Bonded to the Alpha Read online

  Then Nero had his face buried in Callum's throat, mouth wet and open, teeth raking his skin, and Callum spluttered helplessly not because it was a wolf at his throat but because he wanted it, please, how he did. "Fuck," he gasped, and, "yeah, come on," desperate for more of Nero's tongue.

  Nero went still, and then, slowly, eased back onto his knees, licking his lips and staring down at Callum with eyes gone wide. Then he shook himself. "No."

  "What?"

  He seemed reluctant to pull away but he did, edging out from under the covers. He took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, apparently to get a grip on himself. "No. You said. No sex."

  Callum huffed out a breath, heart still hammering in his chest. "I did say that." He watched as Nero adjusted himself in his jeans, and ah, yeah, he did the same for himself. "I might have been stupid?"

  Nero made a sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle. "Perhaps."

  It was odd to feel disappointed, watching Nero dress himself. And then, when Nero was done, to see him pick up Callum's shirt and bury his nose in it, eyes fluttering shut.

  "That's weird," Callum said, unsure what kind of face his face was making. "That's so weird."

  Nero eyed him sidelong but said nothing, tossing the shirt at his head. "Don't shower."

  "Uh, no. I'm all gross," Callum argued. "I slept in my jeans. I'm gonna shower." And, maybe, jerk off a bit.

  Nero's nostrils flared, almost as though he was reading Callum's thoughts again. "You can shower at the house. It would be better if you arrived smelling as much of me as you do now."

  "You mean your murder-house in the woods? No thanks."

  The wolf stiffened. Then he scowled and his voice, when he spoke, had the burr of a growl in it. "You'll come with me. We should be together, now. The pack needs to see us together, or they'll never accept you."

  Callum stared at him, and then pulled his henley on over his head, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, because half-naked under the covers made him feel vulnerable in a way he didn't like. "You always this bossy in the morning?"

  It might have been the right thing to say. Nero's scowl deepened, and then smoothed away into something that looked almost smug. "I'm the alpha." As if that answered everything.

  "You're not my alpha," Callum said, and that was obviously the wrong thing to say because Nero bared his teeth, just for a moment, before his mouth flattened into a sharp and unhappy line.

  "I should be. You should be pack. This is ... you make it difficult. If you were one of us, I'd show you that I am your alpha."

  Oh, that didn't sound ominous at all. "How?"

  Nero huffed out a breath, and closed the gap between them, lifting a hand to stroke Callum's hair back behind his ear. It was delicate, careful, as if Callum were somehow precious and easily bruised and Nero was making an effort not to break him. Which, Callum supposed, he probably was.

  Still. He wanted an answer. "How? Beat the crap out of me?"

  "If nothing else worked." Nero shook his head. "But I can't. You're my mate. You will be my mate," he corrected himself, "and I can't do that. It would spoil things between us."

  It would. Nero was, Callum thought, caught in a trap. He could force Callum to go with him, to smell like him, to stay in the house, to obey him. But Callum would hate him for it. And it was clear that Nero, at least, didn't want Callum to hate him.

  So, what Nero wanted seemed obvious.

  "You want me to do what you want because I want to."

  "I want," Nero said, dark and deep, "for you to submit. To me."

  "See, when you say that it sounds like you want to tie me up and spank me," Callum complained. Nero chuckled, running his fingers under Callum's chin and tipping his face up.

  "Would you like it if I did?"

  "No!"

  "It's a good thing I don't intend to, then." Nero smiled, and it was so beautiful and so lazy (and so suggestive, Callum had to admit) that it took him a moment to really comprehend what Nero said next. "All you have to do is accept that I'm your alpha, and submit to me. Is that so terrible?"

  But, of course, Callum didn't know.

  * * *

  It took some arguing, but in the end Nero allowed Callum a shower. He didn't insist on coming in with him, as Callum sort of expected (and wanted and dreaded in equal parts). Callum latched the door, acutely aware that it was a courtesy only, that a werewolf could probably break down the door. Did they have super strength? He was going to have to ask.

  He was, he thought, staring at his reflection in the mirror, woefully underprepared for any of this. But who could have known?

