Stanley, Gale - Spitfire [Southwest Shifter 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

He grunted and dug his fingers into her hips as she started rocking back and forth. His breath heaved like a bellows, and the musky scent of their sex grew stronger. Brady reached up to play with her silver nipple rings, and his tugging went right to her core. She rubbed her swollen clit with a finger.

“Uh, uh, that’s my job.” Brady growled hoarsely as he rolled them over, pinning her body beneath him. Bending down, he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss, nipping her lower lip as he backed away. She wrapped her legs around him as his sweat-slick body rose over her. Thrusting his cock deep, he gyrated in slow, provocative circles. Her breath came in pants, and she whimpered and arched as he ground his hips against hers. His rhythm was calculated to drive her crazy, and she moaned beneath him, pinching his nipples and pulling at the hair on his chest, letting him know she was close and he could unleash his inner beast.

Brady increased his tempo, pounding into her relentlessly. She matched him thrust for thrust, and when he rubbed her hard, little clit, she reached her peak and let out a howl of pleasure. Brady growled out his own release and at last collapsed over her with a groan of pure male satisfaction. Still firmly inside her, he rolled them to the side and held her close for a cuddle. Having none of it, she struggled free, and ignoring his hurt look, she ran for the bathroom to hide until he left.

Chapter Three

If Ayala had to rate the sexiest men in the pack, the Alpha would be number three. With those intense eyes and a hard body that screamed edgy and erotic, he’d be number one on most lists, but Ayala would choose Brady or Cade over him any day. Her two Lycan lovers had inflamed her erotic fantasies for years and when she grew old enough to bed them, her dreams had come true. But when their
wolfish,
macho
attitudes and
possessive
natures
came out, she felt suffocated. Too bad she’d been cursed with a brain and a desire for independence. Brady and Cade would be better off choosing from among the other women, she-wolves who had been born to please men instead of themselves.

So, she had no desire to become better acquainted with the Alpha’s perfect pecs and amazing abs. He was just too damn controlling. Not that he was interested. The Alpha’s sex life was a mystery. Maybe he didn’t even have one. No one really knew.

But on a list of the most dangerous men in the pack, she would definitely put the Alpha in first place, no doubt about it. Ayala had heard all the stories about him, including his exploits as he led a group of shell-shocked youngsters halfway across the country, and how he’d kidnapped a she-wolf and her cubs from the Pennsylvania Wilds. The tales had probably been embellished through the years, but at least some of them were true. A man had to be strong and lethal to take charge of a pack. Alex had earned the respect of his people. The members of the pack, including Ayala, obeyed him out of admiration, and maybe just a little fear.

Ayala wasn’t fearful today. She knew exactly what she wanted, and when she saw the Alpha today, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Alex lived in the center of town in the largest of the buildings he’d purchased for the pack members. Only a few of the dilapidated old houses were still owned by their original occupants, old-timers who didn’t have the means to move on. New Hope had been on the verge of extinction before Alex stepped in.

Ayala hadn’t been impressed with the area when she first saw it, but staying in the
adobe dwellings they’d been living in since they first settled in New Mexico wasn’t an option. The area had become a popular tourist attraction, and the pack members were afraid to shift. The Alpha had chosen this old mining town because it was a pit stop that didn’t attract visitors and he liked the proximity of an abandoned mine shaft, said to be at least five hundred feet deep. He saw it as a future avenue for escape or hiding, something that would never have occurred to Ayala.

It had been a good move in many ways. The original residents
had accepted help from the pack, and in return they minded their own business. Like the others of her kind, Ayala was careful to shift and run in the surrounding woodlands, and if their neighbors suspected all was not as it seemed, they didn’t let on. The locals had actually become very protective of the new residents and discouraged tourists and outsiders—a win-win situation for all.

Alex’s home had been a store in its previous life, with storage on the second floor and living quarters on the third. T
he first floor had been made into a community room with a small kitchen and bathroom.

The front door was locked, but the door to his office on the second floor was accessible by a hinged fire escape he’d mounted on the side of the building. Ayala climbed up the steel gratings, knocked once, and entered the Alpha’s domain. She smiled at Alex sitting behind a massive, mahogany desk
phenomenally cluttered with paperwork,
laptop, and phone. He stood up immediately and beckoned her over.

“Have a seat.” He gestured to a chair in front of his desk. “So, what do you think?” he asked, waving a hand at the files and bookshelves lining the walls as he sat down. “It’s a lot bigger than my old office, but it seems the more space I have, the more clutter I make. It’s taking me way too long to get organized.”

Awestruck, Ayala glanced around politely. “It’s very nice.” The Alpha was truly amazing. Through the years he’d made sound investments, enabling him to buy up most of this old town as well as fund an addition to Philadelphia Hospital back east. One of their pack, Dr. Roy Granger, headed the facility.

“Yes. Well, I’m sure you didn’t come here to look at my office. What’s on your mind, Ayala?”

Beating around the bush would be pointless. Ayala sat up straighter in her chair, her spine rigid.
She looked the Alpha right in the eye. “I want to go away for a while.” Well, she definitely had his attention now.

Alex leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin. “Away? Why?”

“I want to see someplace besides New Hope, maybe visit my birthplace.”

“You want to see the Pine Barrens, visit New Jersey?” The furrow deepened between his eyes, and she rushed to sway him to her side.

