Dib was in big fucking trouble.
He couldn’t help but follow Aleeza with covetous eyes as she strode across the room tidying up. Despite being a modern woman, she was quite a homey little thing. It was kind of cute actually.
But he’d known that about her already. Even back in New Jersey, in their offices, she’d start cleaning whenever she was working out a problem.
Many a night at work, he’d had to bite his tongue to keep himself from drooling when she went on one of her cleaning binges. The way she’d bend down to pick up coffee cups, empty trash bins, dust shelves, hot damn!
Hell, he’d even caught her vacuuming once! Her small hands gripping the hose as she tugged and pushed it back and forth, watching it suck up dust. Who knew that could be so damn erotic? You’re a sick fuck, Dib Lowell. Maybe, but she was fucking hot.
When he’d reminded her that they had a perfectly acceptable cleaning service on the payroll, she just shrugged and continued until she settled whatever argument she was mulling over in that beautiful, inquisitive mind of hers.
Imagine a modern woman who didn’t mind mundane things like housekeeping! Dib was neat as a pin himself. They’d be compatible on that front at least.
She was just full of hidden delights. He’d even wager she wanted to have children one day. Just picturing her swollen with a pup had his cock stiffening in his pants. Fuck.
Family. Children. A real home. Love. All the things he wanted for himself since he’d been bounced around from home to home within the Pack with his brother as children. Sure the families had been nice. Well, mostly. But he’d never felt as if he’d belonged with any of them.
Aleeza had a good family. Her parents had stuck it out together until her mom died. Dib knew her father, though not very well. He was devoted to his only daughter in his way, but he didn’t stifle her. He wondered if she knew that her dad visited him and Kurt just after they’d hired her.
“Touch my baby girl, and they will never find your bodies. That’s a promise, boys.”
He liked the older Wolf even more after that little visit. After assuring him that Aleeza would be safe with them, a promise his Wolf wholeheartedly agreed with but for entirely different reasons, the man had left only to show up on occasion to take his offspring to lunch or drive her home.
She’d unwittingly brought a warmth to the office that Dib hadn’t felt before. Her smile was wide and bright, welcoming. She had a real way with their clients. Especially the teenagers. She’d finished law school with great marks but had yet to take the bar exam. He didn’t press her, knowing she needed time to make her decision.
But he wasn’t going to let her leave the firm, even if she did decide to take the bar. She’d be an excellent lawyer for the Pack and would work for the firm. Or not. Her choice.
When the kids came along, she’d probably want to stay at home. Yes, somehow, he knew instinctively that she would want a family. She’d look just right with half a dozen pups clinging to her. She’d spoil them rotten too. He smiled at the thought.
Pretty hard to reconcile a woman with her brains and looks wanting a family. Especially, considering the women he’d dated tended to be of the power-hungry social-climbing variety. That wasn’t fair to them perhaps, but he was only human. Well, half-human.
For some reason it mattered that she’d want babies. His babies. He never pictured another woman swollen with his seed, but thoughts of making Aleeza pregnant had his cock rising to attention once more.
He hissed in a breath at the sudden situation that popped up while he watched her move about the bedroom. Damn. She was tempting. Like a goddess as she bent over to retrieve a napkin she’d dropped. His body was hot and hard for her. Only her. Never like this with anyone else.
The soft pink nightgown was made of thin cotton, snug in all the right places. It would be chaste on anyone else, on. The supple yet clingy material seemed to hug her generous curves. Practically daring him to reach out and caress her smooth skin. Mine.
His Wolf snarled the word and Dib froze. It was not the first time his beast had uttered the possessive pronoun where she was concerned. He’d managed to keep his Wolf side appeased for all these years. Barely.
Control was the name of the current game he was playing, for the foreseeable future anyway. He’d told himself it was wrong. He was wrong for her. He’d been telling himself that for so long now.
She was his employee, a normal who couldn’t handle the demands of being with a Wolf. Wasn’t that his own mother’s problem? She hadn’t been able to handle his father’s lusty appetites. One of her many complaints before leaving him. Well, them. She’d left all of them, hadn’t she?
Only now, Aleeza wasn’t a normal anymore. A dormant Werewolf. On the cusp of her first Change. Mine. His Wolf barked the word in his mind’s eye. Licking his lupine lips as he peeked through Dib’s eyes.
