Page 10 of Alpha's Chosen Mate (Wolf Billionaire #2)

CHAPTER 10

ASHER

T he human wife of GD Bradley’s investment banker is an incessant chatterbox, but Gregory Freeman adores her. If I want to secure the investments I need, I have to endure her for another hour. Or two. “I hope I get a chance to meet your wife, dear,” she coos, her hand fluttering on my arm. “I hear she’s quite the beauty. Speaking of which, my daughter owns a cosmetics line. It’s the largest one in New York…”

It’s been like this all evening—she just keeps going, never settling on one topic.

My gaze inadvertently searches the crowd for a particular redhead, and I catch her standing by a pillar, tugging absentmindedly at her gown. A little harder, and she might succeed in ripping it off. A strange warmth ignites within me, filling the usually desolate expanse of my chest as I look at her. Perhaps it’s the dress—a liquid gold gown that seems to mold itself to every dip and curve of her body, a sinful lure to every male watching. And they all are. The dangerous slit climbing high on her thigh reveals flashes of skin I’m unprepared for. Her hair is in an intricate braid coiled around her head, and around her elegant neck sits my mother’s necklace.

Why does she have to be so goddamned beautiful?

Her head snaps up, our gazes colliding. I turn to the mortal woman, feigning interest in her grandchildren. It’s all I can do to avoid crossing the hall and burying my nose in my mate’s neck. I wonder if she feels it too—the tether pulsing as it tries to draw us together. She’s all I can think about. I spend nights in my study, blockading the door to her room so when I’m on the verge of giving in, I have enough time to think through every impulse that insists I claim her. It’s becoming unbearable. I’ve never been so consumed by the urge to bed a woman that I have to leave my own house to stay sane.

When the burn of her gaze leaves my cheek, it takes a piece of my sanity with it. She’s walking toward the exit, her fingers working at the pins in her hair. A surge of frustration, raw and potent, rushes through the bond, connecting us across the room.

“If the market rebounds, it would certainly be advantageous for you?—”

“Of course, Mrs. Freeman. Excuse me for a moment. My wife seems to be growing impatient.” A practiced, charming smile graces my lips as I extricate myself from her grasp.

Hailey Freeman flushes, clutching her purse tightly. “Of course, dear. No woman likes to be kept waiting.”

I wade through the crowd, impatience tightening like a vise around my throat as guests keep trying to get my attention. Leilani’s frustration pulses through the bond, growing stronger with each passing moment. I didn’t think she wanted to speak to me after she walked down the stairs, seductively swaying her hips while holding my gaze.

And rather than walk to her alpha and curtsy like every luna should, she’d sauntered to the bar instead. Did she want me to follow? I swear, I can never understand women.

A blonde steps into my path, holding a tray of full glasses. She blinks up at me prettily, the top buttons of her black shirt loosened, revealing the top of a lacy white bra and full cleavage. Anna? Nina? She told me her name once, when I had her thighs wrapped around my waist and her hips rolling against my cock, but I rarely recall the names of the women I fuck. Why do I need to remember, if I never sleep with the same woman twice? Sex for me is just a transaction, after all. I give them pleasure, and they help me blow off some steam.

“Good evening, alpha,” she whispers, her voice husky and intimate. She lowers her head, bowing low, and I keep my sudden disgust hidden behind a wall of cold calm as her breasts spill out of her bra. A couple months ago, this interaction would have ended with her bent over my desk. It would seem that my peace of mind isn’t the only thing Leilani Stone has stolen. “It’s been quite some time. For you, at least.” Her dark lashes flutter as she catches her bottom lip between her teeth.

Of course, the entire pack knows I haven’t consummated my marriage. “Do you want to keep your job?”

Fear flickers in her eyes, a glaring contrast to her earlier audacity. “Y-yes…I…” The tray trembles in her hands. “F-forgive me, alpha.”

I cut past her, stopping only when the cool wind teases my nostrils with the scent of petrichor. The lamps illuminate the gardens on either side of the cobbled path, and I see a pair of discarded heels lying forgotten in the flowerbed. I pick up the shoes, irritated by the strange tenderness washing over me. Rolling my tense shoulders, I follow her scent, absentmindedly noting the hairpins scattered like a trail of breadcrumbs.

