Kiss Of The Alpha : A YA Paranormal Romance

Chapter 103: Chapter 103

Heather

His nose scrunched for a second. "I kind of skipped that part when I bit you."

I poked his stomach. "Well, I’m still a traditional, ex-human girl."

"I’m aware. When the Tribunal is done, we’ll do things the way a traditional, ex-human girl would want. Even the ring part."

I was liking the sound of this. "The ring part?"

He grinned. "I have one for you."

"Can I have it now?" I held out my hand with a grin.

"I don’t have it on me," he said with a laugh, and I shoved him into the ground.

Brent shook his head.

"Fine. But you need a ring too. It’s more than a piece of jewelry. It’s a sign to everyone else that you’re off the market."

"Don’t worry. Everyone will know you’re taken." He pulled me down to him.

I nipped his neck. "That wasn’t what I was worried about."

He was smiling when he said, "They’ll know that I’m taken too." I melted into him. His tongue brushed against my lips, and I opened.

Heat swamped me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and ran my fingers through his hair. My hips rocked, and he groaned. I couldn’t stop the motion. My need for him was so strong, I couldn’t breathe.

He rolled until I was on the ground. His weight was on his forearms, but every bit of his body was against mine. He reached up, palming my breast, and my own moan slipped free, causing me to break the kiss. He licked my neck before placing a soft kiss just below my ear.

"We have to stop this," he said.

"No," I said, trying to pull his face back to mine.

He sat up after a second. "Yup. We have to stop." He rolled back on his heels when I tried to reach for him. "Or else we’re going to go too far and we’re outside in the open."

He stood and held a hand out for me. "Come on. Let’s go get some food."

"Why aren’t I as weak or starving as I was yesterday?"

"Yesterday you nearly fully drained yourself before you started pulling from me and the pack. This time, you pulled equally. Plus, you weren’t trying to talk to someone so far away through a mate bond. You had a physical grip on Serena. It made things easier."

"I guess that makes sense."

"But I’m still hungry, which means you are, too. Come on, cherie."

I took in the sight of him as he held out his hand. He was over a foot taller than my five feet plus a few and ripped. Without his shirt on, I had a delicious view of his sculpted abs. His arms were thick and chorded with muscle. I loved how his hair had grown out in the past few weeks, long enough for him to tuck it behind his ears.

He was everything I wanted. "You sure you want me forever?" I asked. I opened myself to the bond so I could feel what he was feeling.

"Absolutely." No hesitation or question.

My heart stuttered at how happy he made me. "Okay." I breathed deep. "Okay."

I took his hand, but he didn’t pull me up. "What?"

"And you? Are you sure you want me?"

I bit my lip to try and stop the smile that spread across my face. "For as long as you want me."

"Forever then," he said as he pulled me to my feet.

"Okay. Forever." I stood on my tip-toes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

He said something in French.

"I don’t know what that means."

He laughed again, not telling me.

Damn it. That meant I was going to have to learn the language.

"Now, let’s really go get some food."

"Okay." I would’ve agreed to anything he said in that moment, with those dimples in his cheeks and love in his eyes.

He pressed his forehead against mine. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you." He sighed in a huge dramatic way as he stared down at me. "This is good. We’re good."

I cupped his cheek with my hand. "Are you okay?"

"I am now."

"And before?"

"I was worried. We had the full moon coming in a couple of days and the Tribunal after that. We didn’t have time to get used to the idea of being a wolf and you were so scared. I didn’t want to push you."

"I’m sorry."

"No. Don’t be. This is a good day. For the first time since I bit you, I feel like we’re going to be okay."

I thought about it for a second. It was like a huge weight had been lifted that I didn’t even know I was carrying. "Me, too."

I ran my fingers through his hair. My heart was full. So full, I didn’t know it was possible to be so happy. So in love.

He pressed one more kiss to my lips, and then to my forehead, before grabbing my hand in his. "Ready?"

"Yeah." And I was. For anything. With him.

By the time we got back to the cafeteria, I was dying with hunger. The witchy-wolfy stuff had used up a ton of energy. Add in the wolf playtime and the long walk back, and I was a million calories into the red. For once, everyone was busy when I stepped through the doors.

There were no more stares, mean looks or questioning glances.

Saving one of our own had drained everyone, but the pack felt whole. Healed. And I finally felt like a member of it.

The people who weren’t in our pack only added to the feeling. It was nice being around so many wolves. I wouldn’t want it every day, but for now, it felt good. Happy.

Everyone was chowing down. The cooks were even grabbing bites in between filling orders. I’d wiped everyone out, but all-in-all it had turned out well. Almost everyone wore some sort of sweatpants or hoodie. Some guys opted for no shirt, but the girls didn’t seem to be complaining.

I’d asked Brent on our walk back how the stashes of clothes got replenished, and he grabbed the backpack. Apparently there were bins filled with backpacks of clothing, water, protein bars, and first aid kits stashed around the woods. Everyone had to replace what they took.

Not a bad system. We’d go back tomorrow and return the cleaned sweats.

"I’m going to grab us some food," Brent said.

"Cool," I said, and continued to our usual table.

Someone shrieked in my ear just before arms squeezed all the breath from my lungs. I laughed and leaned into Serena.

"Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you," she said.

I spun. "You scared the crap out of me." I shook her a few times. "I was about to promise to join the coven to save you!"

And I would have done it because Serena is my best friend.