Mated by the Alpha Read online

  How much had Aidan consumed?

  From the power in the energy wave still rippling around the place, she’d wager all of it, down to the last purple drop.

  Of course. It couldn’t just end there. Not with her luck.

  A sudden burst of energy within her responded to the power of her hex. It was looking for a soulmate for the person unlucky enough to drink the potion.

  She summoned control over her magic and dared a look over her shoulder to connect gazes with one very determined alpha.

  The glow of his eyes stood out from the darkened corner, and there was no mistaking the hungry, I-want to-fuck-you-long-and-hard look in his eyes. And the way his body flexed and moved with a predator’s grace?

  Oh, yeah…holy Hades!

  Fixated, she could do little else but watch his smooth, sensual glide as he made his way toward her…

  Uh-oh.

  On hands and knees, Sadie scrambled up the back stairs. She flung open the door to her apartment and slammed it behind her with a flick of the deadbolt.

  She had no hopes the flimsy old thing would keep out the big bad wolf.

  Maybe there was a way to cancel the effects of her spell another way without what Aleaha and left her downstairs.

  She thumbed through her Book of Shadows and found her love spell, but nothing on how to break it. Freaking Hades, this was not happening! Three hundred pages of spells, charms, and protections and still nothing? She so did not want to add to her growing list of offenses with the Silver Circle.

  The Elders would strip her of her powers and probably ban her from ever practicing her gift again if they found out what she’d done.

  Blood drained from her head, and the room started to spin. Her hand quivered more and more with each page she flipped. “Breathe, Sadie, just breathe.”

  Wood cracked against the wall of her apartment.

  She clenched her fist across her stomach and twirled on her heel.

  The few pieces of apple she’d eaten earlier tried to make a reverse move back up her throat. Swallowing hard a few times helped squash the queasiness, but her stomach bottomed and rolled again. She found it harder to breathe with each swallow she forced past her suddenly dry throat.

  “Aidan,” she said breathlessly.

  The way the defined muscles of his torso and abs stood out beneath the tight cotton of his shirt drew her gaze first, then it drifted farther until her attention settled on the bulge in his jeans. His gaze steadied on hers, the stark crimson a drastic difference from the smoldering bluish-red tinge he’d had before. He stood in her doorway bathed in the half-lit entryway of her apartment for several seconds, breathing heavy.

  She unclenched her fingers and splayed her hand across her midriff to help settle the unruly butterflies. But there was no stopping the warm blush that washed over her from head to toe.

  Goddess, he could do things to her…

  He looked so hungry.

  Like he wanted to eat her.

  Uncontrollable shivers faded to a full-on flaming need.

  His nostrils flared. Could he smell her desire for him? She grew still—prey caught in the wolf’s sights.

  She shook her head. Think, Sadie. Get your head out of bed with him and on task. But still. Aidan was in her apartment, mere feet from her bed. That mixed with their heated attraction for each other, well, a girl could only have so much restraint.

  NO.

  She couldn’t go there. It only spelled trouble.

  Aidan stalked across her small apartment, the shadows of the night playing across his strong features. He stood only a few inches from her now, glowing pupils dilated. Heat radiated from him to stroke along her bare arms. With his shoulders back and gaze trained on her, she stiffened against the dining room table at her back.

  She flexed her fingers around the rim of hardwood and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

  Aidan leaned in the last few inches separating them to run his nose along the sensitive skin of her neck.

  Could he hear her heart pounding a hole through her chest?

  “Do you fear me, Sadie?” His chest rumbled against hers with his growled question next to her ear.

  What kind of question was that? Her breath caught and she shifted slightly. “No. Yes. Maybe? I know you won’t hurt me, but…”

  “But what?” he coaxed as he fingered a lock of her hair and brought the strands up to breathe in her scent.

  “But I can’t think with your mouth this close to mine.” She was so close to just reaching out for a small kiss to feel what his warm lips would be like on hers one more time.

