Page 34 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
Luc
“Just hold on a minute,” my mate demanded, putting up a hand. “We need to talk.”
Too much, I told Beast.
I couldn’t help it, he grumbled.She IS perfect.
Beast was right, without a doubt. Caly was made for loving. Her lush breasts were hidden under the robe, but I remembered the feel of them under my palms. Full globes, spilling out of my hands. Perfect.
Mate. Dominate. Fuck.She was right there. Heat licked down my spine. All I had to do was pull her onto my lap, tear off her panties and find her clit. I could thrust my fingers inside her slick cunt, bring her to orgasm with my fingers, then sink deep inside her. She would be ready for me. Beast could smell it.
Take her. Claim her.She would scream when she came. I gripped my fork so hard that it bent, the tines stabbing into my wrist. Pain washed away the beginnings of the mating frenzy. I took a shuddering breath. My head was spinning from the urges I fought to control. Urges I had never allowed into the light of day. I didn’t feel like myself. Or maybe this person was me, and I had been denying it all my life. I had been pretending that half of my soul wasn’t ruled by instinct and violence. So far, I had beenable to control my basest instincts but now that I was sitting near her, with her smell wrapping around me, it was getting harder to remember why I had to do this right. I had to mate her soon. Before I lost myself to the Beast inside me. Wrenching myself back under control, I eyed my mate. She had barely touched her food and she was glaring at me. Focus, Luc. Don’t fuck this up.
“You’re right,” I said once I could speak again. “But would you please keep eating? We can talk when you’re done.”
I don’t know whether it was the ‘please’ that did it, but the glare was replaced with a surprised lift of her eyebrows. “Okay,” she said.
I ate the food, tasting none of it. It was merely fuel. To give me energy for my mate. To love her. Protect her. Keep her safe. Two nights ago, I had planned to take her to my apartment, wanting her in my space, but by the time I’d finally arrived, she’d been asleep, looking so comfortable in her bed, that I hadn’t had the heart to move her. I knew we would be safe enough here. I’d signed off on the new security arrangements. Sooner or later, she’d figure out that I was behind them. I’d paid for everything, even though I’d told her guards to say it was a Palace expense. If she knew I’d paid for it all personally I had no doubt she would want to pay me back. Which wasn’t going to happen. With the increased security, and new wards on the ceiling, the apartment was as safe as I could make it. And if anyone did manage to get inside, if danger threatened, Beast would gladly lend me his strength. He was the biggest, nastiest creature around. Even without shifting, without giving him control, I was more than capable of seeing off any threats to my mate. And for the last two nights, I’d slept beside my mate in her bed. Because of it, the bond between us was already stronger. I had sensed her as soon as she woke, the spike in her pulse when she got worried.You won’t be able to escape me, my little human mate. You are mine.
Caly finished all the food on her plate. Her heart rate spiked again as she looked at me. She wanted an explanation for my behaviour. She shouldn’t have to ask. “I’m sorry for what happened in my apartment the other day. I was a jerk.” If I hadn’t been watching her like the pretty prey she was, I might have missed the way she flinched. She fucking flinched. Because I’d apologised? Surely not. What had I said? I replayed my words in my head. Ah. She had misunderstood my intentions.
I leaned forward, letting Beast out, just a little, my voice dropping into a lower register with his possessiveness layered onto mine.
“I should be sorry for kissing you, or for touching you. But I’m not.” The next spike of her pulse was a visceral twist in my groin. Her scent filled my nostrils. My cock pulsed in time with her heartbeat. My eyes were locked on her lips as her tongue swiped over the plush lower one.Let me. Pinpricks of pain in my fingers heralded my claws drawing down. “I’m only sorry that I didn’t tell you how beautiful you are. And how I never wanted to put you down. How hard it was to leave you.” I lifted my eyes to hers, needing her to see how I’d never meant anything more than these words.
“I thought you regretted it,” she said, in a small voice. Fuck. It cut. I’d hurt her. I’d been so tied up in my own head, fighting my instincts, that I’d hurt my mate. Something I’d never intended.
Beast roared, trying to push forwards, to show her how wrong she was.Take her. Bond her. She will know us always when we bond.
STOP. I imposed my will. It was hard. Fighting Beast, fighting the bond, would get harder every day. I needed Caly like a drowning person needed air to breathe. The two parts of my soul were in conflict, and only Caly could fix it. But right now sheneeded me to be slow and patient. She needed Luc, the man, to be in control.
Fine,Beast grumbled. We will court her first. Bring her gifts. Give her pleasure. Show her that we are a good mate.
I thought about the couch that I’d purchased. And the next gift that was already waiting for her. I wanted to grin. Finally, Beast and I were on the same page.Already on it, I told him. My little human mate deserved to be romanced. Seduced.