Worry furrows my brow as her scent guides me toward the darker areas of the garden, past where the lights reach, all the way to a lone building that no one but me has access to. My steps pick up, matching my heartbeat at the possibility of her finding it?—

“He’s my husband.” A breathy whisper reaches my ears. The rest of her words are too low to hear, but what my sharp hearing does catch is a male’s guttural growl of lust.

Violence awakens inside me, turning my focus razor-sharp, and my senses lead me to the two figures in the darkness. Leilani’s dress flashes like a beacon, eradicating any possibility that I’m looking at anyone but her.

My fists clench painfully, claws tearing into the skin of my palms as I watch Christian Anderson and my wife paw at each other, kissing with the passion of star-crossed lovers. Scalding hot jealousy scorches through me as I track the movement of another male’s hands on my wife’s body, all the way up her bare thigh. I leave her alone for one second, and she finds a way back to the bastard who’s actively trying to ruin her life and shoves her tongue down his throat. I shouldn’t be surprised or bothered by this. I don’t even like her.

But my rage—my wolf’s rage—soars higher, seeking retribution, and I feel the need to break something. To hurt someone. I need an outlet, or I’ll give in to the thirst for blood that’s currently making my teeth ache .

Perhaps she meant it when she told me she was dreaming about him. I should have listened to the council and left her to starve in the dungeons. I should’ve killed her. I should kill her now for inviting the enemy into my home, for fucking him right under my nose.

Listening to her day-to-day activities, her compliance, her misery sitting alone in the dungeons, I hadn’t thought of her as a threat, and recent events proved that she had truly been abandoned by her pack. On some nights, I awoke to raw pain gushing down the bond. On others, I was making love to her in my dreams. I avoided her as much as I could, but she was growing on me anyway.

I was a fool. Her little act was just her scoping out my home so she could feed the enemy information. I resolve to find out how Christian Anderson snuck into my territory without being seen. I will find out precisely how she helped him and decide what to do with her afterward.

Dragging my teeth across my bottom lip, I turn my back on them and leave as silently as I approached. Fuck finding out how and why. I’ll kill her tonight.

Lightning cuts through the sky as a heavy downpour beats harshly against the windows. Though the official event is over, the revelry continues below, the sound of music filtering up here every now and then.

The doorknob twists, but I don’t turn. I keep my eyes fixed on the dark clouds outside. Water splatters on the floor and she sighs, teeth chattering. The light switch clicks, and she screams. “What the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? ”

Her heart is indeed racing, but I wonder if it’s more because of her escapades or finding me lurking in the darkness. “Where were you?” I ask quietly, sipping lightly on another glass of wine. It usually helps keep the darkness at bay, but tonight, nothing is working, and voices resound in my mind, urging me to... kill .

“I went to get some air.”

I turn around and lean against the cool glass pane, watching her drip rainwater all over the floor. My dick hardens instantly, and I curse myself. How could I possibly still want her? “I suppose the male I smell on you counts as a breath of fresh air, no?”

Her hand stills on her closet door. She swallows and pulls it open without sparing a glance my way. “I suggest you head straight to the point if you have something to say.” Her heartbeat betrays her calm demeanor. It’s thudding hard and fast against her ribcage.

“How did you get Christian Anderson past the guards?”

Her head snaps up, eyes wide with shock. “What? I...I didn’t. He just showed up. I have no idea how?—”

I snort, downing the last of the liquid in my glass. She flinches as I hurl the glass against the wall, just inches from her head. It shatters, sending shards flying, and a small voice in my mind scolds me for losing control. What if I’d missed and actually hurt her? But another part of me sneers, arguing that I should have aimed straight at her. “Do I look like I’m playing games with you, princess?” I rake my hands through my hair, trying to rein in the rage boiling within me. “How long have you been in contact with him?”

She bares her teeth, a snarl curling her lips. “I haven’t! You’ve kept me on such a tight leash since you dragged me here that you’d know if I even thought about contacting him!”

My gaze follows the droplets of rainwater sliding down her skin, soaking through her dress until it clings to her curves like a second skin. How many people saw her like this tonight? Did Anderson see her thong and lacy bra? Did he touch her? Kiss the rain off her skin? Did he push her against a wall and fuck her, making her moan his name?

Leilani wraps her arms around herself, trying to shield her body from my gaze, which ignites a new wave of fury within me. “You let him touch you, but I, your husband, can’t even look at you? You’re a fucking hypocrite and a liar.”