“Yes! I have no pictures. I can’t even remember my mother’s face. I need to see our home again.”

“There’s nothing left there, Ayala. The fire destroyed everything.”

“I just want to see it.”

“It’s out of the question. It’s too dangerous.”

A rush of disappoint filled her. She hadn’t wanted an argument. “The great fire was sixteen years ago. No one remembers it—or the rumors of wolves who could turn into people. I won’t shift, I promise.” She couldn’t keep the whiney tone from her voice. “I would never put the pack in danger. I just want my own life.”

His mouth thinned with displeasure, and his voice turned harsh. “You don’t have a good life here? Don’t I provide everything you need?”

She straightened in her seat, refusing to be intimidated. “I want to make my own choices.”

The Alpha’s face softened a bit. “I know you haven’t been happy with my efforts to increase our population. You have an independent streak…” He seemed to consider his next words carefully. “But leaving is not the solution. I have some news that may change your mind. I haven’t told the pack yet, but I think you need to hear this.”

Ayala doubted he could change her mind, but she was willing to listen, especially if he wanted to share important pack business.

“Scheduled breeding with multiple partners hasn’t worked for us. I intend to do away with the practice.
Two of our men formed a union with a human woman, and now they have a beautiful baby girl. I wasn’t pleased at first, but maybe our spirit God has shown us another way.”

Ayala’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t expected this.
Human mates were not unheard of. There were several mixed couples living in Pennsylvania as well, but surely the Alpha didn’t believe Kweo wanted them all to interbreed. “I don’t—”

Alex held up a hand. “Hear me out.” He paused. “If there were more of our people, we might all find Lycan mates, but with so few of us left, the answer to our survival may be to merge and mate with trusted humans.”

Un-fucking-believable!
After all the years of proclaiming he would never entertain mixing of the species, he’d done a one-eighty.

“So you see, you have other options. I hope you’ll choose a Lycan mate, but I won’t object if you choose a human.”

“I don’t want a mate, Lycan or human. I want a life, a home, and a job in a place of my choosing.” Leaving might be a drastic solution, but she refused to trade her independence for comfort and safety.

“What can I say to convince you it’s not a good idea?”

“Nothing. You’re giving our people the freedom to mix with the humans, and that’s exactly what I want. My freedom to live among them.
”

“Freedom is a mixed blessing. Not all humans are your friends, and they can be dangerously cunning. They have drugs and traps you know nothing about.” He shook his head, and then his features softened. “I understand. I really do. You’ve been insulated by the pack all your life, and you want a chance to try your wings, but it’s impossible.”

Sudden anger gave Ayala a bit of courage. “With all due respect, Alpha, I’m a grown woman, and you can’t stop me. I intend to go with or without your permission.”

The only sign of the Alpha’s anger was the slight flare of his nostrils. “Don’t do anything so rash, Ayala. Give me some time to think about this, and then we’ll talk again.”

* * * *

Dr. Roy Granger stood by the window watching the doctors, patients, and visitors running for cover from the sudden downpour. People were using whatever they had on hand to protect themselves from the deluge. He would never understand humans. Why did they immediately resort to using handbags, newspapers, and briefcases as umbrellas? Some even had their shirts or lab coats pulled up to cover their heads. None of it seemed to be helping. Despite the name of the popular TV show, it wasn’t always sunny in Philadelphia. Humans should be more adaptable—like wolves. They were probably too worried about their hairstyles.

“Your phone messages and the mail are on your desk…”

The forceful drumming on the glass made it difficult to hear his
administrative assistant
, not that he was paying much attention anyway. He turned away from the gray, washed-out scene and faced her. “Thanks, Lucy. You’ve done enough. It’s Saturday. Go home.”

“I don’t mind staying if you need me, Roy.” The tone of her voice implied she was offering more than her secretarial skills.

“No. I’ll be tied up all day. I have a lot of data to analyze. You go on and enjoy the rest of your weekend.” Lucy’s disappointment was obvious. The woman was becoming tiresome. He was beginning to wonder why he’d hooked up with the redheaded bitch in the first place, aside from the obvious—big boobs and a mouth made for sucking cock. It didn’t seem worth it anymore.

“I can bring you dinner later.”

Suddenly he felt the vibration of the cell phone in the pocket of his lab coat. Only one person had the number, his Alpha, and he wanted privacy when he spoke to Alex. “I won’t have time for dinner.” A few blow jobs and some sack-time and these human females thought they owned you. Roy made a mental note to put some distance between them. Much as he hated the thought of bringing a stranger into his office, if Lucy insisted on stalking him, he’d have to fire her. “I’ll see you on Monday.” He watched the sway of her ass as she sashayed out the door.
Too bad, I’ll definitely miss that body.

Alex had already disconnected. Roy headed for his private research lab in the subbasement, intending to call him back from there. He owed everything he had to the Alpha. It had been Alex who found him when he was an undergraduate, putting himself through school however he could, a nice way of saying he was whoring himself.

The pack was constantly on the lookout for others like themselves, and Alex had seen a news report about wolf sightings in Boston. That was back in his youth when Roy wasn’t as careful about shifting. Alex himself had come to lure Roy to New Mexico with promises of funding his education. The Alpha didn’t need to make promises. Roy was smitten and would have followed him anywhere, but Alex had kept his word. Roy had several degrees including a PhD, his specialty being evolutionary genetics and gene regulation.