Alpha Contender Boxed Set: BWWM Paranormal shifter romance BBW Page 8

  “Good pick,” I say. “Why?”

  He shrugs. “It’s just a classic.”

  “Interesting,” I say. “Okay, Fifi?”

  “He’s just not that into you,” Fifi says tersely.

  Um. Okay.

  “Bradley?”

  “What’s your favorite book?” Bradley replies.

  “I don’t know,” I say.

  “So you’re asking us something you can’t even answer?” Jack says. But there’s a playful tone in his voice.

  “Well, she’s not the one on the spot,” Fifi retorts, flipping his ponytail over his shoulder. “Though I guess she should have an answer.”

  “I loved the Anne of Green Gables books,” I say.

  “Too bad there aren’t any Gilberts around here,” Lindon mutters. I flick my gaze to him.

  “You’ve read them?”

  He shrugs.

  “Lindon, since you might be participating, same question.”

  Lindon eyes me, as if considering whether to speak, and Bradley interrupts.

  “I never got to answer.”

  “That’s your fault,” Asher retorts. “You answered a question with a question.”

  “I was just trying to show interest in the lady’s interest.”

  “Suck up,” Asher says.

  “Maybe you should suck up a little more,” Bradley says.

  “Oh, I intend to suck on something…” Asher says, eyeing me. Lindon’s eyes send him little daggers of hate, but Asher ignores him.

  “Anyway, my favorite book would have to be Ulysses,” Bradley says.

  “Wow, um, tough one…” I say, impressed.

  Bradley grins nervously. “Just kidding, never read it.”

  Bradley’s handsome, with that boyish, all American face and soft hair and nice height. Lean, natural muscles that aren’t huge like Asher’s or large and cut like the twins.

  But something about him is kind of off putting, like he just can’t answer any question straight because he just wants to say whatever you want him to say.

  Irritating.

  I ask them to name their best qualities. Jack says he’s perceptive, but also that he hears he has nice eyes. Which I can agree with. Fifi says his beauty, Bradley says he treats women nicely, and Asher says his guns, reminding me of Thor.

  Do any of these men hold actual jobs? Do shifters do that? I make a mental note to ask Lindon about it. And to ask him these questions later as well.

  That makes me think of a kiss with him, and that makes me blush and forget where I am in the questions.

  Oh right. Weaknesses.

  Asher says he’s too good looking. Fifi says nothing. Jack says he’s stubborn, and Bradley says he has too many flaws to name.

  Once again, okay.

  But if I eliminate the ridiculous answers, there’s only one clear option. Luckily, it’s the other person tied with Lock for my top of the list so far.

  A list Lindon can’t be on anyway.

  “All right, Jack,” I say. Come and get your kiss.

  Jack looks up at me with surprise in those sleepy jade eyes. Eyes that are suddenly much more alive. He shakes a black lock off his forehead and stands slowly, coming over to my chair and leaning forward with his hands on the arms of my chair.

  I can hear a quick intake of breath from Lindon, but when I look in his direction, he turns away, arms folded. What was that about?

  A soft finger gently redirects my gaze to the man in front of me.

  “Look only at me,” Jack says, keeping his heated gaze on me as he comes forward. My lips part slightly in anticipation and he comes closer, closer, till our lips are just a feather’s distance apart. He breathes out like he’s waiting for something, and when I let out the breath I’m holding he closes the distance, lips warm over mine.

  At first my chest clenches, and then warmth and relaxation flood through me as his lips work over mine. Then he gently presses his lips against mine to open them, slides his tongue in, searing and soft, exploring the hidden, sensitive cavities of my mouth. As the kiss deepens, his hand moves from holding the tip of my chin to cradling the back of my head. Like I’m precious, like I’m important.

  When he finally pulls back, leaving me breathless, heated, his gaze stays locked with mine as he slowly stands, and I swear I couldn’t look away if I tried. I’m wet from the kiss and can feel my increased heartbeat. Kissing alpha males is something else.

  I touch my lips and think over the two kisses.