She wouldn’t know it yet, but Dib had an inkling why he suddenly needed her with a vengeance. It was more than sexual attraction, though he felt that. More than a compatibility of minds, though he admired hers greatly.
Dib loved the way her eyes flashed whenever they engaged in heated discussions at work. He looked forward to riling her again there and elsewhere.
Yes, he craved her. Desperately. His Wolf howled inside his mind’s eye, demanding he announce it to the whole world. His need for this woman was so much more than the fact that he wanted someone in his life.
Someone would not do. Only she would. Aleeza, my present, my future, my one true mate. Mine.
Having her so near teased his senses. It was enough to drive his Wolf mad. He wanted her. It was time to show her just how much. She was his one and only. He felt it in his bones as he watched the hypnotic movements of her lush body.
His macushla was already showing the easy grace and flexibility that came with being a Werewolf. He had no idea how she could bend completely in half to retrieve a tissue that was stuck under the bed. He was just glad he got to be there to admire her fine form.
“Hello? Dib?” Liam’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Yeah, I gotta go,” he clicked his cell off.
His conversation forgotten as was the work he’d set out in front of him. The sight and smell of Aleeza called to him. Her Wolf-like musk and cherry lip gloss seducing him from twenty feet away.
Claim. Mate. Mine. That same litany played in his mind over and over again since he’d first tasted her sweet mouth. His Wolf gnashing his teeth and growling at him to move his ass. Soon, he soothed the beast. Soon he would go to her.
He put down the cell phone, moved his work aside, and was stumped. A strong Wolf Guard, and an even more than adept attorney, he found it utterly confounding that he couldn’t seem to string together a complete sentence when she turned her sweet face to him.
It struck him that they were alone. Together. In a room. Their room. He was filled with a restless kind of energy.
“That was Liam,” he gestured to the cell phone.
“Oh? What did he say?”
She turned her entire body around to face him, giving him a tantalizing view of her breasts, the dip of her waist, and the gentle swell of her hips. Her braid swung around and landed heavily on her shoulder. The curled end tickled the top of one full mound and Dib’s mouth watered.
Was it possible to be jealous of her hair? To envy her lush locks for their nearness to her perfect breasts? Dib bit back a groan as he imagined his fingers replacing the silky strands.
He imagined pulling the clingy material down to reveal her perfection. He’d dip his head and feast on the plump mound. Yum. She’d moan and yank on his hair, beg him not to stop…
“Dib?” Her husky voice stopped him mid-fantasy.
“What? Oh! Liam, right. He’s been doing a little recon. Hanging around with some of the younger Wolves. It seems Bagrat is not well-liked and his Pack is far less perfect than he’d have us believe.”
“Should we be talking in here so openly?”
“Yeah, it’s okay. Randall put together an app that alerts the user to any disruption in the area, such as a magnetic field created by a listening device or bug. It’s like anti-spyware, the app detects the interference then sends out a signal jamming all potential recording software. Pretty nifty actually.”
“Wow. That’s really cool. I didn’t know Randall made stuff like that.”
“Yeah, he’s very good at what he does. His software innovations have made the Pack quite a bit of money over the years. We’re lucky to have him. It was touch and go for a while, until he found his mate that is.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to believe he and Tulla have been married over a year now.”
“Yes. They belong together. I admit I was skeptic at first, but seeing them and their son, Daniel, together, I understand why he believes she is his fated mate,” his nostrils flared as he picked up on her growing unease. Talking about mates wasn’t going to win him any points right now, he realized. She needed time.
“Anyway, back to Bagrat. There is something weird going on with his rule.”
“No doubt. He’s a beast. Did you see the way he grabbed his wife?” Aleeza’s nose scrunched up in her obvious dislike. She shivered and his Wolf growled at him to offer comfort.
“Yes. His method of ruling has been met with more and more resistance as the years have passed. There are many, including his own son, who disagree with the way he’s been doing things.”
“That monster has a son? I didn’t find one in the records we researched?” Aleeza sat down on the edge of the bed, giving him her full attention.
