The Alpha's Heart (Wilde Creek Two) Read online

  Standing slowly, she walked to the door. “Who is it?” she called loudly. Her mind raced. Her dad and Mia both had keys to her place and wouldn’t be banging on the door in the middle of the night.

  “Open the door. I just want to see you.”

  No. Way.

  There was no possible way on earth that Acksel Moore was banging on her door at this hour. Or any hour, for that matter.

  She flipped on the switch to turn on the porch light and drew in a deep breath. The lock clicked as she turned it and pulled the door open. Standing in the harsh light was the most gorgeous man she’d ever known. The star of every dirty fantasy she’d ever had.

  And he looked like someone had shot his puppy.

  His gray eyes were red and he reeked of whiskey. His strong jaw was covered with stubble as if he hadn’t shaved in days. He leaned heavily on the door frame.

  “I just want someone to care.” His words were raw, his tone rough and full of despair.

  Her heart cracked painfully as he slumped forward, too drunk to stay on his feet. She managed to ease his fall to the floor so he didn’t get hurt. Leaning over, she stroked his forehead. “Oh Acksel, I always cared.”

  With some effort, she roused him from his drunken stupor enough for him to help as she got him over to the couch. He crashed down on it with a groan and then passed out. She undid his boots and placed them on the floor, and then she knelt next to him and picked up his hand.

  “What are you doing here, Acksel?” she whispered, not expecting him to answer. She didn’t know much about the man before her, other than the pack gossip Mia shared and things Brynn had heard and seen around town. Acksel had never looked like this in all the years she’d known him, though. Even when he was a scrawny teenager with arms and legs that were too big for his body, he’d never looked so despondent. So lost.

  She’d always thought he was handsome, even back in high school when he was among the least popular and she was at the other end of the spectrum. Cheerleader. Honor roll. Student council. But she had a rule in life, even back then, that she would always try to be nice to everyone, no matter where they came from or what their circumstances were, and that had included him.

  And then he’d shifted in his junior year when he was sixteen and joined the weight-lifting team. He’d grown up physically, turning from handsome to gorgeous in the space of a few years, but his attitude had taken a nose dive and the shy, nervous guy that had returned her smiles in class suddenly had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and a snarl that came with fangs. She knew that he had to be tough in the pack, because they fought for position, and their ranking was important to them. If she were pack leader, she’d want everyone to be on equal footing with no rank, but that was probably just her wanting everyone to be happy and for no one to feel left out. She and Acksel were worlds apart now. He was alpha, and according to Mia, the alpha had to choose a mate who was strong enough to take on usurpers to the position until they were mated officially, which involved some kind of ceremony on the full moon. While wolves chose their own mates, that didn’t mean that others would be happy about it, and being the mate of the alpha probably came with a lot of perks that Brynn didn’t know about. And a lot of danger, too, she suspected.

  She frowned as she looked at Acksel. She was no fool. She knew that he had sex with the females in the pack who weren’t mated if they were willing. And most were, according to Mia, although she swore she’d never had sex with him.

  Sighing, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “If only you weren’t a wolf, Acksel. Or I weren’t human.”

  Straightening, she pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and covered him up, taking one last look at him before she headed back to her room and climbed into bed.

  * * * * *

  Brynn felt warm. Hot, almost. She drifted in the place between sleep and alertness as pleasurable tingles raced along her skin. For a dream, it sure felt good.

  And then she felt the rough scrape of stubble along the inside of her thigh and became immediately aware that she wasn’t asleep and she definitely wasn’t alone. The room was still dark when she opened her eyes, but the light from the front room that she’d left on for Acksel shone down the hallway and through the open bedroom door, bright enough to light the figure that was between her thighs.

  Acksel.

  His tongue curled around her clit and pleasure arced through her. He growled softly, his teeth scraping lightly against the bud. She had a million questions, but they fled when two fingers slipped into her pussy and curved upwards, making her vision blur and her body sing.

  She moaned loudly and Acksel looked up the length of her body from where he lay between her legs. Even in the darkness of the room she could see that his eyes were amber and glowing, not the normal soft gray she remembered. Maybe she should have been frightened, but she wasn’t.

  He growled again and the sound slipped through her body like a caress. She shivered and clutched the sheet. His tongue moved in quick circles around her clit as his fingers moved within her, drawing her quickly to climax. Her stomach tightened and her pussy clenched his fingers rhythmically as her body flushed with the rush of pleasure. She lifted her hips, rubbing herself on his amazing tongue. He pressed one arm over her stomach, the weight keeping her from moving as he licked her clit in fast circles and fingered her harder and faster.

  Her hands clutched at the sheet under her, her fingers digging into the material as she was held captive under his assault. She couldn’t stop trying to move, even with his arm holding her down. She wiggled and moaned and he growled, the sound vibrating through her body and drawing her closer and closer to completion. His tongue laved over her taut bud again and again, until her body trembled and her whole world centered on the rush of heat that swirled through her.

  Close. So close.

