Page 9 of Defiant
“Especially a shifter’s reality.”
I swallow and bring up something that’s been on my mind during our walk. I’m a shifter now. But my wolf’s in hiding. So does that make me a full shifter or not? Do I behave normally or not? What do I do?
I wish that I didn’t have to air my shortcomings in front of the pack alpha. But he’s here and the need to know what to do next presses on me with a weight greater than anything I’ve felt before. I lick my lips before I spit out the words. “Speaking of shifter life…is there anything I need to know? I mean, do I go to the howl tonight? Or should I avoid it since my wolf has decided to just disappear?”
Behind me, Black growls and suddenly his hand is on my shoulder, his grip digging into me in a way that’s not at all friendly. I glance up at him. “No. You aren’t going to the howl. You aren’t going anywhere until I’m done with you.”
3
Black
Distraction,I warn myself as my eyes travel over the smooth planes of Elena’s body, loving how the moon goddess makes her tanned skin glow an unearthly white. It contrasts that dark, full hair of hers nicely, even if the white streaks in it aren’t my favorite.
Why young women want to streak their hair white is beyond me. But then, so are a lot of things, like fucking bike shorts. Those are just some dickwad’s excuse to wear boxer briefs in public. Despite the streaks, the braided ponytail Elena’s put her hair into is long and trails nicely down to the middle of her back. It’s perfect for pulling.
I ignore the sounds of the forest around us, the hoot of an owl, the scurry of mice and other rodents, the crinkle of the broad green leaves in the wind—those things pale in comparison to the thump I can hear coming from Elena’s chest. That rapid heartbeat is what drew my wolf toward her in the first place.
Before I caught her scent.
But then the asshole wind had blindsided me like the bastard he is.
A fucking field of wildflowers dipped in white chocolate—everything feminine and sweet rolled up into one inhale.
Dangerous,I scold, even though I can’t get my eyes to rip away from her. They’ve been glued to that perfect, pert ass of hers this entire walk back.
This little stranger. This woman who claims she can’t control her wolf.
We’ll see,I tell myself. Time would tell if she was honest. A little time in my basement would ensure it.
My dick likes the idea of her in my basement, locked up, and it twitches at the thought. I’ve been hard as granite since the first moment I saw Elena and if it weren’t for the fact that I worked damn hard to have the self-control of a goddamned Buddhist monk, I’d have already rutted her on the forest floor, letting the twigs and leaves dig into the delicate skin of her knees.
But I’m notthat alpha. I’m not that reckless—not like Prime, the asshole who came before me. He was so distracted by pussy and the damned war between his harem of betas that he didn’t even see me coming.
I remind myself that many wolves have let themselves be overcome by instinct, always to their own detriment. I refuse to be one of them.
Instead, I glare down at Elena, fighting the urge to gaze at those dusky nipples of hers, which have been hard and begging for my attention since the moment she saw me. I bite down on a smile when I see her swallow hard. Her eyes blaze back at me, but her breathing gives her away. That feathery little heartbeat tells me that this new wolf knows her place even if Elena doesn’t just yet.
“You’re coming home with me,” I tell her.
“That is not—”
I maintain my grip on her shoulder and hold up the other hand, right in front of those plush lips of hers. The baser part of me wants to slide a finger inside those lips and see if she’d bite or suck right now. Probably bite, but for some reason, that doesn’t dissuade my fantasy. But my tone doesn’t reflect all the bullshit images rolling through my head. My tone is the perfect alpha gavel, banging down in a hardass declaration. “It’s not up for debate.”
She jerks back from me, those gray eyes of hers shooting daggers. If looks could kill, I’d be just as dead as the wolf whose blood paints my arms. “I’m not some beta b—”
I cut her off when I hear a sound in the distance. “Shut up.”
Her mouth falls open in this circle that would be perfect for my cock, but we’re busy right now, and I’m damned annoyed at the fact that she’s proving to be such a distraction. I grab her forearm and drag her toward the car I can hear driving down the road in the distance. It’s only about a mile and a half away, but since she insists on remaining human, it will be a bit of a walk until we can meet up with Pluto. I’m sure he’s called back up, but I still want to hurry, because those Dark Night pussies will be crying to their daddy soon.
“What the fuck!” Her nails dig into my arm and she tries to fight me, yanking backward, digging her heels into the dirt.
I just pull harder. “If you dislocate your arm, that’s on you. But my second’s almost here. And unless you want to stick around to explain that body to the Dark Nights, then hurry your ass up.”
She falls in line, though I hear a mutter angrily under her breath.
Ungrateful brat. I could just leave her here. I could let her take the fall for that wolf in the forest, that weak alpha bitch that couldn’t do anything other than bow to me—his magic too pitiful to resist when I let my alpha strength pulse out like a sonic boom. But that would be leaving a lamb for the slaughter. Assuming she is who she claims. Assuming this was really her first shift. Assuming the Dark Nights didn’t send a hot younger girl to fuck with me.
Do they know I like them in their twenties? Did that get out somehow? I mean Mila was twenty-eight—legal by all means. But a forty-two-year-old guy who likes twenty-something women …
