Page 24 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
“I’m sorry,” the man said as I lifted him off the ground so his feet kicked. He could have killed Dakota. It could have put the rest of my pack in danger if I’d lost control of my own car and affected theirs behind me.
I slammed him again for good measure. A car door opened and closed, and I was aware of staggered footsteps behind me. Fingers gripped my shoulder, tugging me, useless. I smelt her, then, so strong, a whole wave of citrus fruits as if she was a summer breeze personified.
“Aidan, let him go,” she cried. “Put him down.”
“Back in the car!” I shouted at her. I gripped the man’s collar harder, not taking my eyes off him for a minute. The smell of alcohol wafted off him. “I’ll have the cops on your ass in no time.”
“Aidan,stop,” Dakota said, clawing at my shoulder to distract me, but I shoved her off. I’d deal with her in a minute.
The man I held looked between us both, and the terrified look on his face turned sly. “Oh, I see. Protecting your mate, are you? We’ve all done a little drinking under the influence. What are you, an alpha? I lost control, and you’re fine, aren’t you?”
That word—mate—hit me like a freight train, and I stilled before composing myself quickly. All it took was that one second—that one moment of distraction for Dakota to dart out of eyesight. I thought she was going back to the car, but her streak of color kept running. I watched as she climbed over the highway-rail and onto the stretches of land beyond. There were rows of fields before the trees began, and I cursed.
“I’d run, too, if I was her,” the shifter I held up laughed darkly.
I slammed him once more before dropping him. He crumpled weakly to the floor, and I tore off after Dakota, calling back for Jason and Declan to head to the Oak Hill house. I didn’t need backup. This was between Dakota and me.
With her head start, she was fast, but she saw me gaining on her when she glanced behind her. She’d been playing her own games, waiting for a chance to escape again. I knew she would, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon.
I yelled her name, but she didn’t slow down. She sprinted straight for the treeline, where she thought she’d lose me better than she did last time. I stripped off my clothes at the edge of the woods and she did the same once she was in the safety of the trees. I didn’t even have a chance to look at her before she shifted. I let myself give into the wolf always lurking beneath my skin, launching into a tackle before I was even fully shifted.
She was waiting for me, and darted away, so I crashed into the woods with a roar, my wolf hind legs buckling beneath me. I scrambled to right myself as Dakota darted deeper into the trees. It was a stupid thing to do. This wasn’t my territory, nor was it Fenrys’s. We didn’t know whose turf we were on if it was neutral. I sprinted after her, letting out a warning growl. I’d always find her. Her scent lingered in my muzzle, as if I had soaked myself in the perfume of her, and it both turned my stomach and made me want to be closer to her.
I realized Dakota wasn’t preparing to fight me. No, she was hightailing it for a river ahead where fish swam around in a frenzy at both of our presence. She was trying to sustain her shift, I realized. The water I’d given her last night must have providedsomethingto be able to even shift this long, but her body was slow, her wolf’s fur lank and dull.
I rumbled and stalked after her.
Chapter 14 - Dakota
I looked at Aidan as he loomed over me, and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t angry or scared. I was so aware of his naked body against mine, and it sent a shiver of desire through me. How long had it been since I’d been able to have this with someone? Genuine contact that left me wanting rather than recoiling?
And from Aidan, of all men. I hated it, as always, but… A bigger part of mewantedit.
A part of me enjoyed that we’d ended up in this position. This was my captor, my tormentor from high school. This man loved torturing me mentally and emotionally and got enjoyment from it. A man whose hands could crush me at this moment if I pushed him too hard. Aidan could snap, and yet… I did not care if he was gentle. He’d almost punched a man for nearly injuring me. He’d protected me without a second thought, whatever his motives. Sheer want shuddered through me.
All I would have to do was arch, and my chest would brush against his. The very thought had me biting my lip.
Aidan’s gaze lowered to that bite. Goosebumps broke over my skin as silence descended on us, suspending us in its grip. A spell wove around our bodies, capturing us within each other’s gaze. And then Aidan was lowering his face to mine, and my breath got tangled somewhere in my throat, but I didn’t turn away. I watched him nervously, wanting to raise the challenge and take the leap with him, but I couldn’t. I wantedhimto come tome.
And he did.
His mouth closed over mine, and where he had me pinned, I felt him tremble against me. He shuddered as mymouth opened beneath his, a small, deep rumble coming from his chest. His eyes closed, dark lashes fanning over his cheeks. I closed my own eyes and let myself feel the kiss. His hands slid upwards to tangle in my hair, and I didn’t care about the dirt streaking his hands, or the violence they had wanted to bring upon that driver back on the highway, or the restrained anger they’d shown me in years past. All I cared about was Aidan touching me, and once he did, once our lips moved, it was like a damn broke.
Then we were tongues and teeth, anger clashing, a challenge written and fought with our mouths and hands. Naked and alone in the woods, he moved over me, hands fisting my hair, pulling it, seeing if it made me react. AndGod, it did. I moaned beneath him, wrapping my legs around his waist. He was hardening against my thigh, and I ground my hips into him. Was I urging him on? How far did my desire for him go?
Aidan growled into my mouth when I parted my legs to wrap around him, and he grasped my waist. I’d let him, I realized. My captor, my tormentor. This man contained anger beneath his skin and let it out in fits and bursts. He wasn’t soft or kind or gentle, but I would let him fuck me right there. I wanted him.
I gasped out, digging my nails into his scalp as I moaned into his mouth, his cock slotting into the groove between my hip and thigh, and my eyes rolled at the sheer size of him.
“Aidan,” I groaned when he pulled away for one second. I didn’t know what I was asking. I wanted him, but in what capacity? Maybe he saw the conflict on my face because when he surged down to kiss me again, he bit my lower lip and shifted his hips away from me, as if offering me the out.
That meant hewouldhave me right there if I let him take me.
The thought had my chest heaving, and I arched my back, my breasts pressing into his bare chest. All it could take was me sliding my hand down to the length hanging between his legs and guiding him into me, and I’d do something I couldn’t take back. Would I want to regret it?
I went to. My hand was flat against his lower stomach, feeling the trail's edge leading downwards. He pulled back to kiss the corner of my mouth, my jaw, in the center of my throat, before he buried his face in my neck.
My eyes closed, and I arched my back again, opening my body up with a distant smile on my face as I lost myself in this hot, intense haze. It was only when my hand was a hair's breadth away from his length that I notice where he nosed at me. My scent gland. The place where my mating mark would be bitten. His growl vibrated against the sensitive skin of my neck, and I knew this wasn’t Aidan himself anymore. He was giving into the demands of his wolf, the same as I was. His nose rubbed against my neck, his mouth pressed to me, and he moaned into my skin, his lips parting.
