The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (34 page)

She
went to him, wrapping her arms around him. She could feel the tension deep in
his bones. “What’s wrong?”
Please don’t let it be another murder
.

“Will
left.”

“Left?
But I thought you said he was under watch?”

His
eyes were flat. “That’s the problem. He slipped his watch. They sent out an
alert to find him, but no one can find him in the pack. He’s gone. It’s my god
damned fault.”

She
shook her head, confused. “What’s your fault?”

“His
anger. I should have…I don’t know,
made
him talk to me. Now he’s
running. He must have seen the guard. He probably thinks we’re all turnin’
against him. Ah, fuck. I gotta go search for him.”

He
pulled out of her arms and jogged upstairs, she right behind him. “Surely he’s
safe, right? He isn’t a kid.”

“He’s
only nineteen,” he said, voice gruff. “He’s angry at me. I need to fix this.”
He started dressing and for some reason this all felt so wrong. She wrapped her
arms around her stomach, smelling his warm scent in his shirt but taking no
comfort in it.

“Are
you sure that’s the right thing to do? Maybe he needs some time. Or maybe he
just snuck out to be with his friends or a girl.”

He
shook his head, certain.

“Well,
let me get some clothes. I’ll help you.”

He
stilled from tugging a clean shirt on. “I think you should stay here. Get some
sleep.”

“Sleep?
I’m not tired after…after what we just did and now this. I’m pumped. Let me
help.”

His
eyes narrowed in contemplation but then he shook his head. “I can’t let you do
that. Not with all the strange accidents that have been happening.”

“You’re
saying it’s not safe for me to leave this house even with you by my side.”

His
jaw clenched and she knew she was really starting to make him mad. Well, so
what. She could help, better than twiddling her thumbs here alone. She saw the
blank look come over his eyes and new his answer.

She
wasn’t going to have any of that. Hands snapping to her hips, she leaned forward.
“Listen here, you say you want a mate, you bring me here. I soften up, no
matter how much I don’t want to, and then we just had…the greatest sex in my
whole damn life and now you want to leave without me. This from the man who
told me, several times that he wants to mate with me. Mate as in be together
forever, have babies, run a pack. That’s a big goddamned deal, Gavin, and here
I must be the stupid one, because I’m fucking considering it like a nut job.
Meanwhile, the first dose of trouble we get, you relegate me to stay home while
you go out and play Alpha. If this is what it’s going to be like for real, then
I’ll pack my things and go.”

A
very long stretch of silence passed after her rant. A rant in which she’d said
things she never, ever meant to say aloud. However, there was no taking back
those words. He’d heard them, every one of them. Silence entombed them.

A
dark look flashed in his eyes. He started toward her and she stood tall, not
backing down. And then he caught her up against him and his mouth came crashing
down to hers, lips pressing hard. He nibbled at her mouth and she opened for
him. The kiss turned wet and sensual. He pulled back all too soon, leaving her
teetering after him for more.

“The
greatest sex in your whole life?”

She
couldn’t even open her eyes after that kiss. “Mmhmm,” she said.

His
arms held her so close, so tight. “You’re really wantin’ to mate with me then,
be with me and stay here?”

Now
her eyes opened. She swallowed hard, afraid to say the words and afraid not to.
All she needed was to think back to her life before him, before she met the
MacKellens and she had her answer. “Yes, I do.”

A
shuttered look passed over his face and then he buried his lips against her
neck and picked her up, half-twirling in a circle as he held her. “Sweet,
beautiful woman. You make me whole again.” He took her mouth in a sweeping,
heady kiss that rearranged her thoughts until she wasn’t sure of her own name.
He smiled down at her, his scarred face the most beautiful thing she’d ever
seen. “Let’s go find my brother.”

And
they went, together.

CHAPTER 21

If
there was a best way to wake up in the morning, then it was definitely with
Gavin MacKellen’s face buried between her legs making her sweat and squirm.

She
hadn’t gathered all of her senses back yet, but she knew it was late in the
morning; the sun hung high in the sky and filled the bedroom with bright rays.
They’d spent hours scouring the pack last night only to come up with the same
conclusion Jo and the other pack lieutenants had. Will was gone. For such a
young man, he was quite good at slipping in and out of places because he
managed to bypass the guards along the territory edges. No easy task. Last
night, she’d seen the mixture of pride and frustration on Gavin’s face. 

They’d
gotten back in the early hours of the morning, beaten and exhausted. They both
needed a shower but neither one of them had the energy to do so. After
collapsing on the bed with their limbs entwined, they fell asleep. And now a
gorgeous, scarred man was licking her with steely purpose.

“Gavin,”
she said, her voice dry.

She
grabbed handfuls of his hair as he threw one arm up her body to squeeze her
nipple while a thick finger pushed inside her. So many good things all at once.
Oh god. It was too much.

A
hot flush burst across her face and chest. “You’re going to make me—” Hips
rocking against him, she panted breathlessly.

And
then it hit her. Hard, tight, and hot. A savage rush of pleasure raced through
her, jerking her body with erotic spasms.

“God,
you make me hard,” he said from between her legs. His voice was guttural. A
foggy growl from a combination sleep and arousal.

“You
make me wet.”

He
groaned a pained sound as he licked her gently, slowly easing her back down
from her unbridled climax. “Yeah, I do.”

Her
gentle laugh met his groans of pleasure as he lapped at her. It made her body
clench and ache for more, for something only he could give her.

“Baby?”

“Hm?”
he grunted, those lips sucking on her folds.

“Don’t
you want to finish?”

“Fuck,
yeah.”

