Chapter 154

Alaric’s POV

I hear a low growl coming from somewhere. It takes me a long moment to realize that it is my own throat eliciting that noise. It is my own rage at what I’m witnessing that is making my eyes burn and my vision go red.

My hands are curling into fists. I’m nearly going to shift the jealousy rocks through me so severely, practically overwhelming me.

Noel hears what I’m saying and steps back slightly, but it’s too late, the damage is done.

I blink, and suddenly, I’m standing next to Cara, my hand on her arm. I’m not pressing down, but I am holding her firmly around the waist. I would never hurt her, not on my worst day, but I am insistent.

Especially when I feel the instinctive way that she leans into me, as if she is savoring my closeness.

“Cara,” I say. I barely recognize my own voice for how rough it is. I’m too close to shifting, so enraged. I force myself to remain calm, but it’s difficult.

Cara is mine.

This male was trying to take what’s mine.

“Cara,” I say again, refocusing. “You promised me a favor.”

She is more confused than frightened. She looks at me with some concern.

I must seem like the worst kind of Alpha right now, a brute who takes what he wants.

I’m not that kind of man. If she doesn’t want me… I can back off…

But first…

“I’ll have that favor now,” I tell her.

I know, if she doesn’t want to, she will say no. And if she says no, I will stop. Of that I am of total confidence. That’s why, just for a while, I allow myself to be a brute.

“What do you want?” she asks me. Through her eyes, I can see the cogs of her mind turning. Does she not understand what this is? Does she imagine this is somehow work related?

Can’t she understand how much I want her, heart, body, and soul?

“Alaric, maybe you should –” Noel starts. And while I’m sure he’s trying to be reasonable, the sound of his voice only triggers my possessive nature further.

He can’t have her. He can’t have this.

“Kiss me,” I tell her.

Her eyes go impossibly wide, but, in the same moment, they drop down to my lips. She licks hers.

“I love you, Cara,” I tell her. “With my whole heart, I love you.”

Then, I start to lean in. She meets me halfway.

This is now sweet kiss of a new couple. This is hot passion, with mouths open and tongues intertwine. She paws at my shoulders as I claw at her waist. We can’t get close enough, even with our mouths connected like this.

I almost wish I could tear myself open so I could pull her inside of me. I want our hearts to be one.

I want her to be my mate again.

Cara’s POV

Somewhere in the back of my remaining consciousness, I notice when Noel walks away.

For a moment, guilt tears through me. I don’t want to hurt Noel, but the spark with Alaric is too hot, too overwhelming to ignore for even a moment.

Even the last time Alaric and I fell into bed together didn’t feel like this feels right now. It’s almost as if my heart is coming alive again, thundering wildly in my chest. I’m melting all over, seared with Alaric’s heat, desperate to feel more of this, to have him near, to never be without him.

As we break for air, the only thing I can do is moan his name… “Alaric…”

The wildfire sparks in his eyes once more. Yet, rather than to continue to kiss in front of the house, where anyone could happen by and see, he scoops me up against his chest, his hands gripping my ass tightly, and carries me deeper into the winding walkways of the gardens.

Eventually, we reach one of the trees in the back of the property. Alaric slams me against it, then reclaims my mouth.

My feet dangle for a moment before I decide to sensibly wrap them around Alaric’s waist. One of his hands stays on my ass while the other slides up. I gasp, thinking he might cup my breast, but he lingers on my chest for only a moment before lifting that hand up to cup my cheek instead.

Pulling back, he looks down at my face. The world is bright under the mostly full moon and the stairs.

With his fingers near my ear, he brushes his thumb over my bottom lip. If it’s anything like his, it’s swollen red from our fierce kissing. He drags his thumb over the plumpness of my lip, tracking the way it moves with his eyes.

Before he can pull it away, I open my mouth a little further and then bite gently at the tip of it.

He swallows hard. Watching his adam’s apple bob, I feel so powerful. Here is the Alpha King of the DuskWood pack, totally enthralled by my mouth, my body – me.

With only a breath for warning, he removes his thumb and closes his mouth over mine once more.

So easily, I surrender to him and the firm, relentless advance of his tongue. He plunges his tongue onto my mouth and tangles it with my own. All the while, he steps closer to me, further pining me against the tree. My soft curves meld against the hard planes of his torso…

There’s something hard nudging just inside of my thigh.

“Alaric,” I break the kiss to whisper.

A tiny shred of worry creeps into my mind, and my heart. I’m not ready for sex yet. Not again. We always fall to easy. I’m so scared of getting hurt.

In a flash, worry after worry fills me, nearly cooling all of my pleasure and lust.

Gently, he shushes me. He kisses me softer now, as if trying to kiss all the worries away.

“I only want to kiss you and hold you,” he promises. “We will not to more than you are ready for.”

He’s acting nearly out of control, yet, with those steady words and the strong way he holds my gaze, I believe him.

He loves me. He wants to be with me. He will not abuse my trust.

“My body is reacting to you,” he says. “I desire you greatly. But my heart wants you even more than my dick does. Sex can wait, Cara.”

He presses his forehead to mine, and I close my eyes, feeling closer to him than I have in so long. In at least five years, if maybe ever.

He smiles a little. I can feel it against my lips more than see it.

“But I would very much like to continue kissing you,” he says.

I have zero hang-ups about that. In fact, I insist.

Combing my fingers through his hair, I readjust myself against the tree and then lean in.

I seek his mouth out with my own and close the distance. His tongue is not as demanding this time, but I still want that heat.

Even if it doesn’t lead to sex, I can’t deny the passion.

So I slip my tongue into his mouth this time and he growls pleasantly in response.