The Alpha's Mate (32 page)

“It wasn’t all that dark and hasn’t anyone
told you that we wolvers see better at night than any cat?” He
waded toward the rock ledge and sat her on it. He must have seen
the worry on her face, because he took her firmly by the shoulders
and looked into her eyes. “Lizzie, your softness brings me comfort
and your curves bring me pleasure. There is no other woman I’d
rather be with than you.”

Elizabeth sighed with pleasure. She wasn’t
sure why Marshall thought Charles was the charming one. Marshall
had a way of saying things that made you believe.

He pushed her gently down against the rock.
“Lie back so I can get these jeans off you.” He tugged at the wet
denim.

“I can undress myself, you know. I’ve been
doing it for quite some time now.” She wiggled her hips to help the
jeans along.

“I’ve no doubt you have and one of these days
I’m going to lay back in the grass with my hands behind my head and
watch you do a hootchie-cootch just for me.” He raised his eyebrows
when she giggled. “But for now, it’s like Christmas morning and I
want to see what Santa left me under all that wrapping.” He tossed
the jeans to the side. “Well will you looky here, bright green like
the apples my mama used to use to make her pies.” He ran his thumbs
around the legs and fingered the lace panels at the sides. “See
what I mean, just like Christmas.”

Marshall slipped them off her legs and
squeezed the water out of them over her belly and breasts.

“It’s cold,” she squealed.

He grabbed her hands and pulled her up and
into the water. “Then let’s warm you up.”

She was already warming up. It was only her
skin that was cold. He pulled her out into deeper water, closer to
where it bubbled at the center. The water grew warmer as they
neared it.

“Why is the water so warm?” she asked. She
had her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his
neck.

“I don’t know. It’s the wrong part of the
country for hot springs. The Alpha used to bring us here once or
twice a year. He always said it was the mountain that kept the
water warm.”

“The magic,” she said. “It’s the magic of the
mountain.”

“You don’t believe in magic.”

He laid back and brought her on top of him,
kneading her ass and forcing her into his erection. She arched back
in an attempt to increase the pressure and smiled when she felt his
breath hitch and his stomach muscles contract.

“How could I not believe in magic after
knowing you?”

“Then be my mate and we‘ll make magic
together.”

His kissed her then and she was surprised the
water didn’t boil. His mouth plundered hers without mercy and she
had no choice but to respond to his tongue’s demands. She opened to
him, tongues dueling, teeth clashing. She couldn’t get enough of
him. She ran her hands over his arms and back and buttocks, amazed
all over again at the power and strength of him. It wasn’t the
Alpha’s touch. She hadn’t felt it since meeting him by the pool.
The fire between them was theirs alone; his way of showing he loved
her and insuring that she loved him. She loved him all the more for
it.

She broke away from the blazing kiss and
laughing, swam to the other side of the pool.

“Hey! I thought you couldn’t swim.”

“I said you didn’t ask,” she laughed, “And
you haven’t asked me this time either.”

He dove at her, but she evaded him and when
he came up for air, she dove for him. She wrapped her arms around
his thighs and took him in her mouth. She heard his muffled curse
above her, but it sounded more surprised than angry.

This was something else she’d never done and
she found it fascinating, though difficult because she couldn’t
breathe. Marshall solved that problem by floating on his back. He
braced his arms on the rock ledge.

She left him long enough to ask, “Am I doing
this right?”

His eyes rolled up and he groaned with
pleasure.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She swirled her
tongue around the tip and wiggled her tongue in the tiny slit.
Marshall stiffened and would have sunk below the surface had she
not grabbed his ass and held him aloft. His reaction gave her such
a sense of power.

Swirling her tongue around the head once
more, she drew him in, savoring at the velvety smoothness of him.
Warmth spread through her. The electric tingle was back and she
knew it was because Marshall was losing control. She felt the
sexual current run down through her center to settle between her
legs.

