Untamed: An Alpha's Kiss (Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

It's not like I'm frigid
, she thought. There were nights---many nights----when her sleep was haunted by intensely sexual dreams from which she woke up gasping and restless, teetering on the precipice of orgasm. They varied. Sometimes she watched herself as if in a movie being pleasured by a faceless lover while other times she was felt that exquisite mounting of raw joy. The guy in her dreams was huge, a glorious specimen of manhood, easily towering over her and exquisitely formed with muscles rippling as he lowered his mouth to claim her lips and moved inside her to claim her body.

Somehow he always knew just how to touch her, how to make her body bloom with pleasure, and how to make her gasp and tremble and beg for more. Always, he responded to her touches, growling with pleasure as he moved against her knowing lips and fingers.

And always she awoke before she could experience full release and wound up tossing and turning in her bed before she finally gave in, impatiently yanking her panties down and slicking her fingers into her own wetness. It was never more than seconds before she felt her orgasm racing through her, threatening to split her apart, building and building in every cell before it shattered and left her biting the pillow to keep from crying out.

And there were times when she looked at Scottie and thought,
Maybe I should sleep with him
. Sometimes when she watched him it struck her that her best friend was really good-looking. Not everyone found his brand of rugged, gingery looks attractive, but he never hurt for female attention with his strong, muscular build and those gorgeous amber eyes.

Scottie always threw himself into everything whole-heartedly, which had to be a plus in bed... right? She imagined his reverent eyes on her as she undressed for him, the telltale bulge forming in his jeans as she slid her fingers across her naked body in brazen invitation.

But then she chided herself for just being a horny slut. She knew Scottie had a bit of a crush on her, for one thing, which she partially attributed to the fact that she was one of the few women in the valley he hadn't hooked up with in some form or another but which she also knew was because of their long-standing friendship. He'd been with her for all the good and bad times of her life, and she couldn't lose that, not to scratch some temporary itch. In the back of her mind she had a vague sense that she might wind up with Scottie someday by default----after she'd worked and gotten where she wanted to be and he reaped some of the wild oats that he sowed. -- But she could never really picture their life together as Mates, not even after those frustrating dreams.

As for the idea that some magical Mate was out there waiting for her, ready to strike her down with a bolt of Love at First Sight, that was utterly ridiculous. All the people she knew who had found their Mates had found them right under their own noses, which supported her theory about pack peer pressure and arranged marriages. Pleasure she could find on her own. The only two guys she'd ever slept with hadn't satisfied her nearly as well as she could satisfy herself, and she was a hell of a lot more efficient at making herself come.

In the back of her mind, though, she couldn't erase the feeling of hot flesh pressed against hers, of strong hands making every pore of her body scream for release. Of being taken. Of being filled. And of letting her inner wolf run free. She stretched luxuriously between the cool sheets, willing sleep to carry her into the arms of the faceless man who could give her what she couldn't give herself.

CHAPTER
THREE

Parker Kreuger could sense the pack was getting restless. Since his old man had gotten ill, he'd been trying to hide it from everyone. The result of this rash and emotional move
resulted in others sensing an instability in their pack structure and in turn they grew anxious.

Parker knew it was just a matter of time before Jamison made his move. Jamison clearly wanted to be Alpha but Parker knew the man would never openly make an attempt. No, turning the pack against Parker and his father through manipulation was more Jamison's style.

Parker wondered--not for the first time--why his father had ever trusted this man to be his Beta. He was a hell of a fighter, true, but he had little to recommend him in any other way, and these days fighting was far less useful than diplomacy. It wasn't the old days. With full-blooded humans living too close for comfort, Lycans needed to keep peace to avoid suspicion. These days, packs survived with the help of carefully negotiated treaties and alliances.

He frowned as he watched his father's shaky gait.
Stubborn old bastard,
he thought affectionately. Dominic Kreuger had lived only fifty years, but they'd been filled with struggle and it was all catching up with him. That was another reason to change the way they lived:--longevity. He'd never known a male pack member over sixty or a female much older. Theirs was a dangerous lifestyle, though he knew it didn't have to be.

Personally, Parker wanted to live long enough to see his kids grow up, maybe even spend some time with his grandchildren before he passed on. His baby sister was only thirteen, and he wanted to be sure she was taken care of and settled into whatever life she chose for herself, too. True, there were benefits to missing out on the stiff joints and deteriorating body, but he couldn't imagine his life being already halfway over at twenty-five.

Across the circle, Jamison exchanged knowing glances with his wife, and Parker's green eyes narrowed. They were clearly up to something, and he wasn't going to stand by and let them threaten the delicate pack dynamics. It would all be his charge soon enough, and as soon as it was, there were going to be some drastic changes, starting with Jamison's removal. The older man caught Parker looking at him and his face instantly went neutral, but Parker wasn't fooled. He straightened himself to his towering height and watched a shadow of fear flicker across Jamison's face.

Christine, Jamison's wife, looked saucily back at him, daring him with her eyes. Her frequent and unsubtle sexual hints belied an ambitious woman who went wherever power went. Parker knew he would likely have to deal with her even before he dealt with Jamison. She would try to fuck him over in a heartbeat or stab him in the back even quicker.

True, she was sexy --
too sexy
--he amended, with the kinds of luscious curves he liked, bountiful breasts and a squeezable ass that made the men in the pack drool. Though her face was nearly cruel in its beauty, he imagined that face twisted in pleasure beneath him sometimes when he jerked off and it never failed to send him instantly over the edge. Even thinking of it now, he thickened in his pants.