  “Mmm. You smell of strawberries. My favorite fruit.”

  Goddess, his voice sounded so dreamy.

  She connected their gazes. “Your eyes. They have that glow again. The blue mixed with red. Only it’s redder than blue now. Stop dodging my question and just tell me why already.”

  “Because you’re my mate, damn it, Sadie.” His husky voice was a sensual tug on her libido.

  What? Never had her brows climbed so high or her mouth hung open so wide.

  “You’re kidding?”

  What the Hades did she step into now? And did she care? Having an overly hexed alpha pressing up against her wasn’t so bad. The way his hard cock rubbed against the sweet spot between her legs stole every good thought she could muster.

  She needed to stop. What she felt was nothing more than a façade brought on by the potion. She mentally chided herself, but it did no good.

  He hovered over her, waiting.

  She shook her head with a drawn-out sigh, causing her long dark hair to swish against her back and arms. His gaze followed the motion and settled on her breasts. With his body flush against hers, he pushed forward until he had her on the table and him between her legs. His shaft strained against the confines of his jeans and created a delicious friction between her legs as he ground a slow rhythm.

  Her heart danced, and her breath came in short bursts. She finally had the alpha where she wanted him and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Damn stubborn morals. She wouldn’t take advantage of him while he was under her spell.

  Judging others who didn’t have a problem using potions to get what they wanted wasn’t her thing, but she had her hard limits.

  Working with unstable magic came with risks. She understood that. Love potions were unpredictable, but no, did she listen to reason? And the damn wolf had swallowed three times the dosage in one gulp.

  “Um, Aidan.”

  “I can smell your need for me, baby. Feel you reaching out. My wolf is going mad for a taste of you.” A pulsing pressure budded to life in her core and worked its way along her nerves.

  She straightened, feeling him grow even harder. “You can? You do?”

  “Hmm. And you’re divine, Sadie. Like forbidden fruit I’ve craved for a lifetime.”

  She tipped her head back and stroked a single finger down the length of his jaw. Short stubble grazed her skin, and his eyes grew more intense as he watched her. No more than a half-inch of lust and magic-supercharged air separated them.

  Every fiber of her being trained on him. She got that her laws forbid her to mate him, but what made her forbidden to him? She admitted not knowing too much about the shifter laws. What witch did? But, why did he get close to her only to pull back? Given everything she was dealing with over the past couple of days, she’d never asked why and only assumed it was her own laws keeping them apart.

  And another thing she never asked was why he insisted on staying until closing time every night this past month.

  All the hot fantasies she’d dreamed about with him flitted across her mind, causing another wave of desire to flood her system. Long showers featuring him lathering her body, caressing her until she had no choice but to scream from all the pleasure he infused her with. Then he’d make love to her against the steam-heated tiles. Or there were the nights of waking up from wet dreams, her pussy pulsating from the need for him and him there to care f
or her.

  But they were just her fantasies.

  They’d flirted, he’d teased, and they even shared a world-altering kiss. Then something had happened and he’d peeled out of there as if the demons of Hades chased his soul, leaving her to dream about his dark blue eyes and sizzling lips.

  Her nerves twisted into a bundle of knots. “Listen, Aidan, I’m sorry about the mix-up. Please don’t be mad.” She rested her palms on his chest and slightly pushed. He leaned closer to rub his nose on the tips of hers, ignoring her.

  “Mad? Do I look mad to you?” His masculine, yet gorgeous face a whisper away from hers.

  No. He looked horny and as though she was the only thing that could satisfy the craving, and his tousled dark hair begging for her to run her fingers through.

  It was uncanny, really, how she could read him so well tonight, but that was all due to her inability to follow rules.

  “Umm. I just cast a spell over you, Aidan. That can’t make you too happy.”

  Aidan wrapped a thick arm around her waist and scooted her bottom over the edge of the table until she was flush against his massive dick. “Spelled, huh? Imagine that. Will it be permanent?”

