Page 13 of Wild Alpha (Cold-Blooded Alpha #12)

“ I can feel you looking at me,” I say with my eyes closed.

During the night, I went from sleeping curled up against Fisher to sprawled on my face on the other side of the bed. I must’ve kicked off the sheets too, since they’re no longer covering me.

“You have good instincts,” is Fisher’s amused response. “Is it because you can change into a wolf?”

My eyes open. He’s lying on the pillow next to mine, facing me. Over his bare shoulder, the sun is rising through the small window above the sink in the cozy kitchenette.

No annoying bird is trilling outside, which explains why I slept much later than I usually do. Maybe sleeping beside Fisher might have had something to do with having such a good night’s rest.

“Yes.” My senses are sharp and have been even before I shifted for the first time at sixteen.

He cocks his head, curious. “How good?”

I shrug. “No better or worse than other shifters. I’m good at hunting. And wolves are natural survivors.”

He looks fascinated. “Did you know it was me knocking at the door yesterday?”

I nod.

“And could you hear me in the bathroom last night?”

My gaze slides away from his. “I tried not to.”

“Yeesh.” He makes a face. “I’ll try to be quieter next time.”

“It won’t make a difference.” I wince as the last word leaves my lips, not wanting to embarrass him with my sharp ears. “Uh, sorry.”

Smiling, he shakes his head. “Don’t apologize for being what you are.”

“Okay,” I say shyly.

Never in a million years did I ever believe a human would react so well to the different, and I’m about as different as they come.

“Are there vampires if there are were—uh, I mean shifters?”

“Yes.”

His eyes widen. “Have you ever met one?”

“I’ve smelled one before.” I keep talking, guessing what his next question will be. “They hunt in the cities: clubs and packed places, mostly. You won’t find any around here. It’s too rural. Not enough humans to feed on.”

He pales at the phrase ‘feed on.’ He swallows hard enough for me to track the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. “They drink blood.”

I nod. “They smell slightly… metallic.” I’d kept my distance, not wanting to attract the vampire’s attention.

I was on my own. My dad told me that vampires have no interest in shifters.

Our blood won’t sustain them the way human blood can.

That didn’t mean one might not see a lone shifter and decide to play games with me.

“Oh.” He stares at me, his face a mix of curiosity and unease. “So you never spoke to the vampire?”

I shake my head. “They don’t interest me. There are witches, too, but they can be dangerous.”

We study each other for a beat.

“You look pretty when you're sleeping,” he says, then immediately rolls onto his back, covering his face with one hand. “Shit. I sound like a serial killer.”

I’m more surprised by his words than scared off. “Really?”

He peeks over at me, the tension dropping from his shoulders.

When I merely study him, he rolls back onto his side so we’re face-to-face again. “You don’t tell a girl she looks pretty sleeping. It makes you sound like a serial killer.”

I blink at him, confused. “I don’t think you sound like a serial killer.”

“I didn’t want to scare you,” he explains.

“If I were scared, I would have shifted into a wolf and clawed your face.” The second the last word leaves my lips, I wince. My cheeks burn, and my face is hot. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” My voice trails off at his grin.

“You did it fast before.”

“Shifting?”

He nods.

“There was a threat. A slow shift would have meant you died. I had to protect you.”

His smile fades. “Why do you want to protect me?”

“I don’t know.” That’s a lie.

The biggest lie I’ve ever told was when I told my dad I wasn’t afraid when he spoke to me before my mating ceremony. I knew Xavier would kill me sooner rather than later, but I had told my dad that I wasn’t scared.

I was terrified

He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me so hard that I should have known he wouldn’t let me go through with the mating ceremony. No good father would, and he was the best dad in the world.

In the hours before our ceremony, I didn’t just count the hours or minutes; I counted the seconds, and at no point did I stop shaking.

“Thanks,” Fisher says, his voice soft.

I lift my shoulder in a careless shrug.

“Does it hurt?” he asks.

“Does what hurt?”

“Shifting.”

I shake my head. “It’s part of who I am. The other half of my soul.”

“How fast can you?—”

I’m shaking the remnants of my torn sweatpants and T-shirt before he can finish.

He tenses, watching me closely as I move toward him.

The scent of his fear is sharp. Unpleasant. He’s scared I might claw his face. I don’t claw. I lick his cheek.

His grin is infectious. “You are…” He shakes his head, eyes full of wonder as he lifts his hand. “ Amazing . Can I?”

I nod.

Still grinning, he buries his hand in my fur. It’s not as thick as my winter coat. We’re heading into fall, and soon afterward, my fur will grow thicker to keep me warm through the cold Colorado winter, and then I’ll shed most of it for summer so I won’t cook.

I never believed a human could be so accepting of difference, but Fisher’s ability to let people in isn’t just limited to people. At least, not regular ones. There’s not the faintest hint of fear in his scent as he strokes my fur—just pure, unvarnished joy stamped on his face.

“Your fur is so soft, but your tongue is rough.” His nose wrinkles.

Backing up, his hand falls away, and I reach for my human self.