She gripped his ass, fingers digging into his
muscled cheeks and drew him deeper and deeper into her throat. Her
hips were moving in rhythm with her mouth. She doubled her efforts
and when at last he came, she almost came with him.

He pulled her up to rest upon his chest and
idly ran his fingers over her wet head. They floated silently for a
few minutes, half in, half out of the water and then he raised her
fingers to his lips.

“We’ve been in here too long. We’re turning
into prunes.”

“I like prunes,” Elizabeth said and snuggled
closer to him.

“And if we don’t get out of here soon, that’s
all you’re going to get to eat,” he chuckled and shifted his hips
against her.

She blushed at his reference and looked up at
him shyly. “Did you like it?”

“You have to ask?”

He rolled her over and lifted her to the
ledge. The stone was cold against her bottom and the night air was
cool. Marshall climbed up beside her and lifted her to her feet. He
held her close to him and rubbed away the goosebumps on her arms
and back.

Elizabeth rested her forehead against his
chest, looked down at the very thing they were talking about and
grinned. It certainly wasn’t pruney now.

“I guess not.” She looked up into his eyes.
“Thank you.”

“I think you’ve got this backwards, Lizzie. I
should be thanking you.”

He lifted her in his arms and carried her
toward a corner of the glade. In the dim light, she could see a
circle of stones with wood laid out for a fire.

“My clothes!” She wasn’t looking forward to
walking back down the mountain in wet jeans.

“Let’s get you settled first.”

He sat her down on two sleeping bags zipped
together to form one bed.

“You knew I was coming,” she accused as he
wrapped a blanket around her. It wasn’t thick and scratchy like the
first one he’d wrapped her in. It was old and soft and well-worn.
Comforting.

“I didn’t know, but hope springs eternal.” He
kissed the top of her head. “And this man was truly blessed.”

He started the fire and spread her clothes
out to dry, then sat beside her sharing her blanket and watching
the flames.

“Marshall?”

“Yes, love?”

“When I said thank you before, I meant thank
you for not using the Alpha’s touch.” She gave a self-satisfied
little snicker and molded herself to his side. “I know you lost it
for a minute there, but you let this be my choice, our choice,” she
corrected, “And I needed that.”

“Me, too,” he whispered. “We both needed to
know what was real.”

“Marshall?”

“Hmmm?”

“The Alpha’s touch, does it fade away? After
you’re mated, I mean.”

“No, it lasts forever.”

He shifted her onto his lap and she rested
her head against his shoulder.

“Good,” she whispered, “But not for
tonight.”

“No, love, not for tonight.”

When the fire burned low and they were
nestled together in their double bag, they made love again. It was
different this time, soft and gentle and loving. They took their
time slowly exploring each other with hands and mouths, learning
the landscapes of each other’s body. There was none of the
desperate urgency of their previous couplings. It was understood
that things between them were settled now. There was no rush. They
had the rest of their lives together.

When Marshall finally entered her, Elizabeth
yielded to him with a soft cry, not from exploding passion, but
from the sweetness of it. He shifted his body over her and adjusted
her hips beneath him until he found the place that gave them both
the most pleasure. His tenderness and caring brought tears. He
noticed and kissed them from the corners of her eyes before they
could fall.

The pressure began to build within her and
his strokes kept pace with her demands, increasing in speed and
depth, building and building and building until a quaking shudder
ran through her, less explosive than the others, filled with more
love than passion and somehow just as wondrous.

Marshall was reaching his own peak and she
moved her hips more forcefully against him, consciously tightening
herself around him. She watched his face tighten almost with a look
of pain and then she felt him; felt him explode inside her and it
triggered another small spasm of her own.

He collapsed against her and she held him to
her breast. And she whispered a prayer of thanks. Some might say it
was wrong to pray at such a moment, but she didn’t think God would
mind. She’d been given something beautiful, something precious,
something she never thought she’d find and she was so very
grateful.

