True Alpha (7 page)

“I’m not saying you were wrong.” The one that answered was distinctly April’s. “But they’re mated. It’ll be better for the entire pack if you just let it go.”

“I don’t see how they’re mated when they’re not even marked.”

“Well, she’s pregnant. I’d say that makes it obvious enough.” April
tsked
. “Though it
is
weird.”

“It’s more than weird,” Violet said, her voice thoughtful. “I swear, he had this smell yesterday…”

“He couldn’t have.” Surprisingly, it was a male voice that spoke this time – Noah’s. The rest of the guys were on the patrol. “Only a shifter’s mate can detect their unique mating scent. You must’ve smelled something else.”

Violet scoffed. “I may not have a mate, but I’m not an idiot. That was no ordinary scent. I’m telling you, something’s up. If they were mates, why wouldn’t they have each other’s marks? Maybe they’re just living like mates, like humans do. I mean, you don’t have to be mated to have sex. Maybe he got her pregnant without meaning to and feels obligated to take care of her.”

A sharp pain flared in one of Mandy’s fingertips, making her aware of the death-grip she had on the porch banister. Uncurling her fingers and taking a step backward, she raised her hands and saw that a long, slender sliver of wood had pierced her skin. She pulled it from her fingertip as carefully as she could manage while her head spun, Violet’s words bouncing around inside her skull and making her see red.

Not mates?
Obligated
? Who the hell did Violet think she was to just show up out of the blue, an uninvited guest, and question her and Jack’s relationship?

“I’ll ask him about it later,” Noah said.

Mandy gripped the banister again, heedless of splinters. Just now, she felt ready to either collapse or strangle someone. Squeezing the hell out of the wooden railing seemed like the safest alternative. She chewed her inner lip as her cheeks burnt hot, as if she’d been slapped. Meanwhile, the sound of approaching footsteps filled the silence.

They weren’t talking anymore – probably because they were afraid she’d hear. They must’ve thought she’d be inside, that she wouldn’t have been able to overhear their conversation. But she hadn’t been, and she didn’t retreat as they appeared from behind the screen of pines that hid Jack’s cabin from view of the mountain road. They must have walked from the cabin Jack had rented for them.

Mandy stood still as a statue as they approached, their gazes sweeping over her and – she imagined – settling on her belly. Mandy’s jaw tightened, and she had to fight the urge to grind her teeth. The baby inside wasn’t an anchor tying Jack to her – it was a result of their love, of the fact that they were mates. Hearing Violet, April and Noah doubt that had gotten her hackles up in an instant.

April had the nerve to smile as the three approached. “Hi Mandy. We figured we’d come and wait here for the others to get back. They haven’t shown up yet, have they?”

“No.” Mandy gripped the banister a little tighter. “I’m waiting. For my mate.”

The others’ neutral expressions faltered for an instant, but soon returned to normal. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” Noah said.

No sooner had he spoken than a soft rustling became audible in the distance – the sound of wolves moving through underbrush, quick and graceful and glad to be back home. Mandy hurried down the short flight of porch steps and rounded the cabin, meeting them as they emerged from the edge of the forest. Thankfully, they all looked whole and no worse for the wear, save for a few twigs and leaves that had become caught in their coats.

Jack trotted up to Mandy and shifted, instantly becoming a man and taking her in his arms, pulling her close.

Mandy’s cheeks heated as he gave her a quick hug, his naked body pressed against hers.

“Didn’t find anything,” he said. “Nothing besides the original scent trail, anyway.”

“Oh.” Mandy didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. Still blushing, she continued to let him hug her, preserving his modesty with her own body. “Do you plan on finding your clothes, or is this—” she motioned at his bare body “—going to stay the norm even though we’ve got packmates now?”

Jack grinned. “This has been the norm for years. Noah and Daniel won’t think anything of it. As for the girls, well, I’m not used to havin’ females around.”

“What am I, then?” Mandy asked, giving him a light, teasing slap across the ass that the others wouldn’t be able to see – or at least, she hoped not.

