Alpha's Fire Read online

”You need to know the secrets they're keeping from you. All of them.”

  “Stop playing these games. Just tell me what’s going on, Gabriel.”

  He ignores me and hits another button, and there's the lodge at night.

  “When was this taken?”

  “The last full moon.”

  A chill runs over my skin. The way Gabriel has invaded my friends' privacy is so creepy. I have to tell them. I have to escape.

  “Watch,” he commands.

  There are a few specks of snow swirling down from the sky. The sky is black velvet. A gray and white wolf comes into view, padding across the snowy lawn.

  “Holy shit.” The wolf is huge. I’ve seen pictures, but it’s another thing to see it in a familiar space and realize how giant wolves are.

  The wolf sniffs around the lawn. “So that’s their secret?” I roll my eyes. “They have a nature cam?”

  The lodge door opens, spilling light over the snow. Out strides Rafe. He’s shirtless. No hat or gloves, not even a coat. Adele has talked about how the cold doesn't seem to touch him. She was always obsessed with Rafe, even though she wouldn’t admit it.

  In the next second, Rafe shucks off his joggers. “Oh, geez.” I throw up a hand to block Rafe’s form. “That’s a naked dick.” I'm happy for Adele if she's getting some of that, but I don’t want to see it.

  “Watch,” Gabriel commands.

  I peek through my fingers. In one moment, Rafe raises his leg to take a step into the snow–barefoot. In the next, a massive wolf lands on the bottom stoop.

  “What the fuck,” I whisper.

  The wolf is black with some brownish markings. It bounces over the lawn and lopes off with the first one. A howl rises up off-screen.

  Channing and Deke are next. They both walk out undressed the way Rafe was. I don't even try to avert my eyes from their naked forms. Within seconds, they both turn into huge wolves. Deke is a giant black shadow gliding towards the forest. Channing has mostly white fur that blends with the snow.

  “I can't believe this.”I scrub my eyes. “How is this possible? Does Sadie know?”

  “She knows. So does Charlotte, the human female you call Charlie.”

  The screen shows the wolves running over a snowy field.

  “This is nuts. I can't believe this.”

  Then the video cuts again, and there's the back of Charlie's house. The big white and gray wolf runs up to the door. It shakes a few times, flinging snow off its thick fur, and scratches the door. The door opens, and there stands Charlie, light streaming behind her, her hand on her belly. She lets the giant wolf in.

  “It's not possible.” I rub my temples. I feel a little woozy.

  “It is possible. It is real.” Gabriel lowers himself to the seat beside me. His hand rubs my back. It feels good, soothing. Grounding. “My friend’s boyfriends are wolves.”

  “The preferred term is wolf shifter.”

  “Sure. Okay. Wolf shifter.” Whatever. “And everyone knows? Even Adele.”

  “Yes. She found out soon after I met her.”

  “Wait, what?” I drop my hands. “You met Adele?”

  “Why yes. She bore the scarf you crafted. I caught your scent on it. I thought that she was my mate until I discovered the source of the delicious scent. It was the work of a moment to separate you from them. And now you are here, and you are mine. My own.” He takes my hand, threading his strong fingers between my limp ones. “My mate.”

  I tug my hand back. “Back the confessional bus up, Buster. I'm not ready for this.”

  “Tabitha–” He captures my face in strong but gentle hands. “You're upset.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I snap back.

  “Shhh, little one. This doesn't need to be a struggle. It's not fair that you had to learn this way, but it is time that you enter into our world.”

  I’m trembling in his grip. “What do you mean our world?”

  A flash of gold light from his eyes. His pupils slit and narrow. Just for a second but enough to make me gasp.

  “You're one of them.” I jerk back, but he’s cornered me in the crook of the couch arm.

  “I am. And deep down you knew that something was different about them. You're too sensitive not to know.” His fingers trace light circles over my shoulder. Soothing me. There's that spiced scent of his, sweet and drugging like mulled wine.

  “I… this…I don’t understand.”

  “Do you want me to make it better?” he murmurs. “I can make it better.”

  I swallow. I want to nod. My heart is cracking open, and I don’t know why.