  Lock’s kiss was dominant, hot. But Jack’s makes you feel like you’re the only woman in the world, the only one he wants to kiss. I can feel the heat off my body and am sure I’m emitting pheromones like never before.

  Asher’s dark eyes flash to mine, and I wonder for a moment if he’s going to attempt what he talked about early. But I don’t think Lindon would have let him stay if that was a possibility, and with Lindon standing now, giving the entire room a silent, imperious warning, I’m pretty sure no one wants to get thrown into a wall.

  “Okay, I’m putting Misty to bed,” Lindon says, checking his watch and then pulling his sleeve down over it, like he doesn’t want the others to see it. I’m guessing given their already intense jealousy of him, a Rolex wouldn’t do much to help his image.

  A low growl from several of the males in the room. From a distance, any of these men could look like something from a clothing catalogue full of male models. But when their eyes flash at me, I can see the animal behind their eyes, and a shudder of fear, and something else, something primal and arousing, goes through me.

  “Just taking her to her room,” Lindon sighs.

  “No funny business,” Bradley says, sitting up with folded arms. “You don’t get anything we don’t.”

  Lindon raises one eyebrow at him coolly. “Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were in charge, Bradley.” Lindon seems less patient than usual right now and I wouldn’t push him if it was me. I think he’s about had it with males about now.

  “I wasn’t aware you were either,” Bradley retorts. I think my opinion of Bradley is increasing, given that I thought he was a pushover before. He has that clean cut, good boy look, but the look he gives me with those brilliant blue eyes, and the way his muscled shoulders flex in his shirt as he shifts position, gives me a little thrill that insists there’s more to him than that.

  “Misty?” Lindon asks, looking to me with folded arms. I gulp up at him, eyeing his perfect body and sharp, superior features that are even harder to look at now that I’m semi-aroused by Jack’s kiss.

  “Huh?” I say stupidly, aware there’s not a woman in the world who could be thinking clearly right now. Ten. Alphas. Ten alphas!

  “What would you like to do?” Lindon asks. His gold eyes are cold and glittering, and there’s a warning in them that says I’d better do what he said we were doing before. Retiring for the night. Seeing the hungry looks of the men who are eyeing me, including Jack, I decide Lindon is probably right.

  “Um, I’m probably ready for bed,” I say, stretching. I need to get some rest and recover so I can be my sassy self again, and not some gasping woman overcome with hormones from the sheer number of males. That was never me and I’m not going to let it be this time. Once I recover, I’ll be able to show them the woman I really am, I hope.

  The one who uses a donut as a bookmark and doesn’t think anyone can fall in love with her.

  Lindon puts out an arm and I don’t take it, but just head out ahead of him. He puts his arm on my lower back, ignoring a growl or two from the men behind him, and escorts me up the stairs to my room.

  Chapter 8

  When we get to my room, Lindon opens the door and gently shoves me inside.

  Then he crouches on the ground, hand in his hair, and then slumps forward on the carpet.

  I gasp and run forward, touch his hair, tap his back, trying to get him to respond. When he does, he rolls onto his back and shoves his hand through his slightly sweaty hair. Right now, he’s not the usuall
y put together and cold alpha male I’m used to.

  His long lashes flutter as he looks up at me, and then his eyes close, and his lips part slightly. I want to trace my finger over the deeply curved indent of his cupid’s bow, feel the velvety softness of his pink, pouty lower lip.

  He’s so beautiful and in this moment, so vulnerable.

  But what’s going on with him?

  He takes short, raspy breaths.

  “Lindon, what’s wrong?” I take his hand, but he pulls it away. “Do I need to call someone?” I ask. “What about Rafe?”

  He catches my hand and pulls me forward, so that my face is close to his, and I can feel his breath, smell his pheromones faintly, can feel the heat of his feverish body. “No. Not Rafe. Just let me rest.”

  “Stressful?” I ask.

  He nods. “Something like that. I’m not really up for explaining it right now.” He wipes sweat from his brow. “For some reason I have an unusually strong reaction to you. I’m not sure I even understand it, as I already had a fated mate, but it’s like…” he breathes in deeply. “Damnit. Control yourself, Lindon.”

