Page 1 of The Alpha’s Protection (Alpha Doms #4)

Colleen

I strip off my clothes and dive into the moonlit swimming pool in the foothills of Denver.

My children and I were dropped here at the home of a total stranger—a wolf in the Denver pack—who pledged his protection of us the moment he met us. The reason he pledged it is no mystery.

I caught his scent, and my body came alive. I have to guess he experienced the same thing.

But we hardly spoke because he was involved in some kind of drug sting, and we were spirited away to the safety of his home until he returned.

The kidney-shaped pool is beautiful, with a natural oasis look and a waterfall into the hot tub at one end. There’s a fall chill to the air, making steam rise from the warm water. The moon hangs low in a starry sky.

I swim the length of it underwater, emerging to fill my lungs. I haven’t swum in years, but being in the water soothes away some of my frayed nerves.

I took my pups and ran away from my abusive mate in Kentucky just over a month ago, and every day, I regain a little more of myself. We’re probably safe here, at least for the moment.

Even so, I’m swimming to burn off my anxiety. If Dirk—the asshole father of my pups—somehow finds us, there will be hell to pay. But I’m not going to let him drag us back, whatever he may threaten this time.

I can’t go there. I have to believe he won’t find us here—at least not tonight.

I dive back under the water and swim the full length of the pool again before emerging for air. When I do, I gasp.

The shifter’s scent reaches me first—leather and coffee and delicious male. He’s home.

DEA Agent Mark Ruhl stands at the edge of the pool staring down at me with a predatory gleam in his eyes. He’s older than I am by at least ten years, maybe more, and he looks incredible in his uniform with broad shoulders and thick corded muscles running down his arms.

I bend my knees to hide my bare breasts under the water line, and our gazes lock.

“You don’t have to be scared of me, little wolf.

” His voice is a rich baritone that sends tingles across my shoulders and the back of my neck.

It rumbles deep with authority but not the kind I’ve learned to beware.

The kind that inspires warmth and safety.

Like the authority I thought my father wielded, before he arranged my mating to Dirk.

Mark crouches down, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. He says nothing, just holds my gaze in a way that makes my heart pound. “Are you afraid?”

My body comes alive for the first time in years. My nipples pucker in the warm water, and frissons of heat warm my core. I swallow. “N-not of you,” I admit.

His lips quirk a little at the corners. “Good. I’m sorry you were left here alone.” The corners of his eyes crinkle. “I’m glad you’re swimming. It looks like you felt safe.”

I nod. “Did everything go all right with the drug bust?”

“Yes. Everything worked out.”

I swirl my hands over the surface of the water, and my breasts cool as they come out. I immediately drop back down.

Mark’s eyes take on a silver glow, and his nostrils flare. “Were you out here to tempt me, little she-wolf?”

I shake my head although now that he says it, I wonder if my she-wolf didn’t orchestrate it.

“I think we both know that this attraction between us—” He stops speaking when I continue to shake my head, backing up.

“Okay. You’re not ready to hear that. Of course you’re not.

Come back.” He beckons to me, but I don’t move.

He shows no sign of irritation. Instead, he seems to soften.

“You’ve been through a lot, Colleen—too much.

I know you’re still scared. I just want you to feel safe right now.

To know that I’m going to take care of you and those pups.

I won’t let anyone touch you, I promise. ”

I believe him. I mean, I believe his intentions. But he doesn’t know how powerful Dirk is—an alpha with a pack of at least 150 wolves. Nor how cruel.

And yes, I know Mark Ruhl is my true fated mate. I knew it the moment I caught his scent. Even now, my spirits lift being near him like the sun coming out after the storm from hell.

But I can’t let him mark me and claim me as his own because doing so will sign the death warrant on both of us. Possibly my children, too. Dirk is that psychopathic and that powerful.

“Come here,” he beckons again, and this time my body obeys of its own accord, creating miniature currents as I step forward to the edge of the pool.

He reaches for me, and I don’t move out of his grasp, even though he’s a near stranger and all I’ve known for the past ten years has been torment at the hands of a male. My body knows its master. My she-wolf wants to be claimed.

He shows off his shifter strength by plucking me out of the pool by my armpits like I’m a small child. Water drips from my naked body, but the cold doesn’t touch me. Steam curls off the surface of my skin.

“I’m trying very hard not to look, sweetheart.” His voice is pure gravel.

He sets me on my feet and then stoops to pick up the towel I left by the water’s edge. He does look, though. His heated, hungry gaze rakes down my body as he wraps the terry cloth around me, a low growl sounding in his throat, his cock tenting the pants of his uniform.