  His finger traces the line of my jaw. It feels so good, I can’t stand it.

  I twist away and push off the sofa. “I need to get out of here.”

  Gabriel doesn’t seem upset at all. He unfolds his big body from the couch. Not a black hair on his head is out of place.

  “You can run, Tabitha, but I will chase you. I will always find you.”

  I whirl and start running blindly, grabbing doorknobs and rushing through. When I come to a door with a keypad on it, I turn and keep running. I don’t have a plan. I don’t have anything. Gabriel knows this place and probably can tell exactly where I'm going.

  Sure enough, when I cross the ballroom he's stalking behind me, taking slow measured steps, but somehow gaining on me.

  I race across the ballroom and reach the door, but it's locked.

  Gabriel’s already beside me. He puts his hand on the keypad, and the door unlocks, slowly swinging open.

  I stare at him, chest heaving.

  “Run,” he murmurs, and I do. Down a hall, up a spiral staircase. Every time I look back, every time I look down, he’s a few yards behind me, stalking with that slow measured pace. Gold glittering in his eyes and a half-smile on his face.

  My kidnapper likes the chase.

  “Run, run, little one.” His deep voice echoes up the grand staircase. I reach the top and fling myself into another long hall guarded by suits of armor. The hall forks into two. Left or right?

  I dash to the left and around the corner, but it dead ends. Crap. Wrong way.

  I whirl to go back the way I came, but Gabriel’s there, unflappably calm. Darkly beautiful. Clearly enjoying himself. He’s not threatening, but he is omnipresent.

  I'm committed now.

  I try the closest door and end up in a cold shaft that hosts a stone spiral staircase. Up, up, up the stone tower. I’m going in the wrong direction. I need to go down and find a door out of this place. I'm going to end up on the roof of this castle with nowhere to go.

  I dash up the stone steps, my footsteps thudding in time to Gabriel’s vow. “You will not escape me again.”

  Gabriel’s herding me somewhere. He planned this. I’m at the top of the tower; right where he wants me.

  I reach the top step and stagger forward. There's a huge wooden door with a black keypad beside it.

  Damn. This is the end. I could pound on the door, but there’s no one to answer. No one but me and my handsome kidnapper, stalking me up the stairs.

  I sag against the polished wood, resigned to my fate. My forehead rests against the door, my heaving chest brushing it.

  I don’t even hear Gabriel behind me before his huge body covers mine. “Got you,” he murmurs in my ear. His big hand splays across my midriff. At his touch, my heartbeat slows. The hair in the back of my neck raises, but somehow my body has translated all this fear and adrenaline into arousal.

  “You're welcome to run anytime you like, Tabitha. I enjoy playing this game. You can run and make me chase, as long as in the end, you know you are mine.”

  I jerk in his hold, but he's got me wedged between the wall and his large body.

  “Still fighting me. Maybe you need some incentive to stay.” His lips brush the shell of my ear.

  I whimper because it feels so sensual. So delicious.

  His hand slips lower, slowly, as if he’s waiting to see how I’ll react. I should push him aw
ay. I consider it–I do. But everything in my body seems to want this. I’m melting back into him, drugged by his delicious scent, the sexy rumble of his voice, his intense focus all on me.

  He cups my sex over the thin fabric of my peasant skirt. It’s a light touch, undemanding. More of an offer than a violation.

  My nipples pebble up. My body relaxes more against his, my tension swirling into an agonized coil in my sex.

  I should have stopped to put on a suit of armor if I didn't want him touching me like this. It's dangerous not because he's big and can overpower me with one hand but because his touch feels good, and I like it.

  He lightly traces his fingertips over my outer lips, suggesting the pleasure he might give me.

  I whimper as my hips lift into his touch.

  “Is this what you need, Tabitha? A little reward?” He waits for my answer.

  “M-maybe.”

  “Tell me what pleases you.” He slides his hand under my skirt. His fingers play with a satin edge of my panties.

  Then he breaches the boundary, dipping his hand between my panties to glide over bare skin until he’s cupping me again, the heel of his palm grinding lightly over my clit.