  He showered, jerking off quickly under the hot water, and if he was thinking about strong hands holding him down and blunt but still-dangerous teeth digging into his skin then, well, it was only to be expected. If he came harder than usual that was ... nothing to be ashamed of. He told himself it was normal, as he caught his breath, the tiles cold against his back. Perfectly normal.

  He dressed his bites, awkwardly, and shaved, not because it was really necessary but because he wasn't quite ready to open the door.

  When he came out Nero was outside on the walkway, leaning on his elbows against the railing. Callum reached out to touch him but didn't, in the end. Something in the hunch of his shoulders seemed like a warning.

  "You right?"

  Nero nodded stiffly. Then he peeled away. "We'll take my car. Ria can fetch the truck herself."

  The truck that Callum stole. "Is she mad?" He meant, 'Have I pissed off a werewolf?' but he didn't want to say it.

  "Serves her right for not locking it."

  Which was all very well and good for Nero, the alpha, but for Callum it wasn't much reassurance.

  "I could just drive it back," Callum offered, but Nero just glanced at him and looked away.

  Okay. Annoyed about something, then. Callum let it go, and went to get his things.

  They drove in silence for a while until Callum couldn't bear it and reached for the radio.

  "No," Nero said with a flat finality that made Callum want to punch him.

  "Fine. Talk to me, then."

  Nero made a face. "Fine."

  And then he went on being silent. "You have to actually say something. To talk, I mean."

  "I have nothing to say."

  Right. Callum stared out the window, as the houses gave way to farmland and the farmland gave way to trees. And then, he couldn't help himself. "Look, I don't know why you're mad at me, but I get enough passive-aggressive bullshit from my mother, so just ... cut it out, or tell me what I did." Like a fucking adult, he didn't add, though he wanted to.

  Immediately, Nero's face wrenched up, like he was in physical pain, and then he pulled over, shutting off the engine and twisting in his seat. "You. Why do you push? You set boundaries and then you trample them. You're infuriating."

  "What?" Oh, no, that was just unfair. "You're the one who stopped, this morning, not me."

  "Because you said 'no', and I gave you my word." He didn't raise his voice but it intensified. "And you still don't trust me. Did you think I'd go back on that? When you locked me out?"

  He must have heard it when Callum threw the latch in the bathroom. "That was just ... habit."

  "I can hear it when you lie!" He clenched his hands into fists on his thighs, and Callum thought he might be struggling to uncurl them. "I won't hurt you. I told you that. I won't." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "You say no, and then yes, and then you wash away my scent and ... I know you wanted me, in the bed. And then, in the shower."

  It took a second, but then Callum knew exactly what he was talking about. Oh god. Could he hear that? Fucking hell, could he smell that?

  "Do you know how you smell to me?"

  Mind-reading, again. Callum shook his head, though he suspected ... it was too embarrassing to think about.

  "You smell good. Because you should be my mate, but you're not yet. And you smell wrong. Because you should smell like me." He fixed Callum w
ith a look, and his eyes were so wounded, as if it hurt him to admit this. "I wish you did."

  Callum let out a breath. "Fine. Then come over here and do something about it."

  Nero made a noise in his throat, and then he had his seat-belt unbuckled and climbed halfway over the console, practically in Callum's lap. Callum yelped, taken by surprise, but then Nero had his teeth on Callum's jaw and Callum just tried to keep still. Nero had his hands on Callum too, rubbing through his hair, smoothing over the skin of his neck, down the front of his shirt. One of them settled on his thigh, high but not quite high enough; he squeezed, his thumb digging in and then letting go, and Callum couldn't help the noise that came out of his mouth.

  Nero shifted, nuzzling under Callum's chin to get at the other side of his face, and then bit him firmly on the neck. It came as a shock, it hurt, but then Nero just licked it and it was ... okay. Not the worst thing that could have happened. "Don't break the skin," Callum protested, weak and shivery, and Nero hummed in what he took for agreement. Hopefully that's what it was.

  Only when he was done did Nero come up and look at him, face to face. He looked ... happier. Callum could only imagine how he looked himself, red and blotchy and awkward. Good god, Nero's mouth was right there. If he stretched his neck a little–

  "See? You want me again." So smug.