I should be afraid. He may have trouble controlling his wolf, which means he may mark me against my consent. But I’m only hot and tingly for him. Restless and wanton.

He tucks in the edges of the towel above my breasts. His eyes glow completely silver—his wolf wants me.

I tremble, but still not with fear.

He hasn’t let go of the towel, his fingers still tucked between my breasts, and he uses it to draw me closer. “I’m going to teach you to trust me,” he murmurs, like he’s swearing an oath. “I’m going to take care of your needs, babygirl. All your needs.”

My breath puffs out of my lips on a soft note of shock, and I attempt to take a step backward, but he hangs onto the towel, keeping me close.

“Let me show you.”

I shake my head jerkily. “I-I can’t.”

“I won’t take from you. I just want to give, babygirl.” His nostrils flare as he breathes in my scent. “I can smell your need. Are you achy between those beautiful legs of yours, little wolf?” He slowly walks me backward.

I don’t mean to answer him, but it’s like I’m under a spell. Not the kind that makes a wolf’s body physically respond to alpha dominance. Something deeper and more mysterious. My head wobbles in a yes .

My calves hit a chaise lounge and buckle. He holds me up with the towel.

“Let me kiss it better, Colleen. I need to taste you. Please, just a taste to get me through the night with you unclaimed.”

I draw in a sharp breath. This wolf isn’t backing off. But my body understands completely. My she-wolf is desperate for him. So I sit back, letting the towel fall open.

Mark doesn’t wait two seconds before he’s on his knees in front of the lounge, pushing my legs wide.

“ This pussy ,” I hear him rumble although I have no idea what he means by it. It doesn’t matter. He’s licking into me, sending me into orbit with each expert swipe of his tongue. I’ve never experienced this before, and my eyes roll back in my head as every nerve ending comes alive.

He traces around my inner lips, penetrates me with the tip of his tongue. He pushes my knees up toward my shoulders and licks me from anus to clit.

It’s intimate and embarrassing and incredibly pleasurable. I’m drunk on sensations, on his pheromones, on moonlight.

It’s a first for me. Dirk never cared about my needs, and he is the only male I’ve known.

“This pussy,” Mark repeats when he comes up for air.

“What about it?” I manage to choke out.

“So beautiful.” He lowers his head again and flicks his tongue over my clit.

I run my fingers through his closely-shorn hair, arch my breasts toward the night sky. “Mark.” My strangled cry sounds like it belongs to a different female. Certainly not to me.

“That’s right, babygirl. Are you going to come all over Daddy’s tongue?”

Did he call himself Daddy ? My pussy gushes in response. It’s so hot and wrong and embarrassing and fates, yes, I’m here for it.

“Come for Daddy.”

My body responds immediately to the command because my orgasm starts, curling my toes inward.

“Yes,” I choke hoarsely as it deepens, my muscles squeezing and pulsing.

He slides two fingers inside me, and my walls seize around them as I let out a keening cry.

He sucks my clit while pumping his fingers and gets another orgasm out of me, this one so strong that my inner thighs squeeze around his shoulders, and my hips pop off the lounge.

I stare up at the stars as they spin and shift and rearrange. When the sky stops moving, my body falls limp, my breath slips in and out.

Mark rises above me, and I flinch because his eyes are still pure silver, and the bald hunger in his expression can only be for me. “Don’t be afraid of me, babygirl. I told you I wouldn’t take. I won’t claim you until you’re ready. Not until you ask me to. That’s a promise.”

“Mark,” I murmur. It’s a lament because I know how much pain he must be in to hold back.

My mate’s hands shake as he reaches for the edges of my towel and carefully wraps it back around me. “Come here, beautiful.” He uses the towel to smoothly lift me back to my feet. “Can you walk?”

I stare at him, dumbfounded. I’ve never had anyone take such care with me. It makes me want to weep. When I don’t answer, he sweeps me up into his arms, picks up my clothes from the ground where I left them, and carries me inside.

The Denver pack alpha dropped us off this evening, opening the door with a code Mark had given him. He told us to make ourselves at home, but I didn’t feel comfortable putting the kids in a bed until Mark was here to tell us where to go.

My pups are both asleep on couches in the living room, but Jayden, my nine-year-old, stirs at the sound of us coming in, and I stiffen.

Mark immediately lowers me to my feet, obviously understanding that I wouldn’t want Jayden to see us that way.