Page 23 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
She needs us, Luc, Beast whispered from his dark corner. No longer battering at my mind for control he’d become the devil on my shoulder.Smell her ripeness. It is our duty as her mate to pleasure her. He was right. I could smell her arousal. It filled my nostrils, sweet and luscious, like her. And it was my duty. My duty and my privilege as her Alpha to provide her pleasure. An Alpha who didn’t pleasure his mate when she needed it was no Alpha at all.
Fuck. Between them, Caly and Beast were destroying the last of my self-control. My fists clenched in her hair and she moaned again. The sound went straight to my cock and it leaked pre-cum. If we didn’t stop now, it would be too late for me to stop.She was so small. We could easily pick her up in our arms. She would wrap her legs around our waist. Our claws wouldshred the shorts with one slice. We could take her against the wall, bury our cock deep in her body. It would be hard and fast and she would scream our name as she came.I no longer knew how to separate my own thoughts from Beast’s. For the first time in my life our objectives aligned.
The visual was so powerful I shuddered.Not until I have her consent.Pulling the last scraps of my sanity to me I gently pulled her to a sitting position, so I could make eye contact. Her skin was flushed to a rosy pink and her lips were plump and moist. Her eyes were glazed with desire.
My throat was dry, my voice gravelly, layered with Beast’s deeper tones. This was the hardest thing I’d ever had to say. “Caly, if you want me to stop, you need to say so. Right now. You’ve been hurt and I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
Fool, Beast snarled.She needs us.
In reply, Caly rolled her hips. “Don’t you dare stop,” she said, her voice husky. “I feel good. No, better than good. I feel amazing.Wefeel amazing.”
She shuffled slightly backwards on my lap. I could feel the dampness on the shorts that covered her sweet cunt and her scent surrounded me. I held back the snarl that built in my throat. I wanted to taste her sweetness. To lick and suck and feast on her. I wanted to gorge myself on the taste of her until nothing existed but her. My arms ached with the need to draw her close, but I maintained a gentle grip on her waist, holding her away from my body, giving her the space to think. “Are you sure?”Please. Sweetheart. Say yes. It would just about kill me if she rejected me now. But I would respect her wishes.
Her eyes dropped to the erection tenting my pants, then slowly, deliberately, she brought down one hand. Her fingernail scraped the length of my cock. My eyes just about crossed.
“Fuck me.”
Thank all the gods and saints. “Your wish is my command.” Holding one hand to the nape of her neck, my mouth captured hers in a harsh kiss. I dominated her mouth, stroking with my tongue. Then I captured her bottom lip between my teeth, tugging it gently, letting her feel just a touch of pain before licking the bite to soothe it. My other hand snaked under the shirt she was wearing and moved to her breast, finding a nipple. I tweaked it and her body jolted in response, back bowing, the movement thrusting her breasts into my face.
Chapter 28
Calypso
Bam! Bam! Bam! Three loud knocks on the door made me jump and my eyes fluttered open. Luc’s mouth left mine as his head turned toward the sound. He snarled, a genuine, bestial snarl. It was a sound that had no place coming from a human throat and part of me knew I should be afraid. But I wasn’t. The sound was as sexy as hell. It was the sound of a frustrated male, a male denied his goal. It was primal, uncivilised, but one hundred percent genuine. And I was thrilled. It told me that Luc wanted me as much as I wanted him and that turned me on even more. I was in way over my head. About to have sex with a man I barely knew and it felt…wonderful, actually.
“Get rid of them,” I whispered.I rolled my hips, grinding my body shamelessly against his, letting him know how much I wanted him buried deep inside me. In the back of my mind a small part of me wondered at my own behaviour. Normally an interruption would make me flush with embarrassment that someone might hear. Might know. But at this moment, I didn’t care that someone was right outside the door. No, scratch that. I cared because they were interrupting my pleasure and I wanted them gone.