  I blush. He has to control himself for me? I thought he wasn’t interested. “I thought you weren’t interested.”

  “I’m not,” he says. “That doesn’t mean my body isn’t aware of you. It very much is.” He grins at me, flashing a fang and looking more unbridled than I’ve seen him. “A part of me very much wants to roll you over and take you right now.”

  A part of me wants to say, ‘do it’, and just end these alpha games. But he’d be giving me only his body, not his heart.

  I try to pull back but he keeps his hand in my hair, playing with the hair at my nape with his long, slender, capable hands. Even his fingers seem to be doing as much as anyone else did with their lips.

  “You know,” he says. “I may only be half, as far as we know, but Rowan had really strong alpha blood. A very pure line, so I’m still more alpha than any of those men out there.”

  I cock my head. “Why are you telling me that?”

  “I don’t know,” he says, face still flushed, but looking slightly calmer. It doesn’t really matter that we’re on the floor, because the plush, luxurious carpet is soft.

  He toys with my hair, brushing the sensitive base of my neck and locking his gorgeous eyes on mine. He’s the most stunning man I’m ever going to see in my life, I just know it. And I can’t have him.

  Just on loan.

  It would be my luck to have so many hot guys and not be able to fully appreciate it because I’ve already partially fallen for someone else who isn’t involved.

  “You didn’t give me a chance to answer the questions. Maybe I wanted to earn a kiss too,” he teases, a mock pout on those full lips.

  A kiss from Lindon? HELLZ YEAH. “I can ask you now,” I say, pulling up and forcing him to let go of my hair. I can’t think when he’s touching me like that, and I want to be able to hear his answers.

  “Do I get a kiss if I win?” he asks, eyes darkening with an unknown intensity.

  “Only if you don’t tell the others,” I say. “I don’t want them to think I’m unfair.”

  “Alright,” he says. “I’m good with secrets. Especially if it’s from those Neanderthals. Plus, I deserve a little something for wrangling those idiots all day.”

  I grin. “I didn’t think you’d want something like that from me.”

  “I didn’t think I did.” He rolls onto his side and leans his head on his hand, looking up at me curiously. “But I do. You’re a beautiful woman, Misty. Somehow even more beautiful the more I get to know you. Bewitching.”

  I bite my lip and stifle a grin. “I think you have a fever, Lindon, and you’re going to regret saying this in the morning.”

  He shrugs. “Maybe, but that’s the morning. This is tonight. Give me tonight.”

  I blink. Tonight, with Lindon? He waits for my response, blinking those long lashes that are so feminine compared to his masculine, hard face.

  Of course, he just means the questions, and maybe the kiss, doesn’t he?

  “What are your strengths?” I ask.

  “Ah ah ah, you didn’t ask me my favorite book,” he says.

  “Okay, what is it?”

  “I don’t have one,” he says. “I could never choose. I could read all day and never feel like my mind was full. I just wanted you to know that.”

  Smart is hot. I swallow. “I love books, too.”

  He nods. “I can tell. Next question. My biggest strength?”

  “I think you remember the questions better than I do,” I mutter, twirling my finger in the carpet between us.

  “Maybe.” His eyes flick to mine. “I have a near perfect recall of spoken conversations.”

  “Interesting,” I say. “A man of many gifts. So what is the greatest?”

  He grins. “I suppose my greatest strength would have to be, my strength.”

  “Oh yeah, how is that possible anyway? I saw what you did to Asher. Are all male wolves that strong?”

  He shakes his head. “I’m not sure how far to go into it, but in some families, alphas have extra abilities that are passed down genetically. In mine, one of them is super strength.”

  Now that I find interesting. Could I possibly have any hidden powers I don’t know about?

  “I know what you’re thinking,” he says. “But no, I can’t tell you if you have any other abilities. I didn’t know your parents, only Rowan did.”

  “What is a Pack’s Promise?” I ask him. “You said Rowan had one with my dad.”