They slept, spooned together with her head
pillowed on his arm, his hand resting on her breast. His other arm
was wrapped possessively over her hip and abdomen. Twice, she awoke
and thought he might be uncomfortable with his arm trapped beneath
her neck, but when she tried to move, he tightened around her and
held her still.

She listened to the gentle rustling sounds
around her. She watched the sparkling stars and the moon, almost
full, in the clear night sky. In the cocoon of the sleeping bag,
with Marshall’s arms wrapped around her and his chest rising and
falling at her back, she wondered what it was she’d ever held
against camping

Chapter 34

Uncovered and chilled, Elizabeth awoke in the
predawn light with Marshall’s erection poking her rear. When she
wriggled back against it, she heard his soft laugh. He rolled her
to her knees and positioned her with her butt in the air and her
head on the sleeping bag. He covered her body with his, braced
himself on one arm and wrapped the other around her. His fingers
began to gently play at the juncture of her legs and her still
swollen clit responded immediately.

“Will you marry me, Lizzie Reynolds?” he
whispered in her ear, “Will you join my pack and become my Alpha’s
Mate?”

“
Well
,” she thought,
“There’ll be
no story of How Daddy Proposed for our children.”
His fingers
became more insistent and she whimpered a little. “I will, Marshall
Goodman, of course I will. I’ve been waiting for you to ask.
Oh!”

She gasped as he slid two fingers into her
and her hips began to move to their rhythm. She moaned for the loss
when he withdrew them and then sighed with pleasure at the feel of
his throbbing erection at her opening. He entered her and held her
still.

“This is how I’ll take you on the night of
the full moon.” He spoke with his lips against her back. “There’ll
be a party, a frolic, with lots of music and dancing. Food and
drinking, too. At the rising of the moon, you’ll run and I’ll chase
you and the pack will chase me. When I catch you, I’ll take you
under the full moon.”

Elizabeth stiffened. “The pack won’t…”

“No,” he laughed. “They’ll disappear as soon
as you’re caught, although I have to warn you, they’ll be
disappointed if you make it too easy. It’s all symbolic.” He moved
against her until she relaxed.

“Symbolic of what?” She reached around and
smacked his leg. “Stop that. I need to concentrate.”

He chuckled and stopped although he didn’t
release her and she still felt the pulsating throb between her
legs. She felt him sigh against her back.

“In the old days, Mates were often taken
against their will. It was their one chance to escape, though I
doubt any of them did. The pack followed where the Alpha led and
they watched the taking.”

“That’s barbarous!”

“They were barbarous times. It wasn’t
uncommon for humans to take unwilling women and to provide
witnesses to testify that the woman was no longer a virgin. Wolvers
weren’t alone in their barbarity.”

He started moving against her again and her
hips rose to meet him.

“Is there more?” she squeaked. “Because I
won’t be listening if you keep this up.”

“Only a little.”

He brought his mouth to a spot low on her
neck right above the collar bone. She felt the Alpha’s touch
zinging through her body. Marshall pumped harder and faster. She
was suddenly breathing hard.

“As you reach your peak…” As she was doing
now, now, now! “I’ll bite you.”

He bit. Not hard enough to really hurt, but
it sent her over the top and she screamed as an orgasm ripped
through her. Her scream joined his shout and they collapsed
together.

Marshall gathered her to him and whispered
words of love and encouragement into her hair. He held her until
her breathing returned to normal.

“Will it be like that?” she asked when her
voice was working again.

“No. It’ll be much more than that. I’ll have
to break the skin, Lizzie. It’s the only way for you to become a
full member of the pack.” Marshall was watching her closely for her
reaction.

“Will I change?” she asked. Her body was
quivering.

“You’ll be able to. Once a year at the winter
moon when the other women change and at any full moon should you
decide to run with me.”

This was something she hadn’t thought about.
She wanted Marshall as a woman wants a man. Could she become a wolf
to make that happen? “Max told me that was a myth. You couldn’t
change humans.”

“Max was right with the exception of an
Alpha’s Mate and only because she’s born with the power already in
her. It’s waiting there to be released.”