  “Mmm,” I respond. I can’t help myself. I’m lost in sensation and the promise of pleasure.

  “So wet.” His voice is sin in my ear. “Your body recognizes its master. I can give you what you need.”

  A sudden pulse of pleasure between my legs almost brings me to my knees. I lean back into his embrace, needing him to keep me upright.

  His fingers dip into my sex, making my breath catch. Everything in my being focuses on the swirl of his strong fingers as he strokes between my labial folds.

  There it is! My body strains toward climax. I claw at his arm not to escape, but to make him give me what I want.

  “Shhhhh, little one. You don't need to fight.” He shifts his weight, pinning me against the door. I’m helpless, unable to move as his finger teases my clit. “You can have what you want. I know what you need. Let me give it to you.”

  I whimper and rock my hips, seeking more contact with the rough pad of his finger.

  “There, that's it,” he rasps. I could come from his voice alone. “Take your pleasure. This is your right as my mate.”

  At the word mate, the coil of arousal snaps. Pleasure whips through me. My core tightens, and shivers rush down my inner thighs, straight to the arches of my feet.

  “Yes,” I gasp, shaking between Gabriel and the wall.

  Before the aftershocks stop reverberating through me, he swings me up in his arms. Somehow he frees a hand to open the door. It swings open before him, and he strides into a round room.

  The decor and layout are much like the room I woke up in, except we’re in a circular tower. The wind whistles outside, but this bedroom is snug and warm, a fire already laid. The black onyx fireplace is shaped like the mouth of a giant dragon. Flames dance between its fangs.

  The four-poster bed is bigger than the standard king, made of polished black wood with silk curtains gathered at each corner. The curtains are black with a pattern in gold, the same pattern I saw downstairs–triangles made of three interlooping rings.

  Gabriel lays me down on the satin coverlet and draws off my boots. I let him undress me. I'm limp, racked with pleasure. My orgasm was enough to leave my legs like jelly, but my sex is still throbbing. My body misses Gabriel’s touch.

  Gabriel opens a carved wooden box sitting on the bedside table with one hand. With the other, he gathers my wrists and snaps something into place.

  “What the–?” I raise my hands, blinking at the cuffs around my wrists. Twin-wide bracelets of polished gold.

  He snaps a second pair onto my ankles before I think to fight.

  “Gabriel–”

  “Shhhh. Relax. I'm going to give you what you want.” He opens a panel beside the bed and keys something in. “I'm going to give you what you need.”

  There’s a beep and some sort of metal strips come flying out of the bedposts. They attach to the cuffs on my wrists and ankle. I tug, but can’t get free. I’m bound to the bed by the cuffs and the robotic rope. The cuffs aren’t gold, but some sort of magnetic alloy strong enough to tie me down. Is that even possible?

  “Do you like them?” Gabriel asks as I examine my bonds. “The design is of my own making. My old world knowledge combined with the new.”

  “No!” I’m not sure if it’s a lie or a truth. My body quivers, a live wire, but I’m pissed. I stare at the sinfully handsome man watching me with that air of faint amusement. “What are you going to do to me?” Instead of sounding scared, my voice comes out breathless, sexy.

  Again, my body's completed that peculiar alchemy, turning my fear into arousal. I am splayed out on this giant bed like a virgin sacrifice on an altar. Gabriel has removed his suit jacket and hung it on a nearby chair. Still not a hair out of place.

  “Calm yourself, Tabitha. Whatever I do to you, I promise you will like it.”

  I tug at the cuffs. “I don't like this.”

  “Lies.” His whisper turns soft and sibilant. “I can smell your arousal from here.”

  I try to press my legs together, but I can't because of the tight bonds.

  He chuckles, and damn if the sound doesn't make me even wetter.

  Then he raises a skinning knife.

  I gasp and twist.

  “Hold still,” he orders, and the robotic arms tethering me down tighten. My arms are taut in a spread eagle, my body bared to whatever he's going to do.

  With swift, decisive moves that look practiced, he slices off my clothes with the wickedly curved blade.

  My skirt and my blouse flutter into pieces that he tosses away.

  He rests a knee on the bed between my legs. “It's time I tasted my bride.”