“Yes. Liam was able to get his name from a group of his former friends. Niko Bagrat. He’s twenty-seven years old and was banished from the Pack two years ago when he disagreed with his father for taking Ana as his new mate,” Dib tensed. He didn’t like the idea of anyone forcing a woman to mate with them. Least of all Anri Bagrat.
“She doesn’t seem to like the situation either. Why on earth would she agree?” It was a good question. One he hadn’t really considered before. He nodded at Aleeza as he continued.
“That’s a great question. We know the Alpha has had a difficult time keeping a wife alive and well. She is his third in just twenty years.”
“Were the other wives Werewolves too?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense. They had to have met with foul play,” her eyes flashed with anger as she spoke and something else. Her Wolf maybe?
Dib stopped a minute and just looked at her. She was so beautiful. His Aleeza. Even if she didn’t quite believe it yet. The flash of gold in her eyes only added to his attraction. He couldn’t wait to meet her in the fur for the first time. His Wolf liked the idea too.
“Yes, well, no one knows what happened to the first two of his wives, but foul play is suspected. As for Niko, there is a rumor that he’s coming back to challenge his father for the right to lead the Pack,” Dib frowned.
The lawyer in him sought justice, as the Wolf inside howled for it. But more than that, his beast demanded he protect Aleeza. The severity of their situation weighed heavily on him. I should get her on a plane out of here.
“Aleeza, look, I think it’s time we consider getting you out of here. To safety-”
“What? We land in the middle of a fucking revolution and you want me gone? Is it because Bagrat’s demanding a mating mark? I can ask Liam or find someone else-”
“No!” His growl resounded off the walls and she jumped back, startled by the sound. He regretted immediately his anger, but his Wolf would have no one else near her. She was his. Mine.
“No other, Aleeza, you will have no other,” he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing while trying not to sound like a fucking caveman and failing.
“But you’ve never wanted me.”
“Is that so? Think you know me, do you?” He could feel his hackles rising.
“Of course I know you! Three years, Dib! I’ve worked for you for three years and you’ve barely even spoken to me.”
“Because I couldn’t let you see,” his frustration was getting the better of him. He needed to end this conversation now.
“Look, I’d like you to pack your things. We are going to get you out of here before anything happens-”
“No! I won’t leave now. Not with Claire Maccon still in the wind and Ana-” And you. Would she worry for him too?
“You don’t have to protect me, Dib. We will find some way around Bagrat’s order that he see a mating mark. It doesn’t matter,” she shrugged and the pain radiating from her tugged at his heart. This was going all wrong.
“Dammit, Aleeza, it does matter! Everything about you matters.”
“Then why send me away now?”
“Because I can’t have you hurt,” his head slumped forward. He wasn’t used to admitting his feelings. Hell, he wasn’t used to acknowledging them either.
“If Niko comes sooner than we think and challenges the Alpha at the full moon, I don’t know what our status will be-”
“Dib, we’re protected under the treaty. Surely they can’t hold anything against us?”
“I can’t guarantee your safety, Aleeza, and I need, my Wolf needs you safe,” he growled.
“And what about your safety? What does your Wolf say about that? About leaving me somewhere all by myself with who knows who flying the plane! What if something happens then?”
“Don’t push this, Aleeza.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am doing everything I can to protect you!”
“Who asked you to? Do you think I want some sacrifice from you, boss man?”
“What do you want from me then?”
“What do I want?”
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“What about you, boss? What do you want?” She stood chest to chest with him. Her voice matching his in volume and strength.
The sight of her, chest heaving, brows furrowed, lips parted, took his breath away. She was a damned knock-out. Dib ran a hand over his hair and groaned.
“You. I want you.”
“Oh,” she gasped the word as if she didn’t quite believe her ears.
“Look, Aleeza, I can take care of myself, but I need you gone from here,” he grunted. Too raw to be embarrassed by what he’d just admitted.
“No.” One word. Just that.
“As your boss-”
“I think we can skip over the whole you’re my boss thing after you just admitted that, uh, you want me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. You want me. And well, to be honest, I want you too.” She whispered the words. Her nerves made her tremble from head to foot, but she stood her ground.
Dib breathed in slowly. His body taut as he held himself in check. Did he dare hope?
Aleeza’s tongue snaked out from her plump lips. She wet her lips with the tiny pink muscle and that was it. Dib lost all semblance of control.