Page 21 of My Bad Boy Alpha

She sucked in a sharp breath and gently bit down on my thumb with her canine, brows drawn together and those eyes—those fucking eyes—wide in anticipation.“You can’t bite me,” she whispered.“Not now.”

I dipped my thumb between her lips.“I’ll do what I want with you.”

My wolf slowly grabbed power from me, pulling me away from all sense of control I had over myself, like he had the other night when we burned Zuri’s workplace to the ground and left no survivors.

Her cunt salivated at my words from her pleasure, my wolf immediately picking up on her arousal.She sucked my thumb into her mouth like the pretty little mate she was and gazed up at me, as if she didn’t have control either.

When she dropped her gaze to my throat, I lost it and slammed her up against the tree, our bodies pressed together and my face buried into the crook of her neck.I drew my canines up and down the column of her throat, gently sucking on the skin to prepare it for a mark.

Formymark.

“Little mate, I’m going to?—”

“Stone!”my grandmother shouted again from the party.

After tensing, Zuri shoved her hands against my chest.I stumbled back and shook my head to regain control from my wolf, forcing myself not to bite her.She didn’t want it, and while I hoped it wasn’t because of her insecurities, I wasn’t about to give her more.

One step at a fucking time, Stone.

Once she straightened herself out, Zuri turned toward the direction of my grandmother’s voice and cleared her throat.“I guess we should get back to the pack then?”she suggested because, apparently, she would rather now meet my pack than have my mark.

Nodding, I guided her in the right direction.

“Please don’t leave my side,” Zuri whispered as we approached the pack house.

A bonfire raged in the backyard, the flames reaching the tops of the trees.A couple of warriors were bullshitting around it while their mates gossiped near the river.I wanted her to make friends here, and she wouldn’t do that while glued to my hip.

“No promises.”

“Stone, please,” she said, staring up at me through huge eyes.“Not tonight.”

“Fine,” I said, grasping her hand.“I won’t leave you.”

She stayed tense for a few moments, and then she nodded.“Thank you.”

When we stepped into the backyard, the girls from the river leaped up, hurried over to us, and grinned at Zuri before we could even make it to the bonfire.Zuri inched closer to me and intertwined our fingers.

“Hi!”Riley said.“Sapphire told us she met you earlier, and we were all so jealous.”

“That’s Riley,” Samantha said from the group, pointing to each of them.“I’m Sammie.This is Jackson, Ruby, Georgie, and Naya.We’re all mated to thoseassholessitting by the fire, shit-talking to each other.”

The women giggled, and my mate smiled along with them.

“It’s nice to meet you all.”

“You’re probably going to meet many people tonight.If you forget any of our names, just ask.We’ll be by the river all night, so you can stop over whenever you want to get away from the craziness,” Georgie said.

Once Zuri nodded, they headed back to the river to gossip more.

I guided Zuri to the warriors near the fire to continue the night.For the first time since I had met her, she stayed glued to my side and barely said a few words, except some formalities, while the entire pack spoke to us.

And by the end of the night, Grandma Bee sat at the picnic table with a beer in her shaky hand.Zuri collapsed at the edge, blowing out a breath from meeting so many people, the tiredness etched onto her face.

“It’s nice to meet you finally,” Grandma Bee said.“I’m Stone’s grandmother.”

Zuri straightened her back and plastered a smile on her face.“Oh, sorry.I?—”

“Don’t worry about it, dear.You must be so tired.”She turned to me.“Why’d you make her meet the pack all in one night?And right after you brought her home from her old pack?She must be exhausted.”

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