Page 11 of Forged Alliances
“So what did you find out?” she asked. “Anything worth throwing ourselves out there like chum?” A glance at the clock told her they’d made decent time, which meant Jeremiah wouldn’t be sending a witch hunt out yet. Still, the boys would lose their shit if they figured she’d gotten mucked up in the scuffle. Despite the fact she could thrash their asses, they were an overprotective bunch, like the brothers she always wanted.
Dax sauntered toward her, his presence distracting like an itch she couldn’t scratch. He sank into the couch inches from her, spreading his arms out along the back. This close, he emanated warmth, giving summer’s humidity a run for its money.
“I found out they’re screwed if the Tribe pays us a visit, so I’m about ready to bring the hellfire down on us. Can’t be worse than the mess my pack’s made of itself after Pops passed.” He ran a hand through his dark strands, his smile flickering to serious. Darkness lingered in those blue eyes, like ghosts haunted him despite only the two of them standing in this cabin.
“Bring it,” Sierra said with a shrug. Even though the Tribe ruled with a harsh hand, she understood the responsibility that came with their role and the burdens associated. She’d made her own unpopular calls for the betterment of her pack in the past, this being one of them.
“You’re not what I expected, you know that?” he said, letting out a laugh as he clasped his hands behind his head.
She cocked an eyebrow. “And what were you expecting?”
“Based on the rumors, an ice queen with an iron fist. But you’re vibrant, strong, and fiercer than I ever anticipated.” He cast a glance her way, his eyes twinkling with his smile. The lust in his gaze didn’t surprise her but his intensity did. “The rumors failed to mention how devastatingly hot the Red Rock alpha happened to be too.”
Her fingers curled into the cushion of the sofa at the statement. At the desire in his eyes. Sierra couldn’t afford complications, not in her position, but the way he flirted with her and teased had amped her touch hunger to a deafening roar. He nudged her with his thigh, their knees bumping against each other. Her heart pounded in double time, and the wolf inside her snapped at the leash, ready to lunge in and sate her needs.
“You’re all talk, Williams,” she tossed back, the dare flaring inside her. The surge of attraction sparking through her hadn’t risen to this crescendo in a long time.
His grin widened, reaching those wicked, teasing eyes as he leaned in closer. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a taunt.” The air between them thickened with charged particles, ready to ignite. “Careful, sweetheart. I love a challenge.”
The scent of cedar surrounded her, smothered her, his musk revving her engines with a surprising intensity. Her wolf lunged in her chest, desperate to mark, and Sierra’s thighs tingled in response, her entire body prickling under the sweep of his gaze. He stared at her as if he wanted to devour her, his big body braced for action of a different sort. Each breath arrived shallower, and the desire to taste those lips reached a rising beat in her chest.
She lifted her chin, meeting his gaze. He wanted to invite the storm in; she’d ravage him if only to knock the cocky smirk off his face.
Warmth spread inside her, and she hid a secret grin as she lunged forward.
Despite the sting of her injuries, she descended on him with the fury of a wolf, her lips claiming his in one swoop. Dax’s hands wrapped around her waist as he sank into the kiss, responding with similar aggression. He tasted like mint, and the second his lips parted, her tongue slipped in. His palms heated through her shirt, fiery imprints branding her body. Dax tugged her toward him with one powerful swing, pulling her onto his lap.
Her thighs settled around his, her core throbbing with demand and her folds already slick and ready. From the way his erection pressed against her through the fabric, he was too. Her lips crashed against his again and again as she grew addicted to the minty taste, the smooth glide of his lips. He nipped at her lower lip, the bite sparking through her system like electricity. But Dax didn’t stop there. After he pulled away for a breath, those lips descended on the slope of her neck, those teeth scraped against the sensitive skin.
The man had a clever mouth—she couldn’t deny that.
The urge to claim reached a pulsing roar inside her. Her wolf tugged at her chest, lunging forward in a way she’d never experienced before. She’d thought the power wars with another alpha had sparked this intense fight in her. As his touch lit her inside, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
The words pounded in her blood, in her bones, until she lost herself in the heat of his hands, the scrape of his teeth, and the glide of his lips. Her nails sank into his arms as the meaning of those words hit home.
Normal humans might get a little possessive, but for shifters, one thing inspired this sort of territorial edge. The sort of tug that reached soul deep with the promise of something real, something permanent. The mating bond.
Dax’s eyes widened right as she pulled away, her throat going dry. Even though her wolf lunged forward inside her, desperate to complete the cycle and claim absolutely, Sierra, the human, the alpha, was not ready to make forever commitments with a man she barely knew.
She slipped off him with wolfish swiftness, her lips tingling and the bite on her neck where he’d sunk his teeth raw and brazen. Several scratches adorned his arms from her nails sinking into his skin, the claws pricking past in her shock. He regarded her with the caution of a predator. Apparently she wasn’t the only one smacked in the face with the realization. The closeness, the heat that had risen between them mere moments ago, extinguished. The mating bond had tossed a bucket of cold water on those mounting feelings.
Even so, her wolf rammed in her chest at the same anxious pulse as her heart. If she didn’t get out of here, all logic would get thrown by the wayside, and animal nature would take over. The same nature that repeated claim, claim, claim in her head and in her heart.
“I’ve got to go.” The words slipped from her without a second thought as she raced for the door. The second she burst into the fragrant summer air, the shift took over. When her padded feet hit the ground, Sierra ran.