Page 8 of Alaric's Perfect Mate

Alaric agreed. Among the millions of thoughtszinging around his brain, the top was his desire to get his mateaway from this place.

His beast snarled suddenly, and he knew hismate was close. He could feel a pull to her, and the beast clawedto go to her. Galen and Slade threw themselves at him, pinning hisarms to the far wall as the doors opened and Lia stepped through,followed by his mate.

He growled, snapping his teeth at hisbrothers. As the eldest, he was bigger and stronger than they were,but the two together were keeping him back.

“Fucking calm down. You’re going to scareher,” Galen cautioned, gritting his teeth as he let loose of hisbeast to enhance his strength.

Alaric didn’t want to scare his mate, but hecouldn’t get a handle on his beast, who wanted to be with her.

“It’s okay. I’m not afraid,” his mate said,her voice a soothing balm to his beast.

For about two seconds. She moved closer, awayfrom Lia, and her scent hit him full force. Sweet like cream andhoney. He roared, the sound spilling from the depths of hissoul.

She blinked and chewed on her bottom lip,uncertainty on her face as she looked at his brothers and then atLia. His sister, thankfully, smiled and said, “This is AubreyNight, sister of the master vampire of Belle Terra. Aubrey, this ismy brother, Alaric Carmichael.”

“You can let him go,” Aubrey said.

He saw his brothers hesitate, so he growledand they slowly released their hold on him. In a heartbeat, he hadscooped his mate up in his arms and rushed her as far from hisbrothers as he could, pushing her gently into the corner of theroom and baring his teeth at them.

“Out.”

“Are you okay, Aubrey? We can stay,” Liasaid.

Her hands touched his bare back, and thebeast receded, thoughts of mating with her filling his mind andpushing away the anger at the unmated males. Even if they were hisbrothers, they were too close to his sweet-smelling mate who wasn’twearing his marks and saturated in his scent.

“I’m perfectly fine. If you’d be nice enoughto tell my guards that I’m okay and to head on home in the limo. Wecan figure things out later.”

The trio left, and when the door shut, hespun and caged his mate in the corner with his hands on either sideof her, his palms flattening on the wall. She said she was fine,but he was still struggling with his beast not to shred her dressand mate her. He didn’t want to scare her. He only ever wanted herto be happy with him.

Her hands were trembling as she cupped hisface. She swallowed audibly and licked her lips. “Damn, you’resexy,” she whispered. Then she gasped as her cheeks turned scarlet.“Okay, wow, that was embarrassing.”

He leaned forward and brushed his lips overhers. “Mine.”

She wrapped her hands around the back of hisneck and linked her fingers. Her lower body tilted in invitation asher lips parted. Following the line of her jaw, he kissed his wayto her neck, opening his mouth over the throbbing pulse in herneck. He felt it flutter under his tongue, and he bit down lightly,just enough to leave a slight mark. Her nails dug into the back ofhis neck, and he crowded closer, licking the mark he’d made andsavoring the taste of her skin on his tongue.

Their bodies touched and their lips met andparted, their tongues sliding together as if they’d been kissingfor years and not this first, precious time. His beast roared inpleasure as her sweet taste crested his tongue. He worried hispassion would be too great for her, so he refused to let go of hisgrip on the walls, even as his claws lengthened and imbedded intothe sheetrock.

Their tongues danced, sliding and tasting. Hecould have kissed her forever, even as he wanted so much more fromher.

She wrenched from the kiss, her pantingbreaths filling the air. “Not here.”

“I wouldn’t think of mating with you here,”he said, his voice a barely contained growl.

Smirking, she dropped a hand to his crotchand squeezed lightly. “This says otherwise.”

He snarled. “It’s not nice to teasesabers.”

She leaned back and stared up at him. “Why doI feel so connected to you?”

“Because we’re truemates.”

“I’m human.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Her beautiful brown eyes were flecked withgold, and he felt the connection deepen. “Damn, you’re beautiful.”He extracted his claws and willed his beast to settle. Taking adeep breath, he stepped back, catching her around the waist anddrawing her close. “I don’t have a place to take you. I’m sharingan RV with my two brothers and sister. It’s not exactly a five-starhotel.”

“I live at the Belle Terra SupernaturalHotel.”