The Alpha’s Tempting Mate

“Shift,” Garrett growls.

The strange wolf contorts and changes into human form. I keep my eyes above his waist. Ribs show through his brown skin, and his eyes are hollowed out with dark circles. Long hair falls around his eyes. I wonder how long he’s been held prisoner.

Garrett prowls a circle around him. I step forward, between them, and he growls, picking me up with an arm around my waist, spinning, and setting me down behind him. Trey and Jared close in at his sides, making a human wall of protection, me behind it.

I clear my throat. “Do any of you speak Spanish?”

“You can translate from back there,” Garrett rumbles.

I roll my eyes. “Senor, did you see a white wolf? Small female?” I ask in Spanish, raising my voice to get through the wall of wolf-men.

“La Americana? Si.” he answers.

I scuttle around to Jared’s side to see the man, but Jared throws an arm out, keeping me back.

“Don’t. Touch. Her,” Garrett growls.

Jared drops his arm. “Not touching, Alpha.”

“Where is she? Do you know where they took her?” I ask in Spanish.

“They sold her to the Montelobos. In the jungle.”

I translate his answer. “Where in the jungle?” I ask sharply. “Do you know?”

“Monte Lobo.”

Oh. Well, of course the Montelobos live in Monte Lobo. That’s almost too easy. I pull my purse off my shoulder and thrust Garrett’s phone at Trey. “Monte Lobo-in the jungle. Get Kylie on it.”

After a glance at his alpha, the wolf grabs my phone and takes off. Jared goes with him.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” I ask the stranger in Spanish, and repeat in English for Garrett’s benefit.

He shakes his head. “Ask him how big their pack is, how strong.”

I translate the question to the stranger.

“More than one hundred wolves,” he says. “Well defended.”

“Gracias, senor.”

“A ustedes.” He gives a half bow, backing away.

Jared walks in, dressed in cargo pants he must’ve found. He tosses clothes to Garrett and the strange wolf, who wrinkle their noses but dress quickly. “I found keys to their van outside. Trey’s still trying to get through to Kylie, but we should get out of here.”

“Will you be safe if we leave you?” I ask the strange wolf in Spanish.

He nods, explaining in rapid Spanish that he’s from a small coastal town but has a strong pack there.

“All right. Gracias,” I tell him, and we head out, down the hallway.

“Cover your eyes,” Jared murmurs.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Before I understand what he means, a large warm hand closes over my eyes and an arm cinches around my waist. The way my senses leap up, I know it’s Garrett. He’s not gentle but steady and strong. My feet lift off the floor. I try not to think about the metallic smell of blood as Garrett carries me down the hall. Or what I’m not seeing.

Focus on Sedona.

Once we’re outside, he drops me to the ground, and I take deep breaths.

Garrett spins me around and peers into my face with all-silver eyes. “Are you hurt? Tell me you’re not fucking hurt, or I’ll go back and kill those guys a second time.”

The violence of his assertion ought to frighten me, but it doesn’t. It’s for me. All that passion is for me. “Not hurt,” I whisper.

He yanks me against him, crushing my body to his so tightly I can’t breathe.

“Easy, Alpha,” I choke.

He releases me abruptly and paces away, as if afraid to be too near me.

Trey trots up to us, cell in hand. “I don’t have a cell signal to get through to Kylie. Let’s go to the hotel, and look it up ourselves.”

Garrett nods, grim. “I need to call my dad for reinforcements. We’re not going into Monte Lobo alone.”

“I already did,” I admit, wincing as six pairs of glowing eyes swing to me. “I wasn’t sure I would make it out of the warehouse, and I didn’t want to…” The low growling coming from Garrett’s chest warns me I’m worrying his wolf again. “Your dad’s on his way.”

