Page 21 of The Alpha’s Forced Rejected Mate (Silverlight Valley Alphas #1)
Dominic bristled as he led Luna through the maze of old pines, his chest brewing with irritation.
Why was she unable to let it go?
His senses were on alert for any hint of unfamiliar scent, his ears attentive to every crack of a twig.
“We can’t just leave them there,” Luna said again, breaking the tense silence that had grown between them. “They’re just like me. Hunted. Trapped.”
Dominic didn’t slow his pace. “The rendezvous point is just beyond that ridge. The car Adrian promised will be waiting.”
“Did you hear what I said?” Luna’s voice raised sharply, making him flinch. His wolf growled back, not in rage, but in exasperation.
“Lower your voice,” he said, his tone harsh. “Xavier’s men could be anywhere.”
“I don’t care.” She grasped his arm, pressing her fingers into his bicep with surprising force. “I want us to go back for them, they’re my people.”
Dominic paused, then abruptly swung around to face her. “Your people?” he growled. “You’ve lived in isolation for six years, Luna. You barely know who you are, I don’t think you have people.”
Her chin jutted upward defiantly. “My magic is growing stronger. I can feel it. I don’t need to know everything to help them!” Luna’s voice cracked. “They’re being gathered for something terrible. I can feel it.”
This stubborn woman!
Dominic sighed. “And you think charging back in there half-cocked is going to help anyone? You’ll get yourself killed, and probably me along with you.”
“Since when does mighty Alpha Blackwood care about dying?” she spat.
The words hit their mark, piercing through the remnants of his armor. But he had an answer for her.
“Since I discovered everything I’ve dedicated my life to is based on a lie.” His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “Since I found out I’ve been a puppet for demons for six y—”
His mouth closed in a thin line.
Too much.
Luna’s expression softened for just a moment before hardening again. “Then help me fix this. We can’t abandon them.”
“We’re not abandoning anyone,” Dominic said through gritted teeth. “We’re no help now, have you never heard the saying ‘live to fight another day?’”
He turned away before she could argue further, continuing towards the ridge where transport waited. The sound of her reluctant footsteps following him brought a small measure of relief.
The ridge dipped down to a clearing with a thin dirt road cutting through the vegetation. A black SUV idled near the forest line, its engine emitting a low hum in the silence.
Adrian had reached it before them. He leaned against the driver’s door.
“Took you long enough,” Adrian called as they approached. “I was about to take the car back. I thought the commander and his mate had learned to fly.”
“Liar,” Dominic answered, the ghost of a smile pulling at his lips despite the stress thrumming through his body. Adrian shifted his eyes to Luna, who stood just behind Dominic, arms crossed over her chest and her expression dark.
“Is she giving you trouble?”
“You know her name,” Dominic corrected before he could stop himself.
Adrian’s eyebrows shot up. “Miss Luna, then. Pleasure to finally properly introduce myself to the woman who’s turned our world upside down. At your service.” He extended his hand.
Luna hesitated before stepping forward to shake it briefly. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“Few of us ask for our destinies,” Adrian said, looking at her with curiosity.
“My destiny can’t be to hide.” Luna said. “The demons are using the organization to gather witches. They’re planning something big—something that requires our power and we need to stop them.
“My magic is growing stronger, not weaker. I can feel it building inside me.”
Adrian’s sharp gaze moved between them, calculating. “So it’s true…” His eyes widened slightly. “She’s your true mate.”
The words hung in the air between them. Dominic felt Luna stiffen beside him, the scent of her anxiety spiking.
“Yes, I told you as much.” The admission cost him nothing and everything at once.
“That changes things,” Adrian murmured. He pushed away from the car. “I need to get back before my absence is noticed. Good luck, Commander.” He threw a set of keys to Dominic and vanished into the trees’ shadows without saying anything further, leaving them alone with the car.
Dominic approached the driver’s side, but came to a halt when he realized Luna hadn’t followed. She remained rooted to the spot, her face a mask of mixed emotions.
“Luna,” he said, his voice weaker than he intended. “We need to go.”
“We’re just leaving them there,” she whispered gently, and the pain in her voice made his chest tighten.
“This is not the end,” he said. “But we can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”
After a long period, she nodded and moved to the passenger side, entering without looking at him. Dominic started the car and drove along the dusty road. He kept his eyes on the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles whitened.
They drove silently for twenty minutes, the tension between them thick enough to cut with a knife. Luna would occasionally move in her seat, displaying more of her pale flesh as his sweater dropped farther down her shoulder, and Dominic’s eyes glanced at it on multiple occasions.
Focus, dammit.
His wolf raced restlessly inside him, torn between rage at her defiance and an overwhelming desire for her. Luna shifted again, this time crossing her legs. “If you’re just going to hide me away somewhere, at least tell me you have a plan for helping the others.”
“I don’t have all the answers,” he admitted. “But I know people who might. The safe house has resources—”
“Resources,” she scoffed. “While they’re being prepared for whatever sick ritual Xavier has planned.”
Dominic swerved off the main road onto a remote dirt track, partially obscured by overhanging trees.
The SUV bounced over the uneven terrain before coming to a sudden halt in a small clearing surrounded by dense vegetation. The area was private, away from the road and any inquisitive eyes.
“What are you doing?” Luna demanded, immediately reaching for the door handle.
Dominic unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned across the center console, essentially confining her to the passenger door. “I’m tired of your accusations,” he hissed, inches from her face. “I’m risking everything—my position, my pack, my life—to protect you. Show some fucking gratitude.”
