Page 26 of Alpha's Promise

“Let go, Dakota,” he urged, his breath hot against her ear, his voice a rough whisper that wove through the haze of her senses. “I’ve got you.”

Then, as if his words were the key to release a lock, another orgasm snapped open. The explosion of bliss was blinding, all-consuming. Her body shook with the force of it, waves of ecstasy rolling through her in a relentless tide. She cried out, a sound that echoed off the walls, raw and full of wonder.

“God, yes…Dakota,” Landon groaned as he pounded into her, his own release following close on the heels of hers. She felt him grind into her and then shudder, his body tensing above her in powerful spasms. As the tremors lessened, he collapsed on her, his weight a comforting pressure that anchored her to the new reality in which she found herself.

Lying beneath him, Dakota held him close, feeling the aftershocks tremble through both of them. A profound stillness enveloped the room, their mingled breath the only sound. His heartbeat pounded against her chest, a drumbeat that matched her own.

"There's more I have to tell you," Landon said as they lay together. His eyes held a storm of emotions, swirling and feral—fear, hope, desire—all etched into the intense depths of his eyes; those same eyes that seemed to see straight through her.

"Later," Dakota whispered, pressing a finger to his lips, silencing any confessions or revelations. Her heart raced, pounding out a rhythm that matched the wild beat of the land outside the rugged walls of her room. She didn't need words, not when every fiber of her being screamed for the connection that only their entwined bodies could provide.

Snuggling closer, Dakota reached up to capture Landon's mouth with her own, pulling him into a kiss that seared through the veil of uncertainty. It was fierce and urgent, tasting of raw energy and the storm that had just passed. Landon responded with equal fervor, his hands roaming over her body with a possessiveness that spoke of primal claim yet tender enough to honor the humanity they both shared.

Dakota reveled in the heat that radiated from his skin, the way his touch ignited fires along her flesh in a manner that no mere human could ever hope to stoke. Here, in the heart of Copper Canyon, in the arms of a man who was so much more, she felt the boundaries of her world expand, reshaping into something wild and magnificent.

The intensity of their connection threatened to consume her, but Dakota found that she was willing to burn, to be remade in the forge of this newfound passion. As they broke apart, panting from the ferocity of their embrace, she realized that whatever secrets Landon held, she was ready to face them. Hidden withinthe depths of her own soul, she sensed an answering call, a latent power waiting to be awakened by his touch.

"Tell me everything," she breathed against his lips. She seemed to know, somehow, that her journey to Copper Canyon was not just a path to self-discovery but to a destiny intertwined with the cowboy who was both man and wolf. The evening was fast approaching, and she was eager to explore the mysteries it promised with Landon as her guide.

Dakota's world narrowed to the space where their bodies met, a confluence of heat and desire that obliterated all sense of time and place. Landon, the man who was also wolf, possessed a raw virility that beckoned her own primal nature forth, a siren's call to some kind of latent wolf blood slumbering within her bloodline.

With every deliberate movement, every touch that seared into her flesh, something fierce and powerful unfurled inside Dakota. Her nails dug into his back, not in pain but in a rapture so intense it was a kind of exquisite agony. As they moved together, she could feel the stirrings of urges that were more than human—predatory and possessive instincts that matched the rhythmic dance of their bodies.

The room seemed charged with an electric current, the air thick with the musk of their union. The sun dipped below the horizon and the light of dusk spilled through the window, casting Landon's chiseled features in a silver glow that highlighted the intensity in his eyes. They mirrored the tumultuous storm raging within her, a tempest of emotions and newfound hunger.

When they finally collapsed, a tangle of limbs and labored breath, Landon cradled her against his chest. His heart drummed a steady rhythm against her ear, a soothing counterpoint to the wild pulse of her own.

"From the first time I saw you," he murmured, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through her, "part of me knew. You're my fated mate."

Dakota lifted her head, searching his gaze for the truth that resonated in the timbre of his words. "Fated mate?" she echoed, the concept foreign yet strangely fitting into the puzzle of her life.

"It means that we're bound, Dakota. By destiny, by the very essence of our beings. You're meant for me, as I am for you." His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her face, a tenderness in the gesture that belied the strength of his revelation.

She lay there, absorbing the weight of his declaration in the stillness that followed their storm. It felt right, this connection, as if pieces of her soul had clicked into place. And suddenly, the cryptic message from her grandfather—the one that urged her eastward—dawned on her with startling clarity.

"Maybe this is what he was talking about," she whispered, her thoughts drifting like leaves in a gentle stream. "Not just a journey across the land, but toward something... someone... inevitable."

Landon's lips curved into a smile, the promise of more secrets shimmering in the space between them. And Dakota, emboldened by the awakening of what she believed to be her heritage and the entwining of their fates, nestled closer to the warmth of her cowboy, ready to embrace whatever came next.

CHAPTER 13

DAKOTA

Dakota's boots scrunched on the gravel as she ambled across the expanse of the ranch, the weight of Landon's revelations sitting heavy on her shoulders like a leaden shawl. The early morning sun spilled across the undulating landscape, casting long shadows that seemed to whisper secrets, secrets that now churned within her mind with a fervor she couldn't quell.

She paused by the weather-worn fence that corralled the horses, her eyes tracing the horizon where the earth kissed the sky. It was there, amidst the tranquil beauty of Copper Canyon, that the truth gnawed at her—the people around her weren't just rugged ranch hands, they were wolf-shifters, guardians of an ancient legacy that somehow entwined with her own.

"Your grandfather," Landon had told her with his intense eyes that seemed to look right through her, "I believe he must have known what we are. There's a reason he sent you here." Those words echoed in her head, as mysterious and potent as a spell.

"Hey, Dakota!" A friendly voice jolted her from her thoughts, but she merely nodded in response, her gaze not leaving the horizon. She felt it then, the subtle shift in the air, the electriccharge that foretold a storm brewing in the distance—both literal and metaphorical.

She made her way down to the barn, the scent of hay, leather and packed earth enveloping her. The routine tasks she performed usually brought a kind of grounding and comfort, but today each flake of hay thrown, each scoop of feed into the troughs, was tinged with the surreal knowledge of the pack's true nature. They worked beside her, their movements fluid and instinctive, yet Dakota sensed a ripple of disquiet beneath the surface of their calm.

The simplicity of pack life, ranch life, was so honest and straightforward. But now, it felt like a thin veneer over a complicated web of loyalty and suspicion. As a human, she represented an anomaly, a disruption to the equilibrium established over generations. And she couldn't help wondering if her presence stirred something more than mere distrust—perhaps fear of the unknown, or the threat of exposure.

She felt his presence before he spoke. "Everything all right?" Landon's voice, smooth as the slide of silk over skin, broke through the hum of activity.

"Fine. Just sometimes I feel like some people don’t want me here. God does that sound whiny or what?"

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