  “Bride?” I gasp over my pounding heart. “I don't remember you proposing marriage.”

  He chuckles. “This is the way for my kind.” He caresses my bare calf above the cuff. “We find the female that belongs to us, and we take her into our keeping. I've shown you my castle. Soon I will show you my lands, my armies. All my treasures. You'll be in awe at what I can give you.”

  “So I’m supposed to be impressed because you're rich?” I scoff, even as my breath hitches from his hand sliding up my leg. “That's not going to work. My mother's been trying that for years.”

  “There are other ways of persuading you.” He sets down the knife and rolls up his sleeves. Damn at the sight of his forearms isn't the hottest thing I've ever seen. I thought invoking my mother would dampen the flames of my arousal but nope.

  I squirm, wriggling as best I can even though I can barely move. “So you're just going to fuck me like this?” I angle my head to glare at the cuff on my right arm then at him.

  “No.” He’s still slowly rolling up his sleeves. “Not tonight. Not even if you beg. Not even if I want to. You'll have to wait for that pleasure.”

  “Good,” I reply, which isn't as eloquent as I'd like. His proximity and smoky scent is doing things to me. All my thoughts are flying out of my head.

  He leans over me. “First I'm going to examine you. Then I'm going to worship you as you deserve.”

  He trails the knife down my shoulder. A flick of his wrist, and he's cut the strap of my bra. Another flick, and he's bared both my breasts. My panties are next to go.

  He raises his head and sniffs the air. His eyes flash gold. “Exquisite.”

  I squirm a little, knowing he’s scenting my sex. He stills me with a firm hand on either thigh.

  “I’ll drink your essence from the source,” he vows.

  Oh, God. Mini orgasm.

  A dark smile slants across his face. “As you will do with mine.””

  “Keep dreaming,” I bluster, but my eyes flick to the impressive bulge in his black slacks. He’s super well-endowed. My inner muscles clench down on air.

  He probes me with the knife butt, sliding the smooth handle up and down in a vertica
l line between my labia lips. Over and over until my hips are rocking.

  I whimper when he takes the knife away. With a growl, he lies on the bed with his face at the apex of my legs. His hands slide under my buttocks, lifting me. He kisses my left, then right thigh, his dark hair tickling the sensitive skin. And then he tastes me.

  I’ll drink your essence from the source.

  With my hips lifted, my only view is of the tanned plane of my midriff and the shock of his raven black hair. I can’t see what's going on. I can only feel. Gabriel’s fingers splay my labia lips, holding me open to his questing tongue. My flesh is swollen and wet from his earlier fingering and my orgasm against the door. This time, when I come, my core clenches, and I try to jacknife off the bed. But I can’t move because I’m tied down.

  The orgasm wracks my body. Pleasure is a cruel master, straining my already overworked muscles. But still Gabriel’s mouth works over my sex, licking, swirling, sucking me down.

  Already my orgasm is rising again. I thrash my head back and forth as if I can deny it.

  “Gabriel,” I plead.

  He sits up, his lips wet with my essence. He licks them, and the sight sends another shudder through me. His fingers never leave my body. They twist and probe, circling my clit until my arousal spirals higher.

  The pad of his thumb slides down my perineum to press against my rear hole.

  My eyes widen. “Gabriel,” I warn.

  It’s no use. He makes me come again with his thumb stroking my rear entrance, stimulating the dark nerves. It’s a fuller, more whole sort of pleasure. I hate it. I hate that it feels good.

  “Stop.” I sigh when his fingers keep moving. His face is in shadow, but I know his gaze is locked on my face. My body is floating off the bed. Endorphins have eclipsed gravity’s hold on me. Only the metal ties keep me to earth.

  “A few more, tesoro mio.”

  I jerk my foot. I would kick him if I weren’t cuffed. “But what about you?”

  His head tips back, lips parting as if he’d drink my scent from the air. “Ah, yes.”

  He rises up on his knees. He’s still fully clothed, unmussed and unwrinkled. I’m a slick and sweaty mess. How does he look so perfect?

  If I got free at this moment, the first thing I’d do would grab his head and muss up his hair.