But first I needed to make something clear. As clear as fucking crystal. She was not, could never be, a mistake. She needed to know that. I’d tried to tell myself that I would wait until after the investigation was completed before I courted her. But I couldn’t wait. Ihadn’twaited. But I wasn’t sure if she knew that. She was a human. Well-educated and intelligent, but I didn’t know if she understood the messages I was already sending her. I reached out, gently taking her small hands in my much larger ones, rubbing her wrists at her pulse points, watching the way it made her pupils dilate, swallowing the colour in her eyes. My little mate liked touch. Craved touch. I could definitely work with that.
“I know my timing sucks…” I paused, distracted again by the way she licked her lower lip. I wanted to bite it, then soothe it with my tongue. I let my thumbs circle her soft skin and her eyelids fluttered, her body going languid against the back of the chair. Gods she was beautiful. And so responsive.
“But?” She asked, her voice breathy.
“I wish to Declare my Intent,” I said. I hadn’t planned the words. They’d tumbled out of my mouth. But even as I said them, I knew they were right. I’d be more than happy to give her a human marriage if she wanted one, but no option short of a Shifter mating was going to be acceptable to me. Tous.I wanted our mate mark on her neck. I wanted the rest of the world to know that this beautiful, delectable Witch was off limits. My lipswould be the only ones to ever kiss her. To taste her sweet pussy. To hear her screaming my name when she came.
Mine.
I could see the moment the penny dropped. Her eyes flew open as she drew in a sharp breath, her breasts pushing against the fabric of her dressing gown, her pulse drumming under my fingers. Mine beat under my breastbone in tandem. She straightened her spine.
“You want a Shifter courtship?” Her voice was high and thready. I’d shocked her. I nodded, holding her gaze, never ceasing the gentle circles on her wrists. “And you’re Declaring your Intent for me? You want me to be your mate?”
Good. She understood. Beast purred in satisfaction.Clever mate. Then I wondered why I’d doubted that she would recognise the term. Caly had a degree in magic theory and shelves of books on Shifter behaviour. I’d seen them. I wanted to pound my chest like a caveman. Perhaps my little human mate had always been interested in Shifters. So even though the Declaration of Intent was archaic, the practice mostly having fallen away with modern dating practices, she would know about it from her books. She would understand that it was a formal proposal from a Shifter to his prospective mate. The closest human equivalent would be a marriage proposal, but it was a poor comparison. Bonds made between Shifters and their mates could not be undone. And humans rarely identified their mate the first time they met. With my kind, recognition of our mate was immediate. If the pull was not reciprocated, the rejection had to be swift, before a bond could form.
She tried to pull her hands out of my grasp. A futile effort. Her face twisted. “Is this some sort of joke? A way to tease the little human?” Now that hurt sound was in her voice again.
What? How could she think that?Beast roared in my head.You’re fucking this up. I could feel his desperation. Sincehe had woken up inside the prison I’d built around him, the moment he’d scented Caly, I’d been unable to prevent Beast from projecting his feelings to me. Knowing what he was, I’d expected the aggression. Beast was a being of violent impulses. He would kill. He was the other side of being an Alpha. Possessive. Viciously protective. But it was his longing that had pierced my defences. The loneliness. Until I’d met Caly, I’d never been sorry for how I’d treated him. I’d never given any thought to him havingfeelings. And when we were with Caly, Beast purred with contentment. He might be dangerous,but I’d been wrong for so many years about everything else. He wasn’t mindless. He was just a part of me. The other half of my Shifter soul. The part that I’d denied for most of my life. Caly was his mate as much as she was mine. And he wanted his mate. His entire purpose was to protect a mate and offspring. This was something I could give him. The peace that would come from having his mate. I owed it to him. And to myself. I wasn’t going to let Caly misunderstand us.Chill dude, I reassured him through our link.I’ll make it right.
Calm, I had to be calm. Patient. But she was too far away. Before she could stop me, I lifted my hands from her wrists and wrapped them around her waist, pulling her onto my lap. Taking advantage of her shock, I caged her in my arms. She squirmed against me, trying to free herself. The sensation against my already rock-hard cock was enough to send a bolt of lust straight down my spine. Fuck, that was good. Why was I waiting? I could rip off her panties and bury myself inside her. Mark her. Bite her. Show her that she was my mate.
I shuddered as I fought to regain control over my instincts. She didn’t believe me. There was an ache in my chest that she doubted me. I was a bad mate. “Hear me out, please.” Holding her against my chest, I dropped my head to her hair. Inhaling the scent of my mate. Letting it soothe me. “Just giveme a moment to explain.” One breath. Two breaths. She stopped wriggling. Stopped fighting me. My eyes drooped shut and my ragged breathing began to steady. The sharp ache in my chest eased at having her in my arms. Where she belonged.