  “Kind of like a godfather in the human world. A promise that if you ever needed us, we’d be your pack. Almost like you were Rowan’s adopted daughter, but not of blood relation.”

  “Hm, weird.”

  “Pretty rare. Most wolves only watch out for their own pack. I don’t know the full story, but it probably had something to do with River, Rowan’s alpha female.” He shrugs. “Anyway, I want to keep answering questions. “Want to know my greatest weakness?” he asks, eyes flashing to mine.

  I look over his long body, unable to keep myself from measuring his long legs and well formed thighs, calves, and hips with one long glance. I gulp. “How can you even have a weakness?”

  He locks eyes with me. That gold seems to go on forever, like looking into the sun. He bites his lip, but not in a way that seems hesitant. In a way that looks like he’s holding himself back against something uncontrollable, with regards to me.

  Wake up, Misty. This has to be a dream.

  “Sometimes,” he says, “My greatest weakness is that I’m just not the wolf I want to be.” He blinks and keeps his eyes locked with mine, and my breath freezes on my lips as his hand reaches around the back of my neck and pulls me closer as he rises to a sitting position and brings us together, sitting on the carpet.

  His lips lock on mine like they’re the other half of a puzzle, perfectly fitting and closing out the world around us. Everything seems to spin and disappear as his lips seal mine. No tongue yet, just a slow, patient build, as his other hand moves possessively to my waist and he pulls me between his legs, cradling me as if I’m small, holding my body with his hands and my lips with his mouth.

  Warmth, pleasure so intense it makes me want to cry, floods through me.

  “This is another of my gifts,” he says against my lips, and I stifle a sob as his hand plays at the sensitive skin of my waist. “Lovely,” he says, squeezing the soft flesh there even as I try to move away. “You’re so lovely, Misty.”

  I try to pull back, scared by the overwhelming feel of him, but his strong, sure hands keep me there, and his lips claim me again, this time pressing me open so he can dive deep inside with his tongue, much further, much more intense than Jack. I gasp and his hand moves down over my thigh, then back up to my waist, as if he’s resisting temptation.

  He lets out a low groan as his tongue plunders my mouth completely, and I know I’d be falling apart if he wasn’t holding me, doing
everything and just letting me stay there in a jellyish blob accepting all the pleasure he’s forcing on me.

  Who am I kidding? He’d never have to force anyone to feel this. And I only pulled away because I wanted to feel those strong hands reassure me, to know they really wanted me. It was a half assed effort to give up something I wanted but was afraid of.

  And now, I have no more resistance. I swear he could lay me right down on the carpet and take me right now.

  His hand moves to my breast, and I gasp against his mouth. He growls and catches my gasp and takes my mouth more fully, sealing off any further sound. I struggle a little, enjoying the passion of it, and he keeps my mouth dominated completely. I put hands up to press on his chest and he grabs both in one hand and brings them behind my back, uses them to push me toward him, chest pressed outward, and he strokes a finger softly down my face.

  “Another weakness, I’m afraid,” he says, eyeing my swollen lips, flushed face. “I have a great need to be in control. I’m afraid my only pleasure is your pleasure.”

  “That’s a bullshit weakness,” I say. “No one would—mmph.” He cuts off my words with another hard, overwhelming kiss. The pressure of it is intense, but his lips, his tongue, are velvet soft as he strokes against mine. I try to meet him but he simply keeps me where he wants me and plunders me fully, causing an unbearable frequency to buzz inside me.

  I need his hands everywhere. I pull back from his mouth and squirm. “Let my hands go.”

  “Are you going to be a good girl?” he asks, eyes dark and serious, just a hint of a quirk to his mouth giving any sense of good humor.

  I nod, totally turned on by the dominant glint in his eyes. I’ve never had someone want me like that before. It feels powerful, like the kind of force that makes the world turn.

  Gravity, between me and Lindon.

  “I’ll be good,” I say.

  He leans forward, takes my mouth, and then lets my hands go only to crush his arms around me, drawing me against him in a kiss that is saying he’ll never let go. Completely overwhelming, that’s what this man is.