Page 4 of Fighting Fate
There’s fear in her eyes, but it isn’t the fear that heats my blood. It’s desire. Without a word, she is giving herself to me. She wants to follow fate, even if she knows it’s against our laws.
I have a duty.
I have a fated mate.
Lucas, my cousin and closest friend, growls loudly enough to snap me out of my frozen indecision. There’s one thing I know now, having held her and felt her and tasted her: I cannot kill her. I cannot allow her to be killed.
But what do I do with her otherwise? Alpha or not, they won’t accept me walking away now and sending her home. Not without a fight that would end with her being destroyed. So what do I do?
For lack of a better plan, I lift her easily and throw her over my shoulder. She lets out a breathless gasp but doesn’t fight, instead letting her hands roam my back and shoulders in a very dangerous way. If we had the time, I would explain how easy it is to inflame a man—as it is, I can barely function with her pussy so close to my face. The sweet, intense aroma of her arousal wraps itself around me like a hypnotic fog, promising release, escape, pleasure beyond anything I thought possible.
Before I know what I’m doing, I turn to take her home. Why am I doing this? Why am I making all of this so much more difficult? Why not let them do what needs to be done? Every step I take is one step further away from performing my duty.
But I keep walking, and they know better than to try to stop their alpha.
“Where are we going?” she asks in a whisper. I don’t bother answering—she’ll find out when we get there. We aren’t far from the cottage that’s been home my entire life. Since back when I had a family. It’s the only place I can keep her while working through this problem.
We don’t usually lock our doors around here, meaning nothing stops me from taking the wooden plank steps up tothe front porch and opening the door into my living room. Now she twists around on my shoulder, trying to get a look at her surroundings. “If you don’t want to be dropped on this ass of yours, you’ll stop wiggling so much,” I warn, because being angry is easier to handle than being devastatingly, mind-numbingly horny.
And I am angry when I enter my bedroom to the right of the living room and toss her on the bed. “Don’t even think about going anywhere,” I warn, swallowing back the saliva that floods my mouth at the sight of her, sprawled out the way she is. Like a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.
“But what are you going to do to me?”
Talk about a loaded question. I know what I would like to do. I know what my bear demands I do. “Just stay here. If you try to escape, I will know—and I won’t be merciful this time.” I make sure I lock the door once it’s closed, then try to ignore her mournful whimper.
I am going to explode. All I want to do is break the door down and take her hard, fast. I have fought so hard to stay away from her, knowing she was on the other side of the border, knowing she was meant for me. Knowing it was the right thing for my clan. No matter how wrong it felt.
My cock is granite, demanding satisfaction. I haven’t felt this way in at least twenty years, when all it took was a stiff breeze to wake me up. I need her. I will die without her. Leaning against the wall beside the door, my hand flexes into a fist, and it takes all my might to keep from tearing the door down so I can take her. Sweat beads on my skin. I’m short of breath. What am I supposed to do about this?
The only thing I can do. I rush a few steps to the bathroom and barely get the door closed before taking myself in one hand and stroking hard, fast. I’m already so close, and I can still smell her on me, all over me. It’s like nothing I’ve ever known—thatsmell. Sweet and musky, intoxicating. My cock strains, swelling in my fist.
I almost took her there, in front of the rest of them. I was so close. The relief it would be after all this fighting, trying to deny what fate has put in place. I would only have to lay her down and part her legs—she was ready, wanting me the way I wanted her. Someone as small as her would be tight, so tight, gripping me like a vise, threatening to break me the way she’s broken my will.
What would it be like to taste her? My eyes close as I lean against the door, panting as I imagine what she would be like on my tongue. Sliding through her hot, wet silk, catching every last drop of the rich nectar that pours out for me. Only for me. I feel her nails grazing my scalp and shoulders. I hear her moans rising over my breathless grunts. Her body would undulate, her hips lifting so she could ride my face.
Close, so close. My balls tighten and a familiar tingle builds at the base of my spine as I imagine eating her sweet pussy before impaling her on my cock until she can’t take any more. I have no choice but to let go, spraying my fist and my abs with come until my ears ring and my heart throbs almost painfully.
It takes a minute for me to come back to my senses once the fantasy slowly fades. Reality trickles back in, leaving me not completely satisfied, but knowing I needed to take the edge off. And I did—I still want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything, but I can manage it. There won’t be any regrettable impulsive moments. There can’t be. The alpha can’t afford to forget his responsibilities.
There’s barely time for a brief shower before a heavy knock sounds at the front door. I knew it was coming. No way would they leave me alone after what happened back there. After pulling on the robe hanging over the back of the bathroom door, I walk barefoot through the living room to greet my visitors on the front porch.
The disapproval I expected shines in their eyes, but it’s the anger that goes along with it that brings me up short. Lucas stands in the center of the group—he’s the only one who doesn’t look like he’d consider cutting my throat for what took place.
Joseph is one of the few clan elders left after losing so many from our ranks. He strokes his salt and pepper beard, scowling. “You went off plan back there,” he announces, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble much like mine. And much like me, he knows how to disguise his true thoughts. Always a diplomat.
“There wasn’t a plan,” I remind him. “We scented the wolf and tracked her down.”
“Do we really have to discuss plans when it comes to trespassers on our land?” Lydia, Joseph’s wife, doesn’t believe in diplomacy like her husband does. “What did you do to her? She shouldn’t be breathing right now, you know that. What are you trying to do to the clan?”
“Last I checked, I was leading this clan,” I remind her. “And if the clan didn’t matter,” I add with more than a touch of bitterness, “I would have taken her then and there to complete the bond. I didn’t, because the clan comes first.”
“We all know that,” Lucas murmurs, shooting a sharp look at Lydia that snaps her mouth shut. “This can’t be easy.”
“Easy, nothing,” Lydia snaps. “We’re talking about the law. Does that not matter anymore? The punishment is death. It doesn’t matter who the wolf is.”
“No one is more aware of the law than I am.” I am going to rip her head off if she doesn’t shut up. How Joseph puts up with her, I’ll never know. Their temperaments are polar opposites.
“But this is delicate. I will find a way through it,” I announce, my voice firm. “And as members of my clan, I expect you to trust me.”