  Then he sucked her clit into his mouth and fit a third finger into her pussy, stretching her, teasing her, pulling her further into pleasure. With his tongue wiggling her clit between his lips and his fingers pounding into her with abandon, she exploded, jerking under him and screaming his name as she came.

  Wet with her climax, his hand slipped from her body and gripped her hip as he kissed his way up her body, tasting her with licks and gentle bites. She couldn’t stop shivering as little mini orgasms pulsed through her over and over. Acksel’s breath was hot against her neck as he settled over her, his cock nudging her soaked pussy. Never had she wanted anything more in her life than to make love to Acksel; to have him slide into her, fill her, take her.

  Wrapping her legs around his waist, she fisted his hair with one hand and gripped his shoulder with the other, angling her hips up as he pushed into her. He plunged forward, shoving roughly into her body. His large cock stretched her, pushing past her tightness into the depths of her body until their hips were flush together. They groaned at the same time, their voices mingling.

  His hand gripped her hip tighter as he slid out of her and powered back in, filling her and stoking the fires of pleasure within her. Her orgasm bloomed back to life as he moved inside her, increasing his pace until he drove the breath from her body. She held him tighter with her legs and dug her nails into his back, urging him on with moans and panting whispers for more.

  She arched up under him, meeting his hips with her own as he slammed into her again and again. His arm slipped under her lower back and pulled her up into his body as he fucked her harder and faster. The angle made his cock brush against something deep within her and sparks flashed in her eyes.

  “Mine,” he snarled as he thrust into her, pushing her hard towards the edge of pleasure. She wanted to come with him, to draw his climax out with hers and feel him coming deep inside.

  “Yes, fuck, yes,” she moaned loudly.

  She felt her fingernails rip into his back as her climax thundered down on her. She lost the ability to speak, screaming mindlessly as the most intense pleasure she’d ever known swept over her.

  Acksel roared
as his cock twitched and pulsed, spasming with his climax. He slumped over her and she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. She might be deaf in one ear and he might have fucked her into a boneless pile of goo without even saying hello to her, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t muster the ability to care about anything, reveling in the warm weight of the man on top of her and the little aftershocks of pleasure that zinged through her.

  With a contented growl, Acksel rolled onto his back and took her with him, pressing her securely into his side. She peered up at him. His eyes were closed but he looked happier than he had when he’d stumbled drunkenly into her home just hours earlier.

  Giggling internally, she thought, I sexed him happy.

  With a yawn, she rubbed her cheek on his chest and inhaled the spicy, woodsy scent of him and closed her eyes. Sleep stole over her quickly and she relaxed, confident that when they woke in the morning, things would be different.

  Chapter 4

  Acksel woke feeling more comfortable than he’d been in years. Satisfaction curled through him, along with a happiness that surprised him. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling so content, and he should have been concerned, but for the moment, he was satisfied to hang out in pre-wakeful limbo.

  He inhaled slowly and the scent of cinnamon filled his nose. His eyes popped open as the events of the previous night filtered through his mind. He’d been ripping drunk and had attempted to walk home, but had instead stumbled through the night until he’d smelled something that had made him forget all his troubles.

  The ceiling was unfamiliar, as were the wall hangings, but the scent of sex and the slight weight of the woman snuggled against his side were extremely familiar. He knew her immediately; the woman who smelled like cinnamon and had haunted his dreams for years — Brynn.

  Her dark hair was tousled, her lashes casting shadows on cheeks that were flushed from sleep and passion. Her lush lips were parted slightly and her warm breath fanned his chest where her cheek rested. He closed his eyes and replayed last night in his mind — what little he could recall. Vaguely he remembered leaving the bar, and then things went fuzzy, but apparently he had followed the scent of cinnamon that had driven him crazy all his high school years.

  Brynn had liked cinnamon candies and gum. In school, she always had a light cinnamon scent around her that he would have been able to pick up even without his heightened wolf senses. She was kind back then, one of the nicest girls in school, friendly to everyone even though she ran in the popular circle. Homecoming queen. Captain of the cheerleading squad.

  Back then, he’d had a hard time of things. He was scrawny and weak, unable to really even stand up for himself against humans, who were by nature pathetic and weak compared to wolves. The older wolves in the pack had enjoyed tormenting him and watching the humans pick on him. He couldn’t remember a time before he shifted at age sixteen when he wasn’t bullied. He knew he’d been a bitter, unhappy kid, and he’d funneled all that anger into becoming a wolf that no one would mess with — which meant that he had to become the alpha. He’d let go of every distraction in his life and focused on training. He exercised, lifted weights, and learned how to fight so he could work his way up in the pack. It was a slow process, because challenges for position could only happen on the full moon, and only if the alpha approved. The former alpha, a male in his forties named Willis, had allowed Acksel to fight from his original omega position up the ranks. Month after month, he fought and won, fought and won, until he was beta. No one had challenged Willis in years. He’d been alpha for fifteen years and had not seen Acksel as a threat. Many wolves were content with the status quo and would fight for whatever position they were in and not try to be any higher. Acksel hadn’t been insulted that Willis hadn’t seen him as a threat. In the Wilde Creek pack, there had never been an alpha as young as Acksel, and maybe Willis had thought he had a few more years before Acksel challenged him, or perhaps he thought that Acksel would be content to be a beta forever. Regardless, when Acksel challenged Willis, he accepted and was defeated.