“Go away,”Luc snarled.One muscular arm still held me tightly to his chestand my breasts were pressed against his bare skin. His other hand had momentarily stilled its movement when the knock came on the door but now it started teasing my nipple again. His ragged breathing matched my own as his head lowered, aiming for the aching bud.Oh yes please. I wondered if this was how an addict felt as they anticipated their next hit. That adrenaline rush of anticipation. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his lips as his mouth lowered back towards my breasts.
“Luc, it’s Billy. You didn’t answer your phone. Is everything okay? Is Calypso alright?”
“Calypso is fine.” Luc’s mouth hovered over my breast. “She’s resting.”
Resting, that was a new word for it. He could help me rest anytime.
“Didn’t you get my messages?” Fuck. He wasn’t going away.“There’s been another incident.”Luc’s body tensed against mine and his head stopped its trajectory towards my nipple. Disappointment swamped me. I sat up, and he didn’t stop me from pulling the robe back around my body. I wanted to whimper in disappointment. Perhaps later I’d think this was all a mistake. But probably not. Godsdamnit. This had been my one chance. I was hot and achy and frustrated. My nipples were hard, I’d soaked Luc’s shorts and I was breathing like I’d been running for the bus.
Luc’s eyes came up to meet mine and I saw regret. His pupils were still dilated but his eyes had returned to their usual brown. I could see that his brain had kicked in again. I was no longer the sole focus of his attention. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed. So was I.
“We need to go…. If you let me come in, I can update you.”
“Be there in a few minutes,” Luc said in reply to Billy. “I was in the shower.” His voice was closer to normal, but still deep, carrying with it an undertone of the snarl I’d heard earlier.
I sighed, my own brain sluggishly rebooting. Luc was right. As much as we might want to ignore the world, it wasn’t going to ignore us, and Luc had a job to do. And I had to get to my apartment and assess the damage and clean up the worst of it. But if Billy hadn’t interrupted, I would still have had Luc’s mouth on my breast… and it would only have been the precursor to the best sex of my life. Bitterly disappointed hardly covered it.
I glanced at Luc under my lashes. For that brief moment in time Luc had been as interested in this as I was. But our moment had passed. He’d pulled his shirt back on, minus the buttons, and I could see that he’d put his mental walls back up. It hurt more than it should. I’d asked him to fuck me, knowing it wouldn’t mean anything more to him than sex. I understood it. But for that little while I had been able to pretend that someone cared.
I put one hand out to the couch to steady myself so that I could climb off Luc’s lap. His hands dropped from my sides. I took another step back. Luc stood and stepped into the space I’d occupied, his eyes searching. No. I looked away. I couldn’t do this anymore. With a hand that shook slightly I tried to put my hair back into some sort of order. I took deep breaths, concentrating on the small task, tucking my hurt and disappointment away at the same time. I’d had my little interlude, my moment of pretending the real world didn’t exist and it was over. Damn it to hells. Just for once couldn’t luck have been on my side? Luc would leave with Billy and that would be the end of it.
I was startled when Luc’s arms tightened around me and in one smooth motion he lifted me into his arms. He strode across the room, heading towards the bedroom.
“I can walk,” I said, keeping my voice low. Although to be honest, I didn’t want him to put me down. I wanted to luxuriate in the feel of his hard chest against my body. His arms like steel bands around my body. Holding me like I was special. Stupid. I was stupid. So fucking stupid.
“Stop squirming.” Luc’s long strides didn’t slow. “If you squirm too much I might drop you and you’re already hurt. Just let me take care of you.”
His words were like nails in the coffin of the little fantasy I’d been living. He was taking care of me. Because that’s what Alphas did. They took care of the weak and vulnerable. And the stronger the Alpha, the stronger the protective drive. But he wasn’t mine. He would never be mine. I’d missed my chance for some mind-blowing sex, and now I was back to being an obligation. It was his job to protect me. Nothing more.
And maybe he could compartmentalise. Put aside the fact that we’d almost had sweaty hot sex on his couch and smoothly swap to protection mode. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t just turn off my emotions that way. Suddenly it was all too much. I needed space. Lots of space. In fact it would be better if I never had to see him again. I elbowed him in the chest. “Put me down.”
