Page 12 of Jace’s Mate (East Coast Territory #1)

He sighed, letting her hand fall. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself? I’ve never met a shifter who didn’t know what she was. Wolves... we’re driven by instinct. Most of us shift for the first time when we’re young and at the latest, in our teen years.”

Still stunned, Anikka stood there, eyes narrowed in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean by shifting, Jace.”

“Sit,” he said softly.

Her body obeyed before she could even process the word.

She sank into the couch, blinking down at the glass in her hand. “Why do I do that?” she grumbled, frowning as she set the scotch on the table.

“It’s not the scotch,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Tell me—how did you grow up?”

She shrugged and looked around. The space wasn’t really an office. This looked more like a home, but she’d thought they’d walked into an office building.

Concentrating on the present, she looked at the low, wooden coffee table. “I’m an orphan,” she explained. “My uncle,” she tilted her head back and forth, “isn’t really my uncle, but he told me to call him uncle…he explained that he found me one day and took me in.”

Jace nodded encouragingly. “And he has no idea that you’re a shifter either?” he pressed. At her blank expression, he continued. “What’s his background?”

Anikka crossed her ankles and smoothed her ugly flowered dress over her knees, trying to be demure. It was always a challenge because she wanted to be a bit wild. “He’s in his fifties, I guess. I don’t really know how old he is.”

“What does he do for a living?”

Anikka thought for a long moment, pressing her lips into an unconscious moue. “I don’t know, actually.”

“Where does his money come from?”

She shook her head again. “I have no idea. We’ve never been wealthy. But somehow, Uncle Wilton always takes care of us.”

“Us?”

“Yes. There are six of us currently. Although none of the men that live in the house with us are the same men that I grew up with. The men change pretty often. They don’t call Uncle Wilton anything other than sir.

Although…sometimes they say something…” she stopped speaking, thinking about the slips she’d heard in the past. Finally, she finished her thought.

“Alpha,” she whispered, her lips numb from the shock.

Of course Jace picked up on the word and shifted towards her slightly. “The others call your uncle Alpha, but he doesn’t like it?”

She shook her head, her gaze trying to remember. “I don’t know if he likes it or not. I always suspected that they call him something else when I’m not around.”

“Why?”

She thought about that for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’m so confused. What is an Alpha?”

“I’m an Alpha,” he explained, then his finger moved over the bruise on her cheek. “Who did this to you?”

Her hand flew to her cheek, her fingers touching his. It was a startling sensation, touching him like this. So startling that she jerked her hand away.

“My uncle. I…I don’t remember why.”

“It was recent,” he said. “Otherwise, you would have healed by now.”

“Why?”

“Why do you heal?”

“No, why…” she stopped and blinked. “Well, yes. Why do I heal quickly?”

He chuckled, his dark eyes lighting with the humor. “Because you’re a shifter. You heal faster in your wolf form, but our bodies heal faster than humans.”

“I’m human.”

He sighed and took her hand, laying it palm up on his rock-hard thigh.

“We’re not human, Anikka. You’re a shifter.

We’re different from humans.” He let his fingers drift over her palm and Anikka couldn’t stop the shiver.

She felt his touch echo everywhere. Even deep down inside of her.

Embarrassed, she pressed her knees together, trying to control the urge to… to what?

Straddle him!

The thought popped into her mind before she could control it. Before she could suppress the thought!

“You can do that, if you want.”

Anikka gasped and jerked her hand away. “Do what?”

“My body is yours, Anikka. I am your mate. Every urge that you have is mine. If you need sex, then I am here to satisfy you.”

“I don’t want sex!” she gasped, scooting away from him on the velvet sofa.

A moment later though, her eyes returned to his muscle-packed body.

The thought of straddling him and having her way with him was the most enticing idea she’d ever had.

Her mouth watered at the idea. Her core throbbed and she smelled…

his arousal! Good grief, she could actually smell his arousal!

She glanced down at his groin and…sure enough, his erection pressed against the black slacks.