  Callum couldn't deny it. "And you can smell that, can you?"

  "Yes. But also, your heart skips. Like," and he leaned in to lick a swipe across Callum's mouth, lazily, leaning back again to eye him with some satisfaction. "Just like that."

  Callum tried to scowl at him. Okay, maybe being licked did have some kind of effect on his heart. "And I smell, what? Horny?"

  Nero smiled, closing his eyes. "You're hard. The blood warms you up. I can smell you. This morning, you were so ready you were leaking." Callum could hardly breathe, embarrassment swept away by this ... whatever it was. "And in the shower, when you touched yourself, I could hear the sounds you made and I wanted to be the reason you made them." He opened his eyes, and Callum had to swallow because his mouth had gone dry.

  Don't, he thought, don't say– "You were." Almost at once he thought he wanted it back, but the way Nero's eyes darkened made him change his mind, made him bold. "I was thinking of you."

  Nero shuddered. "And you wondered why I would feel rejected."

  Callum wet his lip. "Sorry," he said, though it wasn't enough.

  "Me too," Nero said, unexpectedly, and then he was pulling away, climbing back into his seat. Callum felt cheated. But then, what had he been expecting would happen?

  Nero started the car.

  This time, he let Callum play with the radio.

  Chapter 6

  Nero dropped him at his sister's place, extracting a promise for Callum to come up to the house for dinner.

  "Why?" Callum asked, not at all sure he wanted to.

  "I've told you. We should be near each other. Like mates."

  Callum made a face. "Mates. That sounds so weird."

  "Promise me," Nero insisted, and he looked so broodily unhappy that Callum rolled his eyes and agreed before going in.

  When Callum opened the back door he wasn't expecting Jackie to throw a mug at him.

  It shattered against the doorframe by his head. "Shit!" He stared at the mark in the paintwork, and then up at her.

  "For fuck's sake, Cal!" For a moment he thought she was going to pick up another mug and throw it at him too. "Where have you been?"

  "I ... did you get my message?"

  She looked like she wanted to screech, hands curled up like claws. "Yes! And then I called you back and you didn't answer and I've been worried, you stupid little shit!"

  "Sorry! I just ... things got complicated." He hadn't realised he'd missed her call. "I'm sorry. I'm fine, though, honestly."

  "Really? Because I thought–" and she glanced out the window before lowering her voice anyway, "you'd been eaten by wolves. Okay?"

  Oh. Right. "Yeah, okay." Shit. How was he going to explain that he nearly had? "Listen, about that..." but he didn't know where to start. "It's complicated."

  She folded her arms. "It's not a fucking relationship status, Cal!"

  "Hah, you'd think that," he joked, but it only made her frown more. "All right! Just ... don't freak out."

  "If you don't get on with it, I swear to god–"

  "All right!" He took a deep breath. "So, I went to get my car, and Vonnie Foss was there. And she wanted me to help her look for the wolf, even though I said it was dead, and then it turned out to be a trap, and that's how I got kidnapped by werewolves."

  Jackie just glared at him. "That is the worst explanation."

  "It's true, though! See ... it turns out that when Holly died – I mean, the wolf I killed – she was in this magical mate-bond thing with, um..." He could see Jackie's expression twisting into disbelief and confusion. "With the alpha. Wolf. And by their wolf law, or whatever, if you kill a wolf that's bonded then the other bond wolf gets to, you know. Kill you back."

  Jackie's looked like she was trying to swallow a slug. "Uh-huh?"

  "So the pack wanted Nero – he's the alpha – to kill me, but Nero decided to do the other thing."

  "Which is?"

  "Make me his ... you know, replacement. Bond with him." This, he figured, was going to be the part where she'd freak out.

  She didn't right away. "Like ... make you a werewolf?"

  "No, not that. Um. More like ... you know, like his bond-mate. Like his mate."

  "Mate." At least this looked as awkward for her as it felt did for him. "A werewolf – I'm sorry, an alpha werewolf, wants to mate with you. With you." Callum bristled at the implication, but Jackie didn't let him finish. "A guy. He's a guy, right?"