Jesus, you're like a boy,
he chided himself.
Focus.
Reluctantly peeling his eyes from Christine's ample tits, he turned his gaze back to his father and the disaster he didn't yet want to face.

CHAPTER
FOUR

Charmaine's father broke her heart the next morning before she
even finished her breakfast. She crossed the compound to her parents' house as she'd done every Saturday morning since she moved into her own place. Ever the dutiful daughter, she was the only one of their children who'd never skipped out on Saturday breakfast at the parents'.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry
, she railed at herself, but scalding tears fell anyway. The pancakes her mother had slid onto her plate, which only a moment ago she couldn't get enough of, suddenly stuck in her throat. "Pop, why wasn't I invited?" She tried to keep her voice from quavering. "You know how important this is to me!"

"Sweetie..." Her mother Crystal's soothing voice began as Charmaine's eyes continued spilling accusingly at her father,. "You know that Council Summits can get... intense."

"Dangerous, is what they are," César grunted.

"No place for a girl?" she shot back. "You can't be serious. This isn't the fifties anymore! Things have changed!"

"No place for
my
girl," her father growled. "Not this year. Maybe next year."

"You mean when I'm Mated." She crossed her arms. "Pop, we've been through this already. I want to work. I want to help build the company and..." She struggled not to give too much of her plans away, "...serve the pack. How can I do that if I'm just popping out babies?"

Her mother's smile was infuriating rather than reassuring. "It's an important duty, maybe the most important duty of the pack," she wrapped her arms around Charmaine's tense shoulders. "Don't be so quick to dismiss it, sweetie."

César interrupted again, his mouth full of pancakes. Clearly the conversation hadn't impacted his appetite in the least. "It's
your
most important duty to the family."

"I'm your daughter! Your
only
daughter, not some brood mare you can just give away to any wolf." Bile rose in her throat and she gripped the edge of the table, steadying herself.

I was sure he would bring me this year. This was the year.

But her father wasn't done twisting the knife. "I have your brothers and enough other men----and
women
I might add before you start with that 'sexist' crap--in place without putting my daughter on the front line."

"So all the hard work and dedication I gave the company mean
nothing
, is that what you're saying?" More bitter tears welled in her blue eyes as she shrugged out of her mother's grasp.

"Oh, Char..." Crystal's hands found Charmaine's stiff form again and lovingly smoothed her hair. "You do work hard, honey. We know that and appreciate that. And someday soon you're going to want to channel all that energy into a beautiful family, and then you'll understand this decision."

Charmaine set her fork down carefully and rose with a tight smile to her mother. Without a word she cleared her dishes and kissed both her parents goodbye.

"Maybe next year," her father called down the hall after her as she excused herself to her cottage, turning back to his newspaper before she was even gone.

CHAPTER
FIVE

"You've got to let me take over," Parker urged his father after the pack meeting. "They can tell something's wrong with you."

"No shame in that," Dominic growled in reply. "I've led a hard life. I'm old. My body's wearing down. But my mind is still sharp."

"No doubt," his son agreed. "But I want you to take it easy. And I'm worried about Jamison and Christine."

"Now I think there's something wrong with
your
mind! Jamison's been my right hand for fifteen years."

"Yeah, and for fifteen years he's been studying you. He plans to take over this pack, Dad. You might not see it, but I sure as hell do. My fear is that he's going to see his moment and take it."

"So fight him for it." Dominic shrugged.
It's symbolic more than anything. He challenges you, you fight, you beat him, and he follows you. That's how it's done."

God, he's exhausting.
"Can we move to a system of elections, like the other packs have done?"

"Elections!" his father slammed his gnarled fist down. "What are we, a high school Student Government? We will not have elections. That's not how it's done. Ours is the old way, the proper way!"

"But Dad..." Parker rubbed his jaw in frustration. "That's exactly how it's done. In every other pack at the Council, that's what they do. We're the last holdout."

"That's exactly right," his father agreed. "That's what we do. We hold out. Our family has controlled these hills for hundreds of generations, before men settled this area. We're the oldest existing pack left in this country. You have to go to Romania to find Lycans with more ancient lineage than ours."

Here we go.
He was sorry he asked. And this lovely romanticizing of the ancient bloodline wasn't even remotely productive.

"I know, Dad. I'm super proud of our heritage, really. Aren't you the least bit concerned, though, that we need to focus more on alliances? It's the way everyone else is going, and I want to be sure we can compete."

"We can compete by rooting out traitors and setting examples," Dominic thundered. "We compete by keeping fear in their hearts. That's how you rule. By complete and non-negotiable subjugation."

"Is that how you rule me?" Parker asked evenly.

Dominic looked at his son in astonishment. "Why would you say that? You're my son. I love you. I don't
rule
you. That's not the kind of relationship you and I have."

"Exactly. That's the point I'm trying to make. You and I don't exert any force over each other whatsoever. And it works. Right?"

"That's different."

"It is different, but I'm just trying to make a point. We can run this pack differently. We can start now, while you're still here to enjoy it. I can take some of the stress off you. I think they're up to doing things differently."

His father nodded. "They might be. But I don't think I am."

Parker sighed. He wasn't giving up. He was going to be Alpha either way, and he sure as hell didn't need his father's permission to run things exactly as he liked once his father was gone. But he wished the old man was open to some changes. It would make both their lives so much easier.