Page 31 of Moonlight's Mate
Merrilee shrugged. The Alpha impulse often ran in families, so of course the chances had been good. “I don’t blame either of them. I just wish…”
He watched her closely. “Wish someone else could take your place.”
Even though she tried to stay loose in the chair with the help of her exhaustion and the good beer, every muscle tightened, coming to alert at the mere threat.
He quirked his lips. “Or not.”
She groaned. “It’s like another beast inside me. As if it wasn’t crowded enough in here.”
“Being Alpha is an honorable duty.”
She scowled at him. “You think I don’t know that?”
“But it’s also a pleasure.” He pushed out of his chair and sauntered around his desk to perch on the edge in front of her. Hooking a toe through the leg of her chair, he rolled her closer. “After all, you get to tell people what to do.”
She lifted her chin when her knees bumped against his shins. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“And weirdly enough, that is an even greater pleasure.” He leaned down to brace his hands on her thighs and stare into her eyes. “So why don’t you try it. Tell me what to do.”
She opened her mouth to tell him to back off, but what came out was, “Kiss me.”
He smelled of iron and night, and his mouth was as hot as a forge. He kissed her as if it had been his idea.
He hauled her up into his arms, and the flex of muscle made her pulse jump in answer. She wanted that strength inside her, but…
She pulled back a scant inch. “No. Beck. We don’t have time for this. The fae are coming. And my pack meets at dawn. I have to go.”
“I locked your car keys in the safe.”
“What?”
“I hear you bite when someone messes with your keys, but even a wereling can’t bite through iron.”
She struggled against his grip. “You can’t—”
“But I did. And you can’t keep pushing yourself to do it all. That’s what you said before, but that’s not what an Alpha does. You have a strong pack, Merrilee. Let them do their work. Your only job is to lead them.”
“Only?” A harsh laugh that sounded too much like a sob escaped her.
“Only, but not alone.” He ran his hand over her hair, a soothing gesture that nevertheless forced her to look up at him. “I’m here.”
He kissed her again, and with another flex of his arms, he was carrying her up the stairs. Not just to the bar, but up another flight, to his apartment above. She’d seen the lights in the upstairs windows once or twice—maybe three times, or possibly more—when she’d driven through town, but she’d never been up to his rooms.
The paneling was even older than his favorite T-shirts, but the space had an almost Zen-inspired simplicity with rough-hewn log furniture and braided rag rugs softening the wood floors. Except for all the bookshelves; those were overflowing with dog-eared paperbacks. She’d have to tease him about eating his homework. And maybe buy him an e-reader.
That was the only glimpse she got before he headed for the bedroom. She saw the silk blouse she’d worn to New York folded neatly on a corner chair, but then he was carrying her to the tiny bath.
He twisted on the shower with one hand while lifting off her dress with the other, the brush of his fingers raising shivers over her skin. There were certain benefits to a very small bath.
“This is why you ditched the poor doctor,” she murmured.
“I wanted to stash the loner in a safe place. And that’s not around me when I want you.”
As steam rose around them, turning to silver smoke in the light of the moon through the small window, she watched him strip out of the borrowed clothes.
“You look even better naked,” she said.
“You don’t mind…” His hand hovered above his marred ribs. “It’s ugly.”