“Touch me, Anikka,” he urged. “Do what you need to do.”

She didn’t touch him.

Instead, Anikka jumped up from the couch and darted to the far side of the room—well out of arm’s reach from the man who was compelling her to… do things. Feel things. Want things.

Things she had no intention of wanting.

Even if she did want them.

Only with him. Only him.

“Yes, only with me, Anikka,” Jace said, his voice a velvet snarl. “I’m your mate. We will be together. I’ll satisfy your every need—physical, emotional… even financial.”

“I’m fine ,” she snapped, even as her fingers twitched, aching to reach for him.

He chuckled, low and knowing, and stood. “You’re still confused. I get it.” He gestured to the couch again. “Will you sit down and talk to me? I need to understand how you’re... what—twenty-five?”

“Yes,” she replied, standing her ground.

“Twenty-five,” he repeated softly, “and no one’s ever told you what you are.”

She hesitated, then crossed back to a nearby chair. Not the couch. The chair. A safe distance. Perched on the edge, she laced her fingers together tightly. Maybe to keep from reaching for him again.

Definitely.

“So you were raised from a pup—uh, a baby,” he amended quickly when her brows lifted, “by an uncle. And you’ve never shifted.”

He tilted his head, studying her. “You’ve felt the urge, maybe. But not enough to let it happen.”

She blew out a frustrated breath and shoved her fingers through her hair. “What is this shifting thing you keep talking about?”

“We shift,” he said calmly, “from human form to wolf. I’m a big black wolf underneath all this.” He gestured to his expensive clothes, then gave a feral grin. “And I lead the pack. I’m the Alpha. My word is law.”

“I’ll argue with you,” she shot back, eyes flashing.

The sound that came from him wasn’t human.

She heard it. Felt it.

A growl. And something inside her answered. It rose from deep in her chest—low, rough, and furious.

She growled back.

Before she could blink, Jace leapt over the small table and grabbed her. One arm under her knees, the other at her back, pulling her against him.

“You dare disobey me?” he growled again, voice thick with something unnamable.

His grip was strong, but not painful. She should’ve fought. Should’ve screamed. But instead, she adjusted slightly—settling into his arms as if they belonged to her.

“Yes,” she whispered, breath catching.

And then—his scent.

God , his scent.

It hit her like a punch to the gut. The raw, addictive scent of his arousal. And hers answered in kind.

But she’d heard it too many times in her life— Control yourself . Her uncle’s voice echoed in her mind, warning, shaming.

“Do it,” Jace ordered.

The command landed deep.

Anikka’s body responded before her mind could stop it—hands unclenching, legs relaxing. Her fingers gripped his shoulders. She tilted her face up, mouth parted—ready to—

“I can’t!” she gasped, tearing herself from his arms.

She staggered back, putting several feet of air between them, her chest heaving. “What are you doing to me?” she choked. “I’ve always been in control!”

Jace’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “I’ve never seen a shifter fight this hard, Anikka. That level of control—it’s impressive.”

The praise made something warm curl in her stomach. She hated it.

“I’m not an animal,” she insisted, folding her arms tightly around her waist. “I don’t give in to urges.”

He chuckled—slow, rich, dangerous. “You are an animal. At least part of the time. And when that part takes over…” He stepped closer, muscles flexing under his shirt. “I can’t wait to show you.”

“I won’t. I can’t. Whatever it is you’re trying to make me—”

He kept coming. One step. Then another.

She didn’t move fast enough.

In seconds, he had her caged against the wall, his arms braced on either side of her. Close. Too close. She pressed back, spine to the wall, trying not to touch him, not to breathe him in.

“You will, Anikka.”

That voice again. Dark silk wrapped around steel. No one had ever spoken to her like that.

No one had ever made her want to obey.

“You’re a shifter,” he said, voice softer now but no less commanding. “I can smell the wolf in you. And I’m going to help you release her.”

“No!” she gasped.

“Yes,” he growled.