Page 9 of Alpha's Baby Girl
ThatIwanted, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.
His mouth was an inch away from mine when a door slammed further down the hallway, a voice calling his name. We broke apart immediately, Fenrys smoothing his hair back as he looked away from me. For a second, he hesitated. Then he shook his head and walked away from me.
He left me there gazing after him, the almost-kiss lingering in the air.
Chapter 6 - Fenrys
Shiba hung on my arm like a magnet. It was starting to be a little too much, especially with Thalia’s gaze burning a hole through me from her place at the table once we both returned. I’d needed several minutes to calm down from her coy use of calling me alpha. In wolf form, it was simply what I was; in human form, it caused a primal instinct in me, an immediate reaction, especially from her.
“Contestants and Fenrys,” the head councilor announced from the doorway. “We sincerely hope you have enjoyed the spread tonight. Help yourselves to more wine. Shiba, as you are today’s victor, you’ll be accompanying Fenrys after the banquet, up until tomorrow’s farewell gathering to the two contestants leaving us. Sleep well all, and be prepared for your next trial.”
His eyes met mine knowingly across the room before he bowed his head and left. Part of mating was to reproduce, and I wanted my future Luna to have that sexual connection with me. I’d slept with plenty of women, some shifters, some only human, and none of them had ever sparked anything in me. I doubted Shiba would, but I had vowed to give her a chance.
It was sex; Ilikedsex, but I would have preferred it with someone who wasn’t trying way too hard to be noticed. She’d already won; what more could she ask for at this stage?
“Ladies,” I called out. Shiba tucked her hand into my inner elbow, a silent message to the rest of the she-wolves. Over dinner, she’d already whispered promises of how our night would go. While she was beautiful, I knew there was another wolf at the table that I wanted more. “Thank you for today. You all navigated excellently.” I grinned. “If I could have chosen you all as victors, I would have, but that would make for a very full bedroom tonight.”
That got a few laughs. Shiba’s hand tightened on my arm. I fought the urge to growl at her, feeling her possession way too much, as if she had any say over who I slept with. As my Luna, she would have had full ownership of me, as I would with her, but for now, I was still a free man.
The she-wolves dispersed, some looking disappointed, others with their lips curled in jealousy. The only one who didn’t look back as she walked out of the banquet hall was Thalia. I pried my gaze from her immediately.
“Shall we?” Shiba asked sweetly.
Wordlessly, I guided her out.
***
Shiba’s hands slid up my chest, her long, red nails scratching through the fabric. She pulled me into her by the collar of my shirt, and I growled that time in warning. I wasn’t made to be dominated, to be led.
Idid that.
She grinned at my nose and brushed her mouth against my ear. “Let me see you lose control. I’m yours, Alpha.”
Her use of the title was so different from Thalia’s, and while I didn’t like my heady reaction to it, I still kissed her. I slid my hands up the back of her thighs, palming her ass as she jumped up to wrap her legs around me, the way I’d wanted Thalia to do in the lake earlier that day.
“Alpha,” Shiba whined, high in my ear, and I shuddered, both irritated and turned on, following my wolf’s instincts. “Take me. I’myours.”
I kissed her again, if only to get her to stop calling me that. I wanted that title heavy on Thalia’s lips, full of intention, not some sexual bid from Shiba wanting to be noticed. I laid her down on my bed, black silk sheets cushioning her figure, and stood back.
She wore red lace lingerie, having clearly prepared for the night ahead. Her hips were wide, and her breasts spilled over the bra in a way I’d usually find alluring. She was a voluptuous woman. Normally, I’d have picked her up at a restaurant in the heart of Silverlake Valley, taken her back to my house, and thoroughly indulged her. But now, the color of her lingerie reminded me of Thalia’s dinner dress and the generous depth of her neckline that had run down almost to her navel while concealing most of her chest.
I smoothed my hand up Shiba’s stomach, running it high to the front clasp of her bra, flicking it open. Her hair spilled out around her, but all I could see was white-blonde braided strands of hair, not Shiba’s dark-length of curls.
Bent towards her, I kissed up the flawless column between her breasts, stopping just shy of her mouth.Thalia, Thalia, Thalia, my inner wolf demanded. It knew this wasn’t the she-wolf I wanted.
Why had I ever agreed to these foolish Games?
I felt wretched. While I was attracted to Shiba—she was admittedly gorgeous—I couldn’t get my head away from Thalia.
For a minute, I closed my eyes and kissed her, trying to redirect my focus. Shiba’s hand wandered down my back, slipping under my shirt, pressing her palms to my stomach, mapping across the muscle there.
I hummed low in my throat. When I opened my eyes, I was reminded of who touched me. What was wrong with me? A beautiful she-wolf was baring herself for me to take what I pleased, and I wanted to push her away for a woman who’d now walked away from me twice. A woman I’d rejected years before.
Disappointment crashed through me. Perhaps this was the one time I didn’t have to let duty win over what I wanted. I was already participating in the Mating Games; maybe I could draw my own lines occasionally.
“Shiba,” I said, pulling back, refastening my shirt. She sat up, hearing the tone of my voice, and hurriedly clasped her bra back up, frowning. “I’m sorry, but please find your way back to your own room tonight. This is not a full rejection, so I would ask you not to see it as one. You haven’t done anything wrong, either. I’m not displeased.”
“I don’t understand. Don’t you… Want me?” she asked as if the concept was strange to her.