  Acksel had been in power for three years. He’d disbanded the rankings put in place by Willis and every eligible male was unranked until the first full moon, when ranking positions were fought. Acksel presided over them, watching as the positions filled from the lowest, unranked omegas to the ones closest to him — beta and theto — and those underneath them that were named protectors, who watched over females and pups, and those who were too old or weak to fight.

  But now, because of what happened with Eveny, Acksel had changed pack law so wolves and humans could mate. Which meant that the woman in his arms, according to pack law, could become his mate.

  He growled. That was pure idiocy. Acksel was alpha. His mate needed to be a wolf. Not because it was pack law, but because she would have to fight for her place at his side. The females in the pack who were unmated would fight to be Acksel’s mate. It was the way of females, to want to be with the strongest male. If Acksel chose Brynn as his mate, she would be vulnerable to the females until they were officially mated through a ceremony on the full moon. Although the females had no real ranking in the pack, they would be accountable to the female who was mated to the alpha; therefore she needed to be able to stand up for herself against them and prove that she could protect them and care for them. Acksel knew that Brynn would be destroyed by the females. Each full moon when he took a female for sex before the hunt, they would fight with each other for the right to come to his bed.

  And more than being able to stand up to the females, the mate that Acksel chose would have a target on her back and would be a point of weakness against him. A female wolf had extra strength and speed and could shift. A human had none of those things. Brynn would be vulnerable in ways that a wolf would not be.

  Just being in bed with him now was dangerous for her, if anyone should find out about them. He glanced down the length of her body as it pressed against his side and knew he would die before he let a hair on her head be harmed.

  To keep her safe, he would walk away. The only way to ensure that no one ever knew how much he cared for her was to never see or speak to her again. It would kill him, but he would do whatever it took to see that she was safe from harm, even if it meant that they couldn’t be together. He wished he hadn’t been drunk, that the time they spent together was clearer in his mind and not hazed with alcohol so it felt like a dream and not reality. But he would cherish this moment for the rest of his life.

  Although his wolf protested loudly in his mind as he slipped silently from her bed, he gathered his clothes from the foot of her bed and walked out of the bedroom. Dressing quickly, he left her home, locking the door on the way out.

  The scent of cinnamon caught him by surprise and he turned around to look at the front door. A wreath made of cinnamon hung on the door, tied with a red ribbon. As he stepped off the porch, the scent of cinnamon still hung in the air and he glanced at the bushes that lined the porch and caught the scent coming from them. It followed him all the way down the walk to the street, where he jogged away, trying to clear the scent of cinnamon — and his mate — from his mind.

  * * * * *

  Friday evening, Brynn stood at her closet wrapped in a towel, staring at the contents. She hadn’t canceled her date with Xavier. Even though Acksel had rocked her universe, the way he slipped out while she was asleep without even leaving a note had not stopped bothering her all day. He could have left a note. He could have sent her a text. She had gotten his number from Mia that morning; he could have done the same. Even just a “hey it was nice to see you again” or “thanks for being so great in bed.” But nothing. And she’d hated how bummed out she felt about it.

  The despair she’d seen when he banged on her front door in the middle of the night was clearly brought on by too much alcohol. The sex? Well, that was harder to explain. Maybe he was just a horny wolf and she’d never seen that side of him. But the lack of a note or a call...well, she clearly hadn’t meant anything to him. And
she wasn’t sure why she’d thought she would.

  She bit the bullet and called him that afternoon, leaving a message when he didn’t answer. She hoped that she sounded more lighthearted than she felt. After several hours of hopeful waiting for Acksel to return her call, she decided to keep her date with Xavier. Her phone buzzed, dancing on top of her dresser. She reached for it and saw that Mia was calling.

  “Hey, B,” Mia said when Brynn answered. “Did you get what you needed from Acksel?”

  Choking back a laugh, Brynn said, “No.” She could hear how bummed she sounded and so she straightened her back and shook off the sour feeling. “But it’s not a big deal. I thought he was the right one to talk to, but turns out that I was totally wrong so I’m going in a different direction.”

  Mia was quiet for a moment. “Did something happen, B?”

  Brynn had never lied to her best friend, but this was not something she could really share with her. It was humiliating to be an unwitting partner in a one-night stand. Especially since Mia knew that Brynn had liked him for years.

  “Nope. But I’m glad you called. What the heck should I wear on my date?”

  “Ah, the good doctor,” Mia said a little too cheerfully, which told Brynn that her friend didn’t believe that nothing had happened but was being nice enough to let it go. For now.

  Ten minutes later, Mia had coached her through choosing an outfit of black slacks, a turquoise blouse, and her favorite pair of strappy black heels. When she ended the call with Mia, she fixed her hair, put on make-up, and grabbed a small clutch from a shelf in her closet.