“I didn’t ask for your protection!” Luna responded, but her voice quivered.
“No, you didn’t. But you’ve got it anyway.” His gaze dropped to her lips, full and slightly parted.
I want to taste her.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why risk everything for someone you rejected? Someone you hunted?”
The question hung between them, heavy with the weight of their shared history and all the pain that lay between them. “Because I was wrong,” he admitted, the words escaping his lips. “Because I’m trying to make it right.” Dominic’s wolf launched forward, demanding that he reclaim what was his.
“This isn’t about making anything right,” she continued, her voice quivering. “This is about guilt.”
“Is that what you think?” Dominic leaned closer, his lips nearly brushing hers. “That this is just guilt?”
Before she could respond, his lips came down on hers, devouring any protest she could have offered. She remained transfixed for a heartbeat before sliding against him, her hands fisting in his jacket, attempting to bring him closer.
Dominic snarled into her mouth, the sound coming from deep within his chest. His wolf howled triumphantly, and Luna responded with equal fury, sinking her nails into his shoulders through the leather of his jacket.
Without breaking the kiss, he reached down and unbuckled both of their seatbelts, then drew his chair back and brought her across the center console into his lap. Luna straddled him, her broad thighs bracing his hips, the position putting her core directly on his hardened length.
“Dominic,” she exclaimed as his lips left hers, trailing fire down the column of her throat. He nipped at the delicate point where her neck met her shoulder, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to make her tremble and grind down on him.
The movement sent sparks of pleasure shooting through him. He sighed and moved his hands to her hips, guiding her movements. He could feel her heat through the layers of their clothing, and it drove him crazy.
“Luna,” he hissed, slipping one hand underneath the large sweatshirt to reveal bare skin. She felt heated to the touch, soft and yielding under his calloused fingertips. “I need—”
Whatever he was about to say was lost as Luna kissed him this time, hungry and demanding.
Moon.
His fingertips stroked the underside of her breast, and she arched into his contact with a gasp that nearly sent him cumming in his pants.
Her magic surged as his palm touched her breast, feeling the weight fill his grasp.
It flooded over him in a warm wave, absorbing into his flesh and bones.
Where it touched, the final traces of darkness that had been wrapping around his soul for years began to fade.
He gripped her tighter, and his movements became less controlled. He broke their kiss to pull the sweater over her head, exposing her breasts to his hungry eyes. Her figure was rich and voluptuous, with gentle contours and light skin that glowed with need.
His mouth went dry.
“Beautiful,” he muttered, dropping his head to press one bright nipple against his lips.
Luna cried out, and her moan was better than any song he had ever heard.
He lavished attention on one breast after another, using lips, tongue, and the gentlest scrape of teeth, until she was writhing against him, her hips making little desperate circles against his throbbing cock.
“Please,” she gasped, but he wasn’t sure that she knew what she was begging for.
Dominic slipped one hand between them, expertly loosening her sweatpants. “Lift your hips up,” he instructed softly. She obeyed, rising to her knees just enough for him to pull her pants and underwear down her thighs.
The position was uncomfortable within the limits of the car, but neither of them cared. All that mattered was getting more contact than they had now.
When his fingers finally went between her thighs, he was shocked. “Luna,” he murmured into her neck, “you’re soaked.”
“You caused this,” she responded, her voice breathy and strained.
He chuckled, the sound dark and promising. “I’ll gladly take the blame.”
His fingers gently moved to the swollen bud of her clit, circling it with just enough pressure to make her gasp.
Her hips pushed into his hand, yearning for more. “That’s it,” he said, watching her face light up with joy.
Luna’s head fell back as Dominic continued his assault on her wet cunt.
He dipped his middle finger into her, then the index, softly stretching her while his thumb remained on her clit. “Dominic,” she whimpered, her pussy tightening around his fingers. “I can’t—I need—”
Her power crackled around them, sending small golden sparks over her skin as she reached the edge. The sight was mesmerizing: his mate shaking with pleasure in his arms, her breasts in front of him.
Her magic flooded the car in a wave of pure energy as she came. It washed over Dominic, driving back the darkness that tried to infect him.
Luna collapsed against his chest. Dominic pressed kisses to her temple, cheek, anywhere he could reach. His wolf howled with the desire to fully claim her.
But then reason crashed back over him like a bucket of ice water.
What the hell am I doing?
She had just escaped captivity, and they were still in danger and on the run.
“Luna,” he began, his voice hoarse with regret.
The scent of her shame and confusion cut through him like a knife.
“I’m sorry,” he said anyway, the words painfully inadequate. “I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t,” Luna interrupted as she fumbled with her clothes. “It was just…it was nothing. Magic and adrenaline. That’s all.”
The dismissal stung more than it should have, but he knew he deserved it.
I deserve worse.
He didn’t push. Instead, he helped her back into the passenger seat before restarting the engine and pulling back onto the main road.
Luna curled up against the passenger door, as far away from him as the vehicle would allow.
Within minutes, the events of the day had caught up with her, and her breathing settled into the pattern of sleep.
When they eventually arrived at the safe house, night had fallen. Luna did not move as he brought her inside, her body soft and flexible in his arms. He carefully laid her on the bed in the cabin’s only bedroom, draping a blanket over her fully dressed body.
For a long time, he remained there watching her sleep, torn between the want to snuggle in beside her and the realization that he needed to keep his distance.
In the end, reason prevailed, and he retired to a chair near the window, where he could keep an eye on both her and the approach to the cabin.
He would not be sleeping tonight.