Page 24 of Fall of the Alpha

24

THE ALPHA’S QUEEN

Bella

Feeling agitated, Bella shifted back and forth on her feet as she stared at the Wolf, the door to his quarters sliding shut behind them. She wanted to ask what was happening, but she wasn’t sure she was allowed to.

She was intimidated by him; there was no getting around it. Despite the way her body yearned for his touch, and she was sure he would welcome hers, she didn’t know what her place was otherwise. Her own father had certainly never encouraged her to speak up, and while her mother had been a good listener, she also bowed to her mate’s whims. While Bella knew her father loved her, he also loved his position and his power, and he did not take well to being challenged.

Surely, an Alpha would take it even more poorly.

“Sit.” The Wolf glanced at her, gesturing at the couch.

Rather than sitting on it with her, he took the chair across from her, which made her feel even more unsettled. Because she wanted him to touch her. To comfort her. Which made her feel even more unsettled that she wanted any kind of comfort from him.

She was so messed up. Being here in the Wolf’s territory had messed with her head in every way.

Staring at her, as if he was trying to read her mind, the Wolf tapped his fingers against the wooden arm of the chair. His piercing green eyes seemed to see right through her.

Every thought.

Every worry.

Pressing her hands together between her knees, she was able to keep from fidgeting as she made herself meet his gaze. She didn’t want to appear completely cowed… but she also wanted to know what he would do.

To her surprise, her direct stare didn’t seem to bother him.

“Your father is coming here.” His gravelly voice made the stunning announcement as though he was saying the sun was out.

Bella’s mouth dropped open in shock. Her father? Was coming here? To the Wolf’s territory?

Her father hated the territories.

When she didn’t respond, other than her shock, the Wolf continued.

“I’ll be proposing an alliance. An extension and expansion of the current agreement.”

Bella shook her head.

“He’ll never agree to it. He already wanted to find ways to pull back on what is in place. He regrets making the agreement.” She clamped her jaw shut when she realized that her father would probably see it as a betrayal that she was telling the Wolf anything about his thoughts.

Especially revealing that he wanted out of the current agreement.

Though the Wolf didn’t seem surprised. A slow smile spread across his lips, curving up just the edges of his lips and making her heart beat a little faster. He really was devastatingly attractive, and the tiny smile made him even more so. She wondered what it would look like if he ever truly fully smiled.

“He’ll agree to it. Especially if we’re able to seal the amendment with a mating.”

It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about—a mating with her. Her and him. Because while she was his mate, her father would be on his best behavior… assuming he loved her more than he hated the Alphas.

“What if I don’t want to mate you?” She had nothing left to lose, other than her life, which already felt like it was hanging in the balance, so she might as well ask.

The Wolf shrugged one shoulder, and his smile completely disappeared, leaving his expression looking as though it had been carved from granite. The way he usually looked.

“Then you’ll remain here as a hostage, and I’ll still get the amendment. But I’d rather have you as a mate.”

Staring back at him, Bella remembered what Aria had said about the other Omegas. She was going to go into heat, regardless. Would she want an Alpha other than the Wolf to be the one to see her through the heat?

Not really.

She wanted him.

Despite everything.

Maybe because he was the only Alpha she’d been with… but she didn’t want Alek. And she didn’t find herself drawn to any of the other Alphas. Yet admitting she wanted to be his mate felt somehow humiliating. She shouldn’t want it. Not after everything he’d done to her. Not after everything he’d done to Alek.

Had she forgotten that first introduction to the territories? Or had she just stopped caring? And what did that say about her?

Her insides twisted.

“You’re thinking too hard, Pet.” He crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”

She could stay where she was on the couch. There was nothing he was doing to compel her to move forward. But she didn’t. She got up, feeling as though she was floating as she moved to stand in front of him.

Reaching out, he took her by the hips, pulling her toward him, so she ended up straddling his lap, one leg on either side of his thighs, staring down at him. The heat of his body so close to hers set her senses humming.

“You’ve been here. You’ve seen the territories.” He raised his eyebrow as his hands slid up her sides. “You’re an Omega. Has anything terrible happened to you? Random attacks by vicious Alphas?”

Bella crossed her arms over her chest, preventing him from touching her breasts as she scowled down at him. Chuckling, he reversed the course of his hands, sliding them back down her sides.