Garrett

I can’t speak the entire ride to the hotel. I’m barely staying in human form. I’ve never been so on edge, so close to losing it. No-fuck that-I already lost it. I went savage on those guys back at the warehouse when the situation called for intelligence. If the guy in the cage hadn’t given us a lead, we’d be no closer to finding Sedona right now, thanks to me.

The whole evening was a cluster-fuck. We showed up at the textile factory. Like most of the buildings in Mexico City, it was all concrete on the outside, no way to see in. I sent Jared and Trey in one direction around the building, and I went the other.

When we met up, some asshole had Trey in a headlock, a gun pointed at his head. “Manos arriba,” the motherfucker yelled.

I didn’t have to understand Spanish to know what he wanted. I had no choice but to put my hands in the air and climb into the fucking cages that lined the warehouse. A wolf can survive a gunshot wound, but not to the head.

Only shifter I know who survived a gunshot to the head is an elderly panther in Tucson, and she was extremely lucky the shots didn’t hit anything vital. I wasn’t about to risk Trey’s life.

But the second I was in the cage, I shifted, shredding my clothes. The place reeked of wolves, but I swear I picked up Sedona’s scent. I tried to bust through my cage with sheer force, but they weren’t ordinary dog cages. No, these guys knew what they were doing. The cages were made of reinforced steel. If Amber hadn’t shown up-

I growl in the backseat of the van, and Amber turns her lovely blue eyes up to me. I don’t know why the fuck she’s not afraid of me when I’m like this. She sure as hell should be.

My wolf is ready to break out and rip more throats just thinking about Amber being back there, putting herself in danger for us.

I want to turn her over my knee and smack her pretty ass red for it, but I know it’s not safe for me to touch her. Not that I’d hurt her-not that way, anyway. But I’m inches away from marking her. Between the full moon and my wolf’s desire to protect her by forever imprinting her with my scent, I’m shaking from the effort of keeping it together with her.

We get to the hotel and I head straight for the shower. Maybe if I rid myself of the scent of blood, I’ll be able to calm the fuck down. Doubtful. But it’s worth a shot.

I strip out of the too-small pants and step into the spray of water, pinching my wound to expel the bullet my body has already sent to the surface.

I remember the way my little lawyer paled when she saw the wound, the horror that streaked her face. Damn, I’ve done nothing to earn that concern, but I sure as hell am going to try to be worthy from here on out. And I have to do a better job keeping her safe. Fates, she could’ve been taken prisoner, too, and we’d all be locked up now. Or worse.

I ought to be grateful to her, but instead I’m just pissed. Pissed she had to put herself at risk to rescue me. A growl reverberates in my throat.

I turn the water to cold. It does nothing to cool my burning skin, to stomp down the wolf.

Mark her mark her mark her.

I’m burning to sink my teeth into Amber’s ripe flesh. Make her forever mine. I’m burning to sink my cock into her sweet little body, feel what it’s like to move inside her. I bet she’s tight as fuck. Like heaven. Maybe there’s some way I could fuck her without marking her.

I can’t tell if it’s my wolf or my own mind trying to talk me into doing what can’t be done, but I want her with a desperation that makes my canines pop out, dripping with the serum to mark her. I bite my own lip and draw blood.

My tough-as-nails little lawyer is all gooey soft inside. A giant heart made of soft downy feathers. I’d give anything to earn the right to call her mine. What would it be like to have Amber beneath me? I’m dying to see her look up at me with those big blue eyes, trust shining bright, her small body yielding and sweet. Fuuuuuuck.

I turn off the water and wrap a towel around my waist. My wound has already stopped bleeding, the edges starting to close.

We booked a suite, with two beds in one room and a living area in the other. Trey and Jared are in the living room, and I want to howl because Amber’s with them. Which is all kinds of stupid, because while I know they’d die for her, it’s only because they know she’s mine. And my guys are rock solid. They would never, ever fuck with what’s mine.

Still, I slam my fist down on the dresser. I want to tear the room apart.

I don’t know how I’m going to survive the night in the same hotel suite as Amber.