“My mate.” He pressed a quick, claiming kiss against her lips. “Hope this ain’t a hint that you’ve wanted me to wear more clothing all along. Hate to think that I’ve been drivin’ you crazy all these months.”

“Oh, you have been – just not in the way you think.”

****

“Jack.” Mandy sank onto the bed, clad in a cotton cami and shorts. Though she was ready for bed, she couldn’t have felt farther from being sleepy. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” He’d stripped off his clothes and tossed them aside. Normally, the sight of him nude would’ve distracted Mandy, but she couldn’t think of anything besides the conversation she’d overheard earlier that day.

“I heard Violet, April and Noah talking about me earlier today – about us – while you and the others were out on patrol.” That afternoon, Mandy had driven to a nearby town to fill out her new hire paperwork for her new job. This was the first time she’d had a chance to bring up the conversation that had been eating at her all day.

Jack sank onto the bed beside her. “What’d they say?”

“They don’t think we’re really mates.” She said it as quickly as she could, wanting to get the words out of her mouth. She didn’t like the way they sounded, even though she knew they weren’t true. “Violet thinks you’re only with me because you accidentally got me pregnant and feel obligated to take care of me and the baby.”

“Mandy.” Jack tucked a hand beneath her chin and lifted it gently, so that their gazes locked. His bright eyes shone, even in the soft light that radiated from a single-bulb fixture on the ceiling. “You know that’s not true.”

“I know. It just made me so angry to hear her say it. Even Noah seemed to think there was something to it – he told them that he’d ask you about it.”

“I’ll ask
him
about it,” Jack said, an edge of roughness to his voice, “and set him and the others straight. You’re my mate, and if they have a problem with that, they have a problem with me.”

“Okay. But there’s something else.”

“What?”

“They kept saying things about marks – like, if we were really mated, we’d have each other’s marks. Do you know what they were talking about?”

Jack was silent for a moment. “I reckon I do.”

Chapter 4

Mandy endured Jack’s pause for as long as she could bear. “Well?”

“It’s an old tradition,” Jack said. “When two wolf shifters are mated, they mark each other, on the shoulder, with their teeth.”

“You mean a bite-mark.” Something clicked instantly in Mandy’s mind. “Like Clarissa’s…”

Jack nodded. “The others have them too. Except for Violet.”

Emotions flared inside Mandy – surprise, even a hint of jealousy. If mates were supposed to have the marks, why didn’t they? “Why don’t we have them?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s it?”

“I reckon so.”

“Jack…” So many protests were whirling through her mind – where should she even begin? “We’re the alpha pair of the pack. If mated couples are supposed to have the marks, we should have them. Besides, I don’t want others thinking we’re not real mates.”

“The girls come from Alaska, where there are a lot of shifters; there’s more pressure to conform to tradition out there. Here, it’s just us.”

“It’s not just us anymore. Our pack has more than tripled in size, and the others are doubting our legitimacy as mates. God, Violet was even flirting with you! And judging by the sound of their conversation, I don’t think she’s sorry.”

“Hey.” Jack stopped touching her face and squeezed one of her hands instead. “You’re my mate, Mandy. I don’t want anyone but you, and I’ll make sure they all know it.”

“So we’ll have each other’s marks, then?”

He frowned.

Mandy sighed.

“I don’t like the idea of mauling you,” Jack said. “Especially not when…” He laid a hand on her belly.

“It’s not mauling; it’s just a bite. And it’s my shoulder – it’s not like it’s going to hurt my belly. Were you ever going to tell me about mate marks, Jack?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t see the point when it was just you and me. We knew we were mates; it wasn’t like we needed to prove it to anyone else.”

She laid a hand over his. “Well, it’s not just us anymore.”

“I know.” He pulled her gently down onto the bed and pressed her against his chest, letting her head rest on his bicep. “I’m glad to have my family back, but sometimes…” He pressed a kiss against her neck. “They put a damper on things. I’d be lyin’ if I said there weren’t times I wished it was still just us.”

