Page 29 of The Alpha’s Promise (Alpha Doms #3)

Mark Ruhl somehow managed to allow her and Cody to walk away after giving their statements, without having to go into the police station. Jeremy was not so lucky. But hey, he was alive. Beyond that, it wasn’t her problem.

Cody held her snugly against her side the entire time, and now walked her to her truck. He opened the passenger door for her, though, and held out his hand for the keys.

Another time she might have argued. Right now, she could hardly form sentences, and the sight of Cody’s blood-drenched clothing kept reminding her of the horror of the moment when she thought he’d been killed.

She should have known he was all right. Should have remembered from Ashley’s story of Ben getting shot when she’d been blackmailed, but all she knew in the moment was white dread.

Terrifying, heart-stopping fear that Cody had been murdered.

Because of her. And in the shock of the moment, her greatest regret had been that he would die not knowing what he meant to her.

She climbed in the truck and sat, numbly waiting as Cody started it up and drove back into town. She didn’t register their direction, or anything around her. Her ears still rang from the gunfire and the images of death flashed in front of her eyes in gruesome repetition.

“Cody…” Her voice cracked. She had to try to tell him—to make amends for the things she’d said. “I never thought you were… just a construction worker.” Her tongue felt too big in her mouth. Pressure built behind her eyes and nose. “I’m sorry?—”

“Hush, baby. I know.”

“No, please… I want you to know something.”

He turned to look at her, his face weary, eyes haunted. “What, baby?”

“I was bluffing,” she whispered. “When I said it was just sex. Every time I pushed you away. You were too much my type and I was afraid of making another mistake, but I never thought you were beneath me.”

Cody parked the truck and reached over to squeeze her fingers.

She looked out the window, not recognizing the place.

They were in the Old North End neighborhood, but not on his street.

A huge Victorian brick house stood on a recently landscaped lot.

The house had a worn look. Some of the siding trim had rotted in places, and it desperately needed a new roof and several coats of paint.

“Where are we?”

Cody didn’t answer, but he walked around and opened her door for her, offering a hand to help her out. He tucked her back against his side and walked her to the door, pulling out his keys and fitting one into the lock.

“Is this one of your houses?”

“Yeah.” He led her inside.

Her realtor’s instincts kicked in, a blessed diversion from the shock of the scene they’d just left behind.

She made mental notes about what would need to be done to make the place livable and how much it would deduct from the selling price.

But no, if Cody owned this place, he would fix it up himself.

Which meant he’d probably list this place for at least eight hundred thousand dollars. Way, way out of her range.

“It’s not finished yet—obviously. I’m just getting started. But this is the house I thought you might like. It’s the reason I didn’t accept your offer on the other one.”

She felt like her brain just couldn’t get in gear. “I don’t understand.”

Cody released her, stepping back to rub his forehead. “It’s bigger, see. Something we could grow into.”

“ We? ”

Misery seeped into the lines on Cody’s face. “Or you can have the other one, if you like it better. Or my place.” His shoulders sagged. “You can have any house you want. Melissa?—”

Tears pooled in her eyes. She drew a shaky breath, but didn’t speak, wanting to be sure she understood what Cody was saying.

He lurched forward and caught both her hands.

“Please don’t cry. I need you, baby.” He spun her and wrapped both his arms around her from behind.

“This house, princess,” he whispered, his breath feathering across her ear.

“I’ll make it perfect for you. For us, if you’ll have me.

There’s room enough for pups, here. Lots of them if you want. ”

Something fluttered in her chest. The hope she’d been afraid to let herself feel. She laughed through the tears streaking her face. “I do want lots of them. At least three.”

Cody stilled, then turned her slowly in his arms to face him. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“With me?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Well, I was thinking I might live in your house but invite Jeremy?—”

The inhuman growl from his throat made her shriek as he plowed her against the wall and covered her mouth with his own, swallowing her laughter. His tongue lashed into her mouth as he yanked her knees up to his waist, pressing his bulging cock against her sex.

“That’s not funny,” he growled. He shoved two fingers in her mouth while his hips ground against her.

She sucked his fingers, heat flooding her core.

“Don’t you ever say that name to me again.” He yanked at the waistband of her jeans.

