The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (9 page)

Only
this time, a lick of pleasure swept up inside her. Something was different
about it this time. This time his entire body lay against hers, showing her all
that heat and muscle. His hips were pressed into her ass and she closed her eyes
to focus better. Was he hard or not? She couldn’t really tell.

She
panted as her body became aware of his. His hands were fisted in the grass
above her shoulders, caging her in. Something about the submissive position
called to her softest feminine yearnings, told her to arch her bottom up and
rub it against his hips to find if he was hard or not.

His
harsh breaths met with hers. She turned her cheek to the side to glance up at
him but he simply leaned the other way. Then, a moment later, she felt his face
press into her hair, heard him inhale.

“I’ve
never known a woman who smelled as good as you do. I don’t know why that is. Do
you?”

It
was like a coiling ache built in her chest being screwed tighter and tighter
making it difficult to even breathe. “No,” was all she could say.

“Neither
do I, but sometimes it’s best not to question the beauty of nature. Better to
stop and soak it in.”

Those
tingles in her belly intensified, slid between her legs. God, she was getting
so turned on. “You think I’m beautiful?”

He
curled his hand into her hair, much more gently than she’d touched him. “Oh
yeah. The best of them all. Something to be seen, breathed in, soaked in. Like
the sun or a beautiful sunset. That’s what you are, Alicia Clarkson. And something
about all that beauty calls to me. I want it for myself,” he said, his voice
getting lower. “I want to know it from the inside out.”

Her
heartbeat pounded against her chest, trying to break free. Oh god, she wanted
him to kiss her so badly. She needed him, ached inside for something she wasn’t
ready to admit yet.

“Gavin,”
she said, and she couldn’t stop it. Her body acted on its own and those traitorous
hips arched up into him, caressing him. That’s when she gasped. She found him.
Her bottom was met by a steely column between his hips. He was hard as a damn
rock.

His
breath caught at the action, stuttered as he exhaled.

She
knew what she wanted then, more than anything else, more than wanting to see
his face or to get free and escape. She wanted his kiss. To feel the flames
explode between them because she just knew they would.

“Kiss
me, Gavin,” she said, panting.

So
quickly, he moved. In a flash, he had those strong hands cupping her hips,
tightening and stopping her from rubbing her bottom along that column of power.

“Don’t,”
he said, his voice cracked and broken. The sound sent a shiver down her spine
and it wasn’t in fear.

He
buried his face in the back of her hair and it felt like they were lovers,
aching for each other after being too long without each other’s touch.

“Please,”
she begged, aching for that kiss. That first touch of lips from this strange,
intriguing male.

The
hand on her hips froze any of her movements, and he lifted away. “No.” He
pushed her hips back to the ground.

“What?”
The flames of arousal died like throwing water on a campfire. The licks of them
tried to stay alive but anger started killing them.

“I
said no.”

Her
mouth flopped open and closed as humiliation and shame mixed nastily with the
anger. “You’re telling me no? After asking me to mate with you, and then I…”
she couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted his touch, not now. “And you won’t
even give me this? Fine, get the hell off of me.”

“Alicia,
it shouldn’t be like this---”

“You know
what,” she interrupted, “I’m real sick of you telling me how things should and
shouldn’t be. Now get the hell off me, Gavin MacKellen. Now. Before I scream an
avalanche down on us.”

His
heavy weight lifted off her and when sat up, she saw him marching back to the
house, without a word to her.

Shame
burned her cheeks, made her teeth grind until she threatened to sand down her
molars. It wasn’t fair, she thought, standing. This was how he treated her? She
finally had a moment of stupidity where she actually felt something intense and
wild between them and he couldn’t even kiss her.

Her
jaw gliding back and forth, she marched up the house and threw open the front
door. She hadn’t been sure what she’d find there, but Kaity, Will, and a man whose
manila boots she recognized wasn’t it.

Pissed,
she squared her shoulders. “You’re the one who kicked the door down upstairs.”

The
man looked mean. He had ‘pissed-the-fuck-off’ stamped all over his face and
body. He stood with big legs spread, arms crossed across a broad, burly chest
and his lips pulled down into a grimace, his golden brown eyes flat.

“How’d
you guess?” he asked, not actually sounding interested in the least.

She
nodded to his boots. “Recognized the shoes.”

He
lifted a brow and everything grew quiet. Kaity cast quick glances at her which
were both angry and hurt. Will glared at her, also pissed off. Gavin was nowhere
to be seen.

So
what the hell was she supposed to do now?

“I’m
going to need my work supplies sent up here. I can’t stay here for a month and
not work. I have a job to do. If you could take care of that, I’d appreciate
it. Can one of you take care of that?”

“Who
the hell do you think you are giving us orders?” the big man asked.

“Jo,
can it. He said he’s sending the rest of the girls home. This could be his mate
one day,” Kaity said.

So
the big guy was named Jo. He didn’t look like a Jo. He looked like a Mingus or Vinnie
or Victor or some other over the top, big name. Not a Jo. Such a short name
didn’t do justice to the guy who had short-cropped hair, tattooed sleeves along
both arms that disappeared under his black tee.

The
sound of a truck rumbled up outside. Kaity and Will sidled past her to get out
the front door but Jo stayed behind, glaring at her like he was envisioning
hammering nails into her head. She glared back because it wasn’t like she’d
caused him that much grief.

And
where had Gavin gone? She’d heard him enter the house. Was he upstairs, and if
so, what was he doing? Hell, why do you care, she questioned herself.
I
really don’t
, she assured herself
.

Jo
strode forward, his boots landing like thunderclaps on the floor. “Listen here,
Alicia Clarkson. My cuz deserves a solid woman. A woman who will treat him like
a fuckin’ king for once. If you’re not her, then get the hell out of here now.”