I’m an alpha, dominant enough that my shift has always been fast.

Three seconds later, back in my human form, I lean close and kiss his cheek in the same place my wolf did. Not a wolf kiss but a human one. “Sorry.”

I’m pulling away as his hand cradles the nape of my neck, halting me.

“If I were to kiss you, would you claw my face?” His words are soft, and his eyes are laser-focused on my mouth.

Heart in my throat, lips prickling in anticipation of a kiss I can practically taste, I shake my head. “I claw the things that scare me. You don’t scare me.”

I like the way he kisses almost as much as I like his smiles.

He’s rolling me onto my back when I press my palms flat on his chest. “Wait.”

The corners of his eyes crease. “I’m going too fast.”

He starts to retreat, but I grab his shirt and yank him right back. "No, just..." My gaze slips away from his worried eyes as I struggle to find the words I need to.

“Averie?” His fingers brush my jaw, turning my face—and my gaze back to him. “You can tell me. I admitted to chasing a wolf through the forest like a madman. Nothing you tell me will be as insane as that.”

I fight to contain my smile but fail miserably. “How do you always know the right thing to say?”

He grins. “I've had my fair share of saying the wrong thing, usually in a packed diner in town. Now I’m relieved I got those embarrassing foot-in-mouth moments out of the way before I met you.”

How can anyone not smile at that?

“I’m awkward,” I blurt out, probably way too loud.

But I keep going, needing to get this off my chest. “And I say the wrong thing all the time when I’m not hiding in the forest as a wolf.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve had to do any of this, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing and scare you away. ”

He takes my hand and presses it to his heart. “Saying what’s in here will never scare me away.”

“Okay,” I say with a smile.

“Okay, what?”

“You can kiss me now.”

He lowers his head, his fingers running through my hair. “Just a kiss?”

“More,” I whisper, my eyes closing. I’m not just hungry for him but starved. “More of everything.”

For the longest time, I struggled to shake off the fear that I might mess this up. But I never stopped to think about what if everything went right. And things with Fisher feel so perfectly right.

Our noses bump. Elbows clash. We almost fall off the bed fighting to get each other's clothes off. We laugh, and he pulls me in for a deeper, sweeter kiss, or I roll him and take over while he groans into my mouth and lets me set the pace.

It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be.

I squirm against him, an urgent ache low in my belly, needing more than Fisher’s kisses.

His lips move over my throat, nuzzle me, and he nips. I gasp, crushing his soft curls in my hands as his kisses angle downward.

“Fisher?” I pant. “What are you…” Every single thought scatters out of my mind the second his mouth lands on my right breast.

His kiss is hot and electric, his hands smoothing over my hips, exploring every inch of my curves. My head sinks back against the pillow, and my eyelids flutter closed as Fisher continues downward.

He nudges my thighs apart.

My eyes snap open, and I tilt my head down. My fingers are still in his hair, but I make no move to stop him.

My breath comes fast as I watch him spread my thighs wider and lowers his head. Each hungry lick of his tongue shatters my mind. He lets out a deep groan as he laps and then sucks, pushing my legs even farther apart.

He can’t seem to get enough. I’m holding him close, moaning, writhing against the sheets as my brain short-circuits and I cry out, shuddering from the intensity of my release.

Minutes later, I taste myself in the sweet kiss he presses on my lips.

Stroking my hands up over his back, I flutter my eyelids open.

He’s so serious and intense that I reach my fingers to his mouth. “You’re not smiling.”

“I’m feeling too much to smile right now,” he says in a low voice, holding himself a little away from me.

Even if he was trying to downplay how much he needed me, I could still smell it.

He wants me. Badly .

Rolling him onto his back, I straddle him. My fingers wrap around him, and I lock eyes with him as I slide down, pulling him into me.

His fingers grip my hips as a deep, almost pained groan escapes from his chest. “ Averie !”

My heart pounds against my chest as he slowly stretches me. It’s beyond incredible. So good. I know this moment can’t last forever, no matter how much I might want it to.

His eyes dart from my face to where we’re joined. His jaw is clenched tight, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his hands on my hips are firm. He pushes me up as I rise, groaning in his throat as he pulls me back onto him when I sink.

His hands glide up, cupping my breasts, teasing my nipples, and sending my need soaring even higher.

We move in sync, faster, then harder, finding the perfect rhythm until something in him snaps. He rolls us, coming down on top of me, and increasing the pace.

His kiss is ravenous, and I hold on to him, panting until my body shatters and I feel myself ripple around him. He groans and strains, pushing himself even deeper as if he wants to live inside me.

We don’t move again for the longest time.

“Averie?” he whispers, still locked inside me.

I blink my eyes open. “Yeah?”

He kisses me, his eyes warm and soft. “That was…”

“Yeah,” I whisper, conscious I’m probably smiling like an idiot.

We study each other for another beat, and I smell his arousal as I feel him hardening inside me. “Do you want?—”

“Yes,” I blurt out. “Yes, I want to do that again.”

He laughs, and so do I, until he rolls me onto my back and we’re too busy to laugh anymore.