“Just you. You made me and Alek…” Her voice trailed off, and she let out a little gasp as his hands reached her bottom, sliding around to cup her buttocks and pull her forward. The thin fabric of the shift she was wearing did nothing to obscure the thick bulge at the front of his pants. Rubbing her mound against it, pleasure flashed through her.

“And if I said I regretted that now?” His green eyes met hers and held her gaze steadily. It wasn’t exactly an apology, but it was more than she’d expected, to be honest. “That I wished I was the only male to have touched you?”

“Is that supposed to be better?” she asked, even as she rocked against the bulge. His fingers slipped under the hem of her shift, and when he tugged it upward, she let her crossed arms go so that she was completely naked on his lap.

“Yes.”

He leaned forward, pulling one pert nipple between his lips. Bella moaned as her arousal gushed, soaking the front of his pants. Not that he minded. The sweet scent of her cream rose up between them as he growled, a deep vibrating purr that went straight through her and sent another gush of hot arousal across his lap. Bella moaned, reaching for him, her hands sliding into his hair.

Yes, yes, it would have been better if he’d been the only male to touch her. Yet he’d also shown her the possibilities of her own depravity—she’d enjoyed being underneath both him and Alek. Part of her had been screaming resistance, while another part of her had been screaming in passion.

The instincts that rode them could be overcome… at that moment, they’d all given in to their baser ones.

Did it help to know he regretted it?

It shouldn’t.

But it did.

Shifting beneath her, he somehow managed to get his pants open to free his cock. One hand slid up her back into her hair, his fingers pressing against the nape of her neck to tip her head forward so he could claim her lips with a kiss, while his other hand lifted her bottom to arrange her above his cock. She moaned against his lips, his tongue taking it as an invitation to invade her mouth as she began to sink onto his cock.

Mated to the Wolf.

As his cock slid in deep, the bulge of his knot already thickening and pressing against her pussy lips, Bella had to admit it didn’t sound that bad.

It might even sound good.

She moaned again as she ground herself against his groin, her legs flexing as she moved up and down automatically, riding him for her pleasure. The kiss ended, the hand on her bottom going to her breast, toying with the nipple he hadn’t suckled and giving the tiny bud its own burst of stimulation. The tight pinch of his fingers stung, sending a bolt of pleasure down to her core.

“Be my mate,” he whispered. “Be my queen.”

Bella shuddered, sinking down atop him, crying out as he thrust upward, pushing his knot into her. Her muscles spasmed in need, clamping down on the thickness as she was stretched by both his shaft and the knot at the base.

His hands and mouth moved over her as she rocked against him, moaning against his deep purr. One hand cupped her buttocks, his finger questing between them, finding her anus and pushing in, adding to the tumult of sensations crashing through her. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her as his finger and cock moved as much as they could inside her. His mouth went back and forth between her nipples while his other arm braced her body against his, holding her in place.

As his knot swelled and began to pulse, he pushed a second finger inside her anus. Bella screamed in abject ecstasy as she clung to him, sobbing. He was her anchor in the storm of sensation, even as he caused the overload. Her clit pulsed, trapped between their bodies, as his seed filled her in hot bursts that left her feeling seared.

His mouth moved up to her neck as she slumped against him, panting for breath. Teeth scraped over a sensitive spot on her neck.

The spot where he’d bite her if he made her his mate.

Be my queen.

It occurred to Bella that he was, quite literally, offering her the world.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Malachi

Watching over his sleeping mate with hooded eyes, Malachi contemplated the path that had led him here. In many ways, she was too young for him. In other ways, it didn’t matter.

She was who he wanted.

And he’d learned his lesson about waiting from Tatiana.

His lost love would not have been happy knowing that he’d waited this long to find a mate, but he thought she would have understood. He’d been waiting for Bella.

Now she was here, and he wasn’t going to let her go.

Besides, she’d said yes.

The door chimed, and he got up, immediately putting himself between the bed where Bella rested and the door. He checked the vid screen.

Jordan.

Striding over to the door, he pushed the button to open it. The former warlord’s son’s cold, crystal-blue gaze met his. Jordan had grown into quite the male, a far better Alpha than his father had ever been.

“Paldon is here. He brought his mate. They’ve been put in a room.”

“Good.” Paldon could wait and stew for a bit. “We’ll see them in the morning.”

The other male nodded, but his eyebrow rose. Waiting. Jordan was his right-hand man for a reason.

The Wolf smiled.

“She said yes.”