!

“Can I get you anything?” he finally asked.

Her eyes never left the blanket as she shook her head solemnly.

Yep, it was too late. She hated him for deserting her. He hated himself. He should have been right there beside her like a good Alpha should, protecting her at every moment from every possible danger. He’d just met her, and already he’d failed her. He was raised to be better than this! He’d let his desire take control and it had cost him dearly.

How could Madge have not seen this coming? She should have warned him. Maybe she was no fortuneteller at all. Maybe he’d been duped. Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea right from the beginning. He’d be sure to give Wyatt and earful when he got back to the den.

Seth could sense Madge doing something nearby, but he was focused on Callie. He’d come here expecting… well, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t her. He wasn’t expecting to find a sensual woman with lush curves and the sweetest disposition of any female he’d ever run across. And he certainly wasn’t prepared to find a woman who was helpless and in need of protection to the depths that Callie seemed to be. It was everything he’d secretly hoped for, even if he hadn’t realized it himself.

And now he may have lost her before he even truly had her. He’d have to do something to make it up to her, but what?

How he wished he’d paid more attention to the tales told around the fire of human females. All he’d really remembered was that one must be patient at first, because they needed time to get to know a male before coupling, and that some of them could be arrogant, rude, demanding and selfish.

Callie seemed to be none of those things. He had a keen sense of emotion, and he rarely felt any negativity from her. He detected fear, apprehension, perhaps a bit of self-loathing at times… but no hatred, no cruelty, and not a single selfish thought.

He’d found a rarity, a gem hidden amongst a sea of rough stones, and he might have destroyed his chances with her for good.

Sure, he could claim her and take her back to his den against her will. He’d heard tell of this happening in some packs. But he just couldn’t bring himself to be like that. He may have an animal inside him, but he was no animal. He had more respect for life than that. He would never take a female against her will, even if his inner wolf threatened to tear him apart from the inside out. And that certainly had been nearly the case on the path.

Callie was a jumble of emotions that he found difficult to separate, making it harder to read her. There was some sort of inner turmoil raging within her, and he could only imagine it was anger at him for letting her get hurt. He struggled to sense the underlying emotion, but there were just too many tumbling around within her at once.

Seth sighed and plopped heavily into Madge’s rocking chair, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees and running his fingers harshly through his hair. What had he done?

Callie was mortified at the state of herself. She’d face planted right in front of the hottest guy she’d ever seen, and now she was caked with drying mud from her hair to her toes. How could she even face him?

It was bad enough that she’d been unable to prepare to meet him. Her hair had been untamed, her face bare… she hadn’t even had time to rinse the sweat from her body. But now she had no hope that his man could ever be attracted to her, as if she’d ever really believed it before. She was just frumpy old Callie, the chubby girl that got made fun of in school and whose red hair and freckles were a constant annoyance to her.

No, she’d lost any chance at all when she displayed her awkward clumsiness right before his very eyes and dumped herself into a puddle of goopy mud. She cursed herself inwardly.

As she stared at the blanket, Madge filled the large wooden washtub with the water she’d heated in the cauldron. She had to use a smaller bucket to fill the tub, as she was too frail to lift the cauldron. When it was filled, she tested it with her wrist.

“Alright, dear, come, come!” Madge said, waving Callie over to the tub in front of the fire.

Callie walked over to the tub and froze. She glanced at Seth, who stared silently back at her. She tilted her head at him and raised her eyebrows.

“What?” he asked.

“Would you mind?” Callie asked.

“Mind what?” he wondered.

“I believe she wants privacy for her bath,” Madge said gently.

“Humans,” he grunted, shrugging and shaking his head as he stood to leave.

He reluctantly left the cabin, and Callie let the blanket drop to the floor. Madge held her arm firmly as she gingerly stepped into the steaming tub. Putting weight on her ankle was nearly unbearable, but she managed to make it into the tub, and the heat of the water was soon soothing away some of the pain.

Madge took some of the water into the bucket and poured it over Callie’s head. Madge began to scrub her hair, rinsing away as much of the mud as possible. The mud had caked behind Callie’s ears, in the corners of her nose, and in between her fingers. She repeatedly splashed herself with the water, rubbing her skin to clean away the stubborn grime.

“What I wouldn’t give for a bar of soap or some shampoo right now,” Callie muttered.