“Really?” It was heartening to hear Jack’s admission. She’d had the same thoughts, of course, but had imagined he was too overjoyed to experience such moments of annoyance.

“Yeah. Like this mornin’ in the kitchen, or this afternoon on the rock. You remember last time we went there?”

Mandy’s cheeks heated at just the mention – she remembered, all right. And for that matter, there were a good many times they’d done things in the kitchen they never would’ve dared to in front of anyone else. There had definitely been benefits to being a pack of two. “I remember.”

He kissed her neck again, and his stubble tickled her throat. She squirmed a little but resisted the urge to giggle; she couldn’t laugh, not now. Not when the heat of Jack’s breath against her neck made her think of the vice-like grip of a wolf’s mouth on her shoulder, fangs poised to sink into her flesh. It should have frightened her, and it did, just a little, but mostly it made her long for it to actually happen. Jack was her mate; she wanted his mark. The pain was irrelevant; it would be like getting a tattoo – a little bit of pain for a permanent mark that meant something. In this case, something amazing.

“We’ll have each other’s marks, Mandy.” Jack’s voice carried a hint of a growl that enhanced the vividness of her imaginings, reminding her of him in his wolf form.

“Really?” A shiver of anticipation raced down her spine, and she was hyper-aware of everything about him – the way his entire muscular body had gone tense, the hardness of his erection against her thigh and most of all, the hot rush of his breath against her face and neck.

“If you’re sure. I won’t make you take my mark if you don’t want it.”

“Jack…” She wrapped her arms around his neck and did her best to draw him a little closer, though that was virtually impossible. “How could you ever think that I wouldn’t want anything you wanted to give me?” She pressed a kiss against his lips, just in case he was thinking of protesting or implying that she’d be better off without his mark.

He kissed her back, slipping his tongue quickly past her lips and teeth to claim her mouth. With his arms around her body, he drew her into as snug of an embrace as her belly would allow. His erection was more noticeable than ever, firm and warm against her inner thigh, causing her skin to heat and her core to tighten as it pressed against her flesh, so close to where she’d begun to ache for him.

“When?” she gasped, pulling away from his mouth, breathless.

“Not now,” he said, placing a hand behind her head and cradling it, drawing her back within kissing range again. “I’ve been thinking of this ever since last night. Wantin’ you is killin’ me, slowly but surely.” He pressed his mouth firmly against hers and resumed where they’d left off, stroking her tongue with his.

The only time Mandy really minded being pregnant was during moments like this. Her rounded belly made it impossible to get as close to Jack as she really wanted to, to press her body flat against his and urge him to take her in the most immediate way possible. But they’d figured out ways around that, and there were benefits to some of the more accommodating positions they’d discovered. Jack delved deep into her mouth with his tongue, dissolving her fixation on the marks they didn’t have. That could wait until a little later, at least…

He rolled her onto her back, propping himself up with his hands against the mattress, careful not to squash her belly. With a wicked smile, he started peeling away her clothing. “You know how hard it was to resist doing this when you met me at the edge of the woods today?” He tossed aside her pants and slid his hands beneath her shirt, his calloused palms gliding over her skin and sending a thrill of pleasure through her.

“When you got back from your patrol with Daniel and Clarissa?”

“Yeah.” After her shirt was off, he made short work of her bra and panties, pausing to cup her breasts in his hands. They swelled over the edges of his fingers – since she’d gotten pregnant, they’d increased significantly in size, and no longer fit neatly into the palms of his hands – and her nipples hardened against his skin.

She giggled as he removed his hands from her breasts and settled between her legs, gently nudging them apart and kneeling between them, slowly sliding a hand up her inner thigh. “Good thing your excitement didn’t, uh, show.” She vividly remembered doing her best to shield the most intimate bits of his naked body from the others’ view as he’d embraced her, apparently in no particular hurry to get dressed.