She
took a few things out of what he said. One, he and Gavin were cousins. Two,
apparently women treated Gavin like shit. And three, he was under the wrong
misconception about her position in the pack.

“Listen,
I’ve asked to go home, I’ve begged to go home, and I just tried to escape. Do
you really think that if not for Gavin keeping me here, I wouldn’t be gone?”

The
frown around his lips deepened as her words sunk in. She almost smirked because
she knew she was right and now he knew it too.

He
leaned down, his face getting too close to be comfortable. That’s when she
caught a flash of metal hanging in his ears. “No, you listen to me, little
girl.” She bristled at the ‘little’ even if it was true. “Gavin deserves a
fuckin’ queen. A woman who will bow down every morning and suck his dick like
it’s her job, because it fuckin’ is. He deserves a good woman’s respect and
admiration. If you don’t have that for him, then don’t string him along. You
got that?”

Anger
made her flush. At least that’s what she told herself. It couldn’t be his crude
words or the erotic images they painted in her mind. “That’s some of the most misogynistic
crap I’ve ever heard. Where are you going after this? Off to your women-beating
club to clap the other guys on the back for smacking their mates real good?”
Whoa. She was breathing hard, not real sure where all that came from. All she
knew was the man made her mad with his archaic bullshit.

His
eyes widened. Then he leaned a few inches closer until she could feel his
breath blow across her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

With
that, he opened the front door and slammed it as he left. She winced as the
loud clap of wood reverberated in her eardrums like a ping pong ball.

She
heard voices outside. Curiosity got the best of her and she went to a window in
the living room and pulled back a white gauzy curtain to see outside. Another
man had pulled up in a truck.

Kaity
rushed forward and the man caught her in his arms. She broke down into sobs. “I
just heard about Emma. Oh, Hart, I can’t believe it. Who could have killed her?”
She choked on her words, the sounds muffled as she buried her face in his
chest. Alicia felt a tingle in her nose and sniffled.

The
man named Hart had to be a cousin or brother because he looked very much like
Gavin in the physical sense. Tall, big, and strong. Hart wasn’t quite as tall
though and he looked thicker around the chest, but didn’t have the tall body
and sinewy muscle like Gavin. He had darker hair than the rest of them but the
same good looking face and blue eyes. Made her wonder if this is what Gavin
looked like—at least in some way.

“There,
there, little sis. I’m working on it. You know I’ll find whoever did this. I’m
bringing Elizabeth in on it. You know she’s the best damn detective we got on
the force, woman or not.” He laughed to ease the tension and Kaity laughed with
him.

“Yeah,
right. Better than you?”

He
pulled back and grinned down at her. “All right, maybe not that good.”

Kaity
laughed and hugged him around the waist. “You’ll find who did this. I trust you.”

The
man named Hart wrapped his arm around his sister then swung his gaze straight
to Alicia in her spot from the window. Suddenly, she felt like a deer in the
headlights. Her eyes popped wide.

 Alicia
wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly aware that she was the only
non-family member here and that she was creeping on a conversation from a
window. She started to duck away when Hart spoke.

“Who’s
that?”

Movement
caught the corner of her eyes and she squinted as a figure came from the other
side of the house. Then her eyes narrowed in surprise at the man in the
deerskin coat. She recognized the way he walked, with just a kick to his legs
like a horse rider. Where had he gone?

Gavin
kept his back to the house, the damn coward. “Alicia Clarkson,” he answered
Hart. “She’ll be here for at least another month. I’m considering her to be my
mate. Everyone will give her all the respect of that position,” he said in that
gravelly voice.

They
nodded like good little soldiers, even Jo, which made Alicia grin. Jo caught
the look and glared at her again. She reciprocated in kind.

While
this was going on, Hart pulled Gavin to the side and a bit closer to the house.
She struggled to hear the words.

“There’s
been another murder.”

Gavin
tensed, his body turning into stone. “Who?”

“Anthony
Clipton.”

“Fuck,”
Gavin cursed. “He’s only, what, fourteen?”

Hart
nodded, grim.

“You
tellin’ me we have a child killer in the pack?”

“That’s
what it looks like. I’m looking into it. I’ll find out what happened.” He placed
a big hand on Gavin’s shoulder in support.

“Where’d
you find him?”

Hart
looked down at the ground. “He was found on the north side, floating in the
lake.”

She
watched Gavin shake his head. “He drowned?”

Hart
shook his head.

“How
do you know he didn’t?” Gavin asked, anger lacing his words until he was
spitting out nails with each word.

“He’s
covered in bruises. He received a beating for sure. Broken bones. He was
dropped in the lake afterward.”

Alicia
flinched at the news and so did Gavin. “Find who did this, Hart. I don’t care
who have to bring in, and get every volunteer out there. I want every square
inch of the property guarded 24/7, you got me?”

Hart
nodded. “Consider it done.”

Hart
tucked his hand in his pocket as he strolled back to his truck and took off. Will
took off with Kaity who’d fallen into another lapse of tears.

That
left Gavin and Jo. They shared a few words together, much too low for her to
hear. Then Jo lifted his big head and met her gaze.

He
hollered out, his command aimed directly at her. “You will stay inside that
house. You will not leave unless the damn thing is set on fire. I will be
watchin’ you and if you so much as stick your head out a window to breathe in
some fresh air, I’m tying you up, gagging you, and locking you in your room.
Got that?”

She
glared so hard her eyes hurt. She glanced at Gavin’s back, but apparently he
supported everything the big oaf just said. Smiling coldly, she gave the big
guy the finger, waving it at him for good measure. Then she ducked back into
the house and looked at it for the first time.