“Wait,” she cried, afraid he’d rip them right off her body. “I’ll take them off.”

His eyes had turned pale blue. “I’m going to fuck that name right out of your consciousness. Understand?”

She almost orgasmed right there, just from his possessive threat. Her fingers fumbled on the button of her jeans and she shoved them down her hips.

He removed his fingers from her mouth and glowered. “Now, Melissa.” Were his canines longer?

She ought to be afraid. He definitely might hurt her. Except she didn’t care. She wanted him to claim her, own her, demand every last bit of her. With a couple of hops on one leg, she managed to untangle herself from the jeans and panties.

Before she’d even stood, Cody had her pinned back against the wall, shirt up to her neck, bra down. His lips clamped around one nipple and he sucked hard, teeth scraping across her sensitive flesh.

She screamed.

“You’re my mate, Melissa. I need to claim you. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I kept fighting it.”

“I’m sorry, too. I wanted you to claim me but I was trying to protect myself from getting hurt.”

He yanked open his jeans to free his cock. “I can’t stop now,” he grated and shoved into her without warning.

She shuddered, clenching around him. He snapped his hips and thrust again and again, while she continued to climax.

“Who do you belong to?” He roared it this time. “Say it.”

“You! Cody Steele. Only you.”

His teeth had definitely grown longer. She must’ve looked frightened, because he covered her eyes with his hand.

“Don’t look,” he panted. “Don’t move. Oh, God, please don’t move.

” He sounded like he was in pain. Her pelvis banged against the wall behind her with bruising force as he fucked her hard and fast. “I can’t stop,” he moaned. “I don’t want to hurt you, baby.”

With her vision obscured, her need became even more intense. She pounded her fist on his rock-hard shoulder. “Do it,” she yelled.

He shoved in deep. A sharp pain sliced into her shoulder, front and back.

She screamed.

His body shuddered and jerked, then gradually relaxed. The teeth came out and he licked the wound he’d inflicted, laving away the pain.

Her internal muscles still fluttered around his cock, but she, too, had relaxed, and a terrific sense of well-being filled her. She remembered Ashley saying the serum coating his teeth—the serum that had just marked her forever as his—produced a drug-like effect to ease her pain.

She sank into the wall, her muscles going limp.

“Baby…” Cody eased his hand from her eyes. “Oh, God, you’re crying.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

But Cody thumbed tears away from her face.

“I’m sorry. Are you hurt? I mean, of course you’re hurt. Fuck.” He pulled out of her and shifted to scoop under her knees. “It’s okay, baby. You’re going to be all right.” The anxiety on his face as he peered at her made her heart twist.

He cursed.

“Cody,” she mumbled, wanting to soothe him. “I’m okay.”

“Can you stand? Just for a second, so I can get your clothes back on?”

He dressed her, then swung her back up in his arms and carried her out to his truck.

Although it was completely insane, and she tried to tell him so, Cody insisted on driving with her cradled on his lap, her back leaning against the door, feet spilling into the passenger side.

Fortunately, it was less than a mile to his house.

He carried her into his house and onto his bed, where he sat with her nestled in his arms, dropping kisses on the top of her head as she drifted off to sleep, floating on a euphoria of love and peace.

Cody balanced the hot coffee and bag of breakfast sandwiches and muffins in one hand to unlock the door. The sound of the shower running made him smile. His mate was up.

Yes, mate.

The concept still stunned him on a minute by minute basis. He’d spent the entire night holding Melissa, watching her wounds close and start to heal, painfully slowly compared to a shifter, but still far faster than they would on a human.

Ben and Ashley had shown up at his door not long after they’d returned, but he’d refused to let them in. He’d been covered in his own blood and hers, and Ashley had been terrified, but Stone guessed at what had happened.

“You marked her,” he’d said, nostrils flaring.

He half-expected Stone to challenge him, and his inner wolf growled, willing to fight to the death for her. But once he’d assured them she was all right, just sleeping off the serum and healing, they left.

The shower turned off. He set the coffee and goodies on the dresser and waited for her to emerge.

She came out with a towel wrapped under her armpits, her pale skin flushed from the water. The smile she flashed him dazzled.

He stepped over to her and moved her hair from her shoulder, examining her wounds for the millionth time, then kissing each one. “How are you, baby?”