  "That's not really the problem here," Callum protested.

  "Really? You don't have a problem with that? Since when?"

  "Since ... fucking, always, Jacks!" Of all the ways he could have done this, this way was probably the worst. Fuck, he hadn't ever really wanted to have this conversation with her at all.

  She scrunched up her face, ready to yell at him, but then stopped. "Oh. Oh! You had a crush on that Jenson boy! You followed him everywhere. What was his name? God, the two of you used to go skinny dipping."

  "Freddy," Callum said, feeling his face heat. "Shut up, okay!"

  "You loved him," Jackie crowed, and then stopped, looking horrified. "Oh god, I used to tease you! Fuck, sorry. I thought ... jeez, that was shitty of me."

  "Yeah. Yeah, it fucking was. Anyway. Nero is a guy. And a werewolf, which is kinda more important."

  "Huh." She leaned back on the counter, and then broke into an ominously amused grin. "So, is he hot?"

  Callum groaned, covering his face with his hands. "That's what you're getting from this? 'Is he hot?' Is the werewolf hot?"

  She snorted, kicking him in the shoe. "Is that a yes?"

  Unbelievable. Except– "Yeah, he's ... prettyfuckinghot," Callum admitted, peeking at her from between his fingers, mortally embarrassed.

  She laughed, bending forward to cackle at the floor. "Ah, Cal, you little shit! I thought I'd find you face down in a ditch, and instead you've been seducing hot werewolves. Or, developing Stockholm Syndrome. I mean, he had you kidnapped, idiot. That's not a healthy relationship."

  "I'm not dating him," Callum argued. "I'm just ..."

  "Screwing him?"

  "No! There hasn't been any, any screwing." And that was a perfect time for him to remember that morning, and how Nero had pulled away and how Callum hadn't wanted him to. He cleared his throat, trying not to burn up like the sun. "I'm not easy, Jacks."

  "He can't be that hot, then," she teased and Callum groaned because this? This was exactly like her. He should have known better than to expect anything else. "Seriously, though. Are you okay? You said ... was he really going to kill you?"

  Callum swallowed, and nodded. "I think. But he didn't seem to want to. The rest of them wanted to, though."


  "You know that's not at all reassuring, right?"

  "Yeah. Anyway. We talked it over and ... if I don't bond with him he'll die, and I'll probably die too. Even if the rest of the pack don't rip my throat out, this," and he held up his bandaged arm, "isn't gonna get any better."

  Jackie's expression shifted at once into outrage. "So he threatened you? And, by the way, 'I'll die if you don't sleep with me' is the worst blue balls excuse I've ever heard. No. Cal, that's just ... manipulative bullshit. He sounds like a jerk."

  She ... kind of had a point. But, she didn't know everything, and he couldn't be bothered explaining it to her. "It's fine. I know what I'm doing."

  "Yeah, okay no, you don't. I never thought I had to have the big sister talk with you about boys, but you do know boys are just after one thing, right?"

  "Maybe I'm after that one thing too," he argued, and she held up her hands in defeat.

  "Fine! Go screw your hot alpha werewolf, and when he breaks your heart we'll eat icecream on couch and watch Mean Girls, okay?"

  He figured that was the best he was going to get.

  * * *

  When he told her he was going back that night, Jackie didn't like it, but she let him go in the end largely because she couldn't actually stop him. Plus, Ria showed up in her battered blue truck and sat scowling at the end of the driveway with the engine running, clearly unimpressed.

  Jackie didn't like that at all, but she just sighed and ruffled his hair. "Just ... don't do anything stupid, little brother."

  "Me?"

  "Stupider than usual, I mean."

  Ria was still scowling when he got into the truck. He figured she had every right to.

  "Sorry," he said, sheepish.

  She made a disgusted noise, checking her mirrors. She was pretty, with chestnut hair and the kind of mouth made for pouting, but her scowls reminded him how easily she'd put him on the ground before, despite being maybe half his weight. "I'm sure you're sorry for a lot of things."

  Huh. Fine. "Yeah, okay, I don't like you either, you know? You kidnapped me. Remember the bit where you kidnapped me? Remember when you tried to talk Nero into killing me?"