  She gasped and let it out on a harsh groan of delight and shimmied her hips. She wished for a hunky drool-worthy alpha to call her own. Having a man who knew what she was as much as who she was and didn’t tuck tail and run from her magical side felt good for a change. Yeah, permanent sounded nice.

  But she couldn’t do that to him no matter what she wanted. “No, Aidan. In fact, if I could nix the spell, I would. Unfortunately, you have a witch with a penchant for trouble on your hands and this kind of spell has to wear off by itself. It should only take a few hours—given the dosage you swallowed.” She plucked at some imaginary lint on his shirt unable to look him in the eye.

  Aidan stared down at her. The heat from his gaze all but searing her skin.

  “Or we can finish what we started a few nights ago.”

  Chapter Four

  Aidan didn’t wait for her answer. Not that she had one. Her mouth hung open too far for her to form any words anyway. He was talking about their kiss. Their heart-searing single kiss that had seemed to last forever and was over just as fast. Then he’d pinned her against her bar, his fingers working her into a wet, mushy mess of want. His mouth devouring every exposed inch of her body. Which he made sure was almost bare so that left a lot of skin to cover with his obsessive kisses. Because that’s how they had felt. Like he was claiming her each time his mouth touched her body.

  She couldn’t think about it without feeling the same rush of raw possessive need.

  And before she could find her bearings, he’d stopped. Pulled back from her with a guilty, yet wistful, look in his eyes and left her exposed in more ways than one.

  Aidan scrunched the ends of her shirt in his hands and lifted the soft material over her head in one tug, his fingers brushing along the soft skin of her sides. Dark locks of her hair fell to cover her bare breasts. “Delicious. And just the way I like them. Ample and firm. I plan to feast. Lie back.” His words were a low command.

  He guided her down, slowly revealing her extended nipples from beneath her thick hair one at a time. He wrapped his warm mouth around one greedy peak, causing her to arch into the strong hands and hungry mouth of her hot alpha.

  Bent over her, his cock pressed against her center. Instinct and need rocked her hips, and she enjoyed the rumbling growl of appreciation rising from deep inside him. She licked her lips and sighed from the double pleasure. Unable to resist, she buried her fingers in the length of his hair and held him to her if only for one more borrowed second of passion.

  “Aidan, you have to stop. Please.”

  Who was she kidding with such a weak plea? Need for him tugged at her center, but she had to make him see what was going on. But honestly, did she want to give him another chance to walk away again? Not really, but it would be the right thing to do.

  Her head rocked from side to side and her eyes fluttered shut.

  Teeth scraped along the underside of her breasts, and then his soft lips encased the other dusky tip. He hollowed his cheeks, rolled her nipple in the confines of his mouth, lashing the bud into a tight peak with his tongue.

  “Goddess, that should be illegal,” she groaned.

  With deft fingers, Aidan trailed a blazing path along her midriff to flick the button on her jeans open. The hiss of her zipper opening followed.

  Sadie pressed a hand on his shoulder and nudged him away. “Aidan, we can’t. Not like this.” He pulled back but only far enough to lock their gazes. Warm eyes filled with patience and a barely banked fire stared back at her. Flames reached down into her and brushed along the sensitive nerves of her clit. She shivered. How could he stir a fire so hot in her with just a look?

  “Do you have any idea how erotically delicious you taste?”

  Umm… yeah. She was starting to get an idea.

  She tilted her head putting their lips only a breath away from his. Sadie raked her fingers through his thick hair and tightened her grip.

  Their heated breath mixed, and she didn’t need his heightened senses to feel the raw, carnal need coursing in the air between them. She circled her hips and almost melted into a puddled mess of desire from the overload of sensations that strummed against her clit.

  Her bare breasts nestled against the warm material of his shirt, the soft friction heavenly. “Why did it have to be you?” She moaned. Her magic hummed just beneath the surface, boosting her awareness of him.