Her teeth chatter as she glares at me. “Nothing happened, and we both know this marriage isn’t real. You forced me into this sham so you could parade me in front of your guests and pack like a trophy—and I know that’s all I am to you. I understand my role in your grand plans. You’re the one who doesn’t realize what this is. You act like you care one day, then ignore me the next, and somehow you still have the audacity to lose your mind when someone else dares to touch your toy. ” She takes a step toward me, defiant. “You hate me, remember? So why the hell does it bother you if I mess around with someone else?”

I cross the room in a flash, grabbing her arm before she can step on the shards of broken glass. “Why does it bother me?” I echo incredulously, gripping her other arm and tossing her onto the bed. I should have done this the moment I found out she was my mate.

She scrambles back, trying to escape, but I cage her underneath me. She slaps me hard across the cheek, but I catch her wrist and pin her arms above her head before she can do it again .

“This is who you really are, isn’t it?” she growls, her chest heaving, nipples hard against the wet fabric. My pulse races at the thought of taking them into my mouth. “I do not consent to this.”

A startled laugh escapes me. “ Consent died the moment you let him touch you.” I lean closer, pressing our joined hands into the mattress as her breaths turn ragged and her chest rises to meet mine. “And believe me, you haven’t even begun to understand who I am.”

Her amber eyes darken. “No matter what you do, I’ll never be yours.”

My nose brushes against hers, and she sucks in a sharp breath. “We’ll see, Leilani Wilde.”

My lips crash into hers. She sighs against my mouth, parting her lips to taste me. Her tongue strokes against mine and I groan, nestling a knee between her thighs. Her mouth moves against mine hungrily, and she lifts her hips to grind against my thigh. She moans, kissing me harder, deeper, and the taste of blood on her lips makes my cock throb painfully.

I break the kiss to look down at her flushed skin and swollen lips. “You make me so mad.”

Heat flares in her eyes. “Likewise.” Her legs lock around my hips, pulling me closer, her skin burning hot against mine. “This changes nothing.”

I let go of her wrists, my hands moving to her neckline. I pause there for a moment, waiting for her to protest. She doesn’t. Her eyes are clear, filled with a desire that mirrors mine. I rip the fabric down the middle until the tear reaches the slit on her thigh. My gaze locks with hers. “This changes nothing. ”

We meet each other halfway, her small hands hot as fire against my chest as she fumbles with the buttons, ripping the fabric in multiple places. My hands rise up her bare thighs as my tongue lashes against hers, and I can’t get enough of her. I can’t touch her enough. I want…I need to taste every inch of her.

My claws extend involuntarily, and she gasps as they dig into her skin. “Asher...” Her hips buck against my cock. “Harder.”

Fuck.

I abandon her lips, trailing down her neck, sucking hard and dragging my canines along her pulse. The sounds she makes are unholy—I knew she wasn’t as fragile as she seemed. It excites me. My control slips and my touch turns harsher, more possessive. Her hands clutch my torso, pulling me closer as she moans my name like a prayer.

Her fingers tangle in my hair, tugging violently. “More.”

I reach between her thighs, brushing my knuckle across her panties. The flimsy material is soaking wet. Drustan’s hunger turns ravenous, and if I’m not buried deep inside her within the next minute, I might die. My lips pause on the swell of her breasts at that extreme thought, and I pull back, blinking through the haze of lust.

What the fuck am I doing?

Leilani stares up at me, her fingers frozen on my belt buckle. “W-what...” Her voice trails off as she looks down at herself, at my torn shirt, at her hand on my belt. She blinks slowly, as if she’s just realizing what we’re doing.

She jerks her hand back, fear darkening her eyes. I push off her, forcing myself to put distance between us before I can change my mind. I watch as she curls up, hugging her knees to her chest. Her voice is shaky. “Nothing happened between Christian and me. I didn’t even know he was here until he grabbed me in the garden.”

My mask of icy calm slips back into place. “You’re confined to your room until I say otherwise. Until I can trust a single word that leaves your lying mouth.”

She buries her face in her hands, and I hate that I still want to comfort her. I turn away from her before I can give in.

“Asher.”

I glance back over my shoulder, my heart stalling when I see the tears in her eyes. She whispers, “I’m sorry.”

I don’t respond.