The Hunter's Alpha

41 Prickled

Amber Mature

After my new experience with Devon, I was eager for more. What he had done to my body was amazing and helped satisfy that ache he was always causing, and what I had done to his was...interesting. I had liked his dumbstruck reaction and his satisfaction more than anything else, and I especially liked the way he seemed so unusually relaxed afterwards. He always seemed so tense, but for once, it seemed like he had not a care in the world, and it had been me who had done that to him.

I slept in his arms in just a t-shirt and panties, and in the morning I woke to the feeling of one of his hands firmly gripping my butt. To my surprise, he was still sleeping, a sight I'd never before witnessed in the morning, since he was always up before me. He looked sort of vulnerable, and my heart twinged at the sight.

"I guess I wore you out," I whispered into his mind quietly.

He didn't move a bit. He really was sleeping deeply.

I smiled and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't get the feel of his hand on me out of my mind. I could have moved it, but I didn't really want to, so I just lay there and suffered the pleasure of his touch until he finally woke up.

"You're awake?" he asked when he finally stirred.

"You woke me up."

He apparently realized where his hand was, and he pulled it away with a muttered apology.

I just smiled. "Don't worry so much. I kind of liked that."

"Did you?"

"Yeah." My cheeks heated, which seemed ridiculous after the previous night, but apparently they didn't get the message.

"Does this help?" he asked as he brought his hand down between my legs and brushed along me with a feather light touch across the thin layer of cloth.

"Yes."

"I could take care of that for you." His wicked smile did things to me that I was really coming to love.

"I'd be stupid to say no."

"I'd never call you stupid."

"Then I guess I'm not saying no."

He smiled again, and it only made me hotter. If he had shown me this side of himself before I left him, I probably never would have been able to make myself leave. Or maybe he had tried, and I'd just been too blind to see it.

I didn't have more time to think about why I'd run away from something this good, because he moved under the covers as he pulled my underwear down my legs in one swift motion. A mere second later, his breath whispered across my skin, and his mouth made contact with my sensitive flesh.

Moisture pooled at the opening to my legs, and he took advantage of it, spreading it around. I could barely focus as he drew me up to the peak and then pushed me off.

"Devon," I said, my words half a moan while I pulled on the bed sheets with all my strength.

He licked me slowly a couple more times, before re-emerging from under the blankets. He looked like he was quite pleased with himself as he lay back beside me on his side and pulled me up against him. His stiffness nudged against my hip.

I glanced into his eyes. "Do you want me to...uh, you know?"

He grinned. "No thanks, beautiful."

"Okay." Didn't he like what I had done to him last night? I thought he had. Had I done something wrong?

"I want to wait. Tonight's going to be a different story than last night."

"It is?" Last night was pretty great in my limited experience.

"We're not going to lack birth control ever again until you're ready to be pregnant, at least not if I have anything to say about it."

I smiled a bit.

"Of course, if you still want to."

"I do." I was increasingly certain. If it felt anything like what he'd already done...

"I wish I'd let you kiss me back then," I told him.

"I wish you had, too."

"I don't think I would have been able to leave if I had known more about what I was leaving."

"Wait? Are you saying you only came back for my body?" he teased.

I giggled. "Probably would have if I had known... No. You show a different side when you're happy and relaxed, Devon."

"Then I regret that I didn't let you see that."

"Or I should have looked harder."

"We could do this all day, Amber. I could say I wished I had tried harder to convince you."

"That might have just freaked me out more." Poor Devon. I'd put him in a difficult position.

He paused. "You know, I said what I wished, and maybe I would have changed things then, but I wouldn't actually change them now. Everything led to this moment I have with you, and everything else we'll have together. I'm happy with that."

I smiled at him. When he was like this, he made my heart ache in a very good way.

—————

Unfortunately, all good moments pass, and I was mated to a busy alpha, so he had work that had to be accomplished that day. I didn't complain, even though I really didn't want to let him go.

Like I had in previous days, I spent time trying to improve my reading. I ate lunch with Dan and Sarah in the pack dining room, but we only went there instead of the more private one because I was hoping Devon would happen to pass by. Dan didn't comment, but I was pretty sure he knew my secret motive.

Lunch was pretty good, although all the meals were with the pack. I'd become used to eating without fearing someone would scream at me for wasting resources or try to catch me like Jasper had used to. People called me luna and showed me respect, and I was getting used to that, too. Even though I'd not yet been formally announced, everyone knew.

Staying in their alpha's apartments and seeing me making out with him every chance he got probably helped tip them off. Embarrassing, but definitely worth the feel of his lips on mine...and other places.

I was lost in a daze of thinking about how much I adored Devon when someone unfamiliar walked into the room and crossed it, catching my eye. It wasn't entirely surprising to see new people around the pack involved with the search for the missing wolves, but something about him made me uneasy. He was tall and muscular, with dark hair and nearly black eyes. The way he moved reminded me of the hunters I had grown up with, and I shivered at the memory of what I had escaped.

"What's wrong?" Dan asked.

I lowered my voice, hoping he wouldn't hear. "That guy scares me."

Dan followed my gaze. "That guy in the long hooded jacket? From what I hear he's someone Goldhollow hired from the mercenary group called the Denizens to help with the search. I met him briefly. Very skilled, seems cool for a wolf as far as I can tell."

I guessed it was good that he was a werewolf, not a hunter, but something about him uncomfortably prickled my instincts. Besides wanting the missing people found quickly for everyone's sake, I suddenly hoped it would be soon so that he would be gone.

Maybe I was paranoid, but it felt like he was related to my past and there was nothing I wanted to run from more than that.