  Aidan wrapped his arms around her back and thumbed the band of her jeans. In one smooth motion, he had her stripped bare except for the small material of her black panties. A cold breeze brushed against her fevered skin but did little to squelch the burn he stoked to life in her.

  A predatory smile split his lips, and for a fleeting moment she caught a glimpse of the beast that lurked inside. “Sometimes we don’t choose. Sometimes something magical brings people together. Wouldn’t you say, Sadie?” His words struck a chord, and she froze. He was right.

  “Or some things are just meant to be,” he added in another breath.

  Before she responded, he fell to his knees between her thighs and clasped her ankles in a firm grip. In a slow movement, he eased her knees apart until she was on full display for him.

  He ran his nose along her seam and inhaled softly. A stunning smile of pure enchantment brightened his features a second before he pulled the strip of silk to the side and dragged his tongue through her juices.

  She sucked back a gulp of air as sharp teeth grazed the insides of her legs. First her right, then left. With one pull, he shed her of the last bit of cloth covering her. She pushed up on her elbows. Could his eyes be any more intense? They were pure red now, any trace of blue gone. A long moment of silence settled between them. His gaze filled with a savage hunger she’d never witnessed before in him or any other man. It sent a strange thrill through her to think he was that desperate for her, the troublesome witch of Sleepy Briar.

  “I… uh… I mean we—” Damn it, grow a backbone already and be bold for once. Warm moisture swept across her bare pussy. Any hopes of control were discarded by the wayside.

  “Look at me.” She did, and the man she saw kneeling before her stilled her heart. “You want me, Sadie. I can sense it like your magic senses there’s something different about me. Us. It feels the pull of my energy and recognizes an unclaimed bond between us.” He tilted his head and placed light kisses where he’d licked her wet, aching folds just seconds ago.

  “Don’t you think we need to fix that, baby?”

  Her pussy tensed, ready with an answer.

  Warm liquid trickled down her seam.

  Goddess, he was righter than he even knew. Her magic crackled and intensified with every touch. Almost like static electricity clung to every particle in the air. The sensation it caused felt like a thousand volts of electricity bursting through her.

  “But
Aidan —” She barely managed a wistful reply.

  He stood, locked her tight against his jean-clad thighs and melded their lips together before she could resist. His tongue pushed past her lips and she opened on an illicit groan.

  Wild need forced out any arguments. Who was she kidding? No sane woman could resist him. With her fingers tangled in his hair, she leaned deeper into the kiss. She stroked his tongue with hers, desperate for the wild molten urgency he spiked within her.

  Aidan sucked her bottom lip into the warm crevice of his mouth before releasing it to delve his tongue deep, claiming her mouth.

  She broke away and gulped in air. Her chest rose and fell with the surge of desire that flooded her system. “Clothes. Ditch them.”

  He took two steps back, his ardent gaze never leaving hers. She reclined back on her elbows and spread her legs, gazing down the length of her body to see how much she affected him. A wolfish grin of her own tipped the edges of her lips as she watched pre-cum wet the tip of his cock as he peeled back the opening of his jeans.

  Her mouth watered for a taste, but her pussy throbbed for the need to have him in her. Just by watching him reveal every inch of his hard body she craved more than her next breath, sent her heart thudding in her chest.

  His shirt hit the floor, followed by his heavy boots and those sexy black jeans designed to show a man’s best assets.

  She drank in the alpha’s broad shoulders, flesh she’d love to sink her nails into, and strong, well-defined arms she craved to have wrapped around her. What would they feel like holding her to him as he sank into her?

  She’d never wanted a man this way before. With such a raw hunger that consumed her. And never had a man made her feel the way he did with a single touch or kiss. She ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip.

  Aidan stood still wearing nothing but a devil-may-care grin and a smoldering glint in his eye that said he was going to eat her up from head to toe, his gaze already burning a trail over her pussy.

  Sadie took a deep soul-shuddering breath. She loved how he reacted to seeing her body, how he had no problems with her magic. Ironic, since it was the only reason for their little predicament in the first place.