He
kissed his way up her stomach, squeezing her tit so her nipple puckered up for
him and then he sucked on it. After he got it good and hard to the point of
being tender, he pinched it. He stifled her gasp with a hot, wet kiss. She
tasted of herself and him. An intoxicating combination.

In
a flash, her groggy mind was too slow to realize, he turned her onto her belly,
grabbed her hips and pulled her up and back.

“Never
seen a hotter ass.” He cupped her there, swatting at her cheeks and molding
them.

And
when she spread her legs for him and tilted her ass back at him, he mounted her
in a thrust meant to mark and claim. And it did. He worked his big cock in and
out of her with brutal plunges that made her tits sway and ass jiggle. The pace
set her teeth on edge and her body on fire.

She
sobbed from the intensity of it all. As if that wasn’t enough, he reached
between her legs to set a fierce rhythm over her clit. It felt so good. She was
an animal pounding back against him in an endless search for that climax—the
explosion which would knock all sense from her and leave her drained.

“Too
good, sweetheart. Gonna come,” he said between harsh breaths.

Harder
and faster he pounded into her, his pace faltering, but not that touch between
her thighs. He pressed harder and circled in wicked motions. Those fingers shot
her apart into screams of ecstasy, and he was right there with her, pushing and
shoving past her gripping pussy and flooding her with hot seed.

She
collapsed onto the pillows, panting uncontrollably.

She
seemed to go in and out of sleep. When she opened her eyes, she felt him
stroking her back, calming her as he kissed one shoulder then the other. She
turned her head and their lips met, tongues slowly winding.

“Shower
time,” she said, smiling. How could she not smile when she’d never felt better.

They
shared another quick kiss before Gavin grabbed her by the hand and led her into
the shower. As the vestiges of their morning play began to fade and they each
had to face a new day, her mood leveled out.

“I’m
sorry about Will. I’ll tell you what though, he’s safe,” she said.

They
got under the hot spray and made quick work of cleaning themselves, though not
each other as she’d hoped. He seemed rushed after her comment. The first to
finish, he got out first and started toweling off. “How do you know that?” His
mood had soured.

“If
he’s smart enough to get by the extra guard and sneak out of the pack then he’s
a kid who can handle himself.”

He
shrugged, looking pensive. After they dressed, Alicia could feel a change coming
over him. A distancing.

“What’s
wrong?” she asked, while he shoved his boots on.

He
didn’t look at her. “Nothin’.”

Nothing.
The universal word for
something is wrong
. “Bullshit. Talk to me.”

He
paused for a moment, hands hanging loosely between his legs. “Did you mean what
you said last night?”

A
spike of alarm shot down her spine. “I’m not following you.”

“Last
night you told me you want to stay here and consider mating with me. Now I’m
askin’ you if that still stands or if that was some spur of the moment
bullshit.”

“I
don’t understand why you’re acting like this. We just made love and showered.
What’s changed from that time to now?”

Standing,
he looked her straight in the eyes. “I woke up.”

Inwardly,
she staggered a step back. A bloom of pain like a gunshot hit her right in the
heart. “What’s your problem?” Her voice was thick.

“I
think I have the right to know if you meant what you said. And yet, we’re
standin’ here and you aren’t answering the question.” His jaw twitched.

“I
haven’t answered the question because I’m still reeling about your attitude
change.”

“I
woke up, had a beautiful woman in my bed, so I fucked her. Now I’m awake and I
want a damn answer.”

Not
I made love with her
as she’d put it. But
I fucked her.
Ouch,
that one hurt like pouring salt over the gunshot wound. 

She
snapped her gaping mouth shut. “I had meant it, but now let’s just say I’m
rethinking it.” She had wanted to say something cruel to make him hurt. Judging
by the way his face shut down and glanced away, she’d say she won. It didn’t
feel good to win.

“I’ll
be back later.”

He
started to pass her and she grabbed him in panic. “Where are you going?”

He
didn’t look at her or even at the hand holding him. “I’m going to interrogate
Marcus and Harry. Hart has evidence that it was Harry who poisoned us and
rented the SUV that ran you off the road. I’m going to get some answers
finally.” He pulled his arm away and started down the stairs.

She
followed him, tears welling in her eyes. “Why are you being like this?”

He
paused at the bottom of the stairs. “Because I asked you a question and you
didn’t want to answer it. Still haven’t. You didn’t want to answer it because I
was right. You didn’t mean what you said last night. You don’t really want to
stay here with me. Don’t worry, soon enough our bargain will be over and you
can go back home.”

“But
I said last night I wanted to stay here.”

He
looked up at her with intense anguish blazing in his eyes. “You said that in
passion. Now that it’s cooled, you talk around the question, can’t just answer
it. We both know why. We both know I’m right. Then you say you’re rethinking
it. That was low, sweetheart.”

She
knew it had been, that’s why she did it. A tear slipped down her cheek. “I don’t
understand any of this.” She tried shaking her head but that didn’t work to
erase what was happening. Even her mind struggled to think quickly enough to
say the right thing to make him stay.

“Listen,
before I go, I should say I went about it the wrong way. I shouldn’t have said
it how I said it. I was a dick, but I had to know if you meant it. And I can
see now…you didn’t. See you later, Alicia.”

He
left.

The
world spun around her. Tears spilled freely down her face and she sobbed as she
collapsed on the stairs.

What
just happened? A ball formed in her throat making it hard to breathe through
the tears. Her mind raced back to that morning, to her words last night and
replayed them over and again.

He’d
called her Alicia before he left. Not sweetheart or baby. Her name. Like he
wanted to distance himself from her. Agony ripped her heart open, shredding